Responsibilities Of Team Members Research Articles

The Essential Management Manual

As companies keep restructuring, reorganizing and downsizing, it is important that standard operating procedures be identified and documented in a simple and usable format, such as a project management manual. This information is critical in project management, where corporate policies for the project delivery process need to be defined clearly. The Engineering Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey compiled this type of comprehensive manual. Training sessions were held with staff to review the responsibilities and procedures required of the project team members. The manual’s framework should include a clear mission statement, simplified project delivery procedures, responsibilities of team members, information systems controls, and effective communication methods.

Medical, Occupational, and Environmental Health Considerations for Oil Spill Response Personnel

ABSTRACT Oil spill response workers can face a variety of health concerns when a spill occurs in a remote area. Potential food, water, and disease hazards need to be addressed for both fly-in supervisory personnel and local cleanup crews. Pre-spill planning activities should consider a variety of scenarios covering a range of spills in the geographic areas of responsibility. Topics to address should include medical screening of oil spill response team members, vaccination/shots, travel kits, special clothing needs, disease control informational handouts, food and water sources, evaluation of medical personnel and facilities and identification of medical evacuation plans. Activities occurring during the spill cleanup period might include medical screening of food handlers and local workers, confirming the availability of local medical facilities and evacuation routes, conducting routine clinic operations, checking the sources and handling of food and water, checking housing conditions, implementing a disease vector control program, and providing training related to local environmental hazards. Post-cleanup activities would include safe disposal of medical and other waste, providing post-spill medical exams, and documenting lessons learned during the spill. Successfully controlling health issues during a spill may only be possible if an appropriate level of planning is conducted.

Training and Technical Progression: “A Synergistic Success”

ABSTRACT Today's jobs in the spill response industry require a combination of a various technical skills and training to ensure an appropriate level of readiness is maintained. In addition, dedicated spill response team members must exhibit a combination of “soft skills,” such as leadership, communication, and teamwork, in order to sustain effective spill response operations. In pursuit of a comprehensive system for measuring, tracking and developing these attributes, Alaska Clean Seas developed a “Technician Progression Program” that provides the spill response technicians meaningful standards and a guide to develop these skills. As a result, the program sustains a priority for safety, builds personnel competencies, ensures regulatory compliance, and provides a clear and measurable path for technician advancement and organizational growth.

The high‐cooperation hospital project team

The authors analyze surveys completed by 181 members of 59 project teams from 57 hospitals. Results indicate that members of high‐cooperation teams were more likely to communicate informally; spend time brainstorming, exchanging project‐related information, and receiving performance feedback; positively evaluate the status of their project; and have positive feelings about their participation on the project team. Cooperation levels were highest when team leaders clearly explained project objectives and team member responsibilities; team leaders confronted conflicts among team members and worked to resolve those conflicts; team members clearly understood project objectives, responsibilities, and rewards; and team members did not have reservations about the project and its outcomes. Results also suggested that, in some groups, active involvement by senior managers negatively affected cooperation levels. This result may reflect a deference in some groups to the authority of senior management.

Developing a patient self-medication program for the rehabilitation setting.

Self-medication, the ability of the patient to administer his or her own medication, can be useful in the rehabilitation setting in reducing the incidence of polypharmacy, medication abuse, and inappropriate medication usage. However, a patient self-medication program also introduces a variety of issues, such as defining each team member's responsibilities and outlining the steps of the program. These issues may impede the development and implementation of the program. A review of the rehabilitation literature yields little information about program development in the rehabilitation setting or about dealing with such issues. The purpose of this article is to describe the need for a self-medication program in the rehabilitation setting, the development of one such program, and ways to overcome some of the problems that cause such programs to falter.

Roles and Responsibilities of Team Members in the Functional Capacity Evaluation and Rehabilitation of the Injured Worker

Roles and Responsibilities of Team Members in the Functional Capacity Evaluation and Rehabilitation of the Injured Worker

The relationship of subjective distress and emergency response experience to the effective use of protective equipment

Abstract A total of 11 1 chernical emergency response team members were evaluated on the effective use ofpersonal protective equipment (PPE) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) whde participating in a series of simulated hazardous material accidents. Performance ratings of PPE and SCBA use were conducted via behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS), self-estimates of effectiveness, and cohort ratings. Subjective distress was assessed via the Subjective State Change Measure (SSCM), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Framingham Type A Behaviour Scale. Results indicated that effective use ofprotective breathing apparatus was correlated with prior emergency response experience and state anxiety. BARS scores were negatively related to state anxiety when controlling for experience. Self-ratings for effectiveness was positively related to both type A behaviour pattern and state anxiety.

The role of psychological stress and prior experience in the use of personal protective equipment

This study examines the relationship of emergency response experience and psychological stress with personal protective equipment (PPE) use. Effective PPE use was assessed by behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) and by a subjective state change measure (SSCM) of PPE use. Participants, consisting of 141 emergency response team members of a chemical manufacturing organization, were evaluated in a series of field simulations where PPE was used. Subjects completed a series of paper and pencil questionnaires measuring anxiety, type A behavior, anger expression, and a knowledge test concerning chemical emergency response. Results indicated that self-estimates of PPE skill were better predictors of observed BARS performance than knowledge scores, the amount of formal training, or emergency response experience. Effective performance scores were related to knowledge and experience in PPE use and negatively related to the outward expression of anger. Discomfort in using PPE was significantly correlated with experience using protective gear, positive teamwork-effectiveness ratings, and lower levels of anxiety symptoms.

Adaptation of the Incident Command System to Oil Spill Response During the American Trader Spill

ABSTRACT While developing its new crisis management plan in 1989, BP America (BPA) modified the incident command system (ICS) for use as the organizational structure of its oil spill response team. This was done to be compatible with the post-Exxon Valdez organization of the Alyeska response team and for certain advantages it would provide for responses in other locations and in other types of crisis situations. The ICS was originally developed for fighting wildfires in California and has since been widely adopted by other fire and emergency services in the U. S. While retaining most of the ICS structure, ?PA developed modifications necessary to fit the unique requirements of oil spill response. The modified ICS was used during a full scale test of ?PA's draft crisis management plan in December 1989, and thus was familiar to ?PA's top executives and other participating response team members. When the American Trader spill occurred in February 1990, BPA's management used the modified ICS organization even though the crisis management plan had not been finalized or widely distributed within the company. Details of the organizational structure evolved as the spill response progressed, in part due to the changing requirements of the response over time and in part because of previously unrecognized issues. This paper describes that evolution and the resulting final structure. Essential differences between the original ICS and BPA's oil spill version of it are highlighted. Despite the unrecognized issues and the unfamiliarity of some team members with the ICS, the organization worked well and can be credited with a share of the success of the American Trader response.

Factors affecting the management of interdisciplinary research in the pharmaceutical industry

The author uses the results of recent published behavioural research on team effectiveness as a framework to analyse the problems of managing R&D in pharmaceutical development. The research points to a large number of factors as having a potential impact on managing such R&D which is inescapably multi‐ or inter‐disciplinary in nature. Some such factors may originate outside the team, some within. External factors include organizational climate, R&D decision‐making environment, system maturity and organizational form (type of matrix); internal factors include span of responsibility of team members, disciplinary differentiation, task uncertainty, extent of fulfilment of Belbin roles and a significant requirement for flexibility of style on the part of the manager.The author's conclusion is that achieving effective management of R&D teams in the pharmaceutical R&D environment requires attention to all these factors. The extent to which integration of different disciplines is achieved is symptomatic of the degree to which these factors are understood and attended to.

Team teaching in coordinated undergraduate programs

Team teaching is mandated for coordinated undergraduate programs in dietetics. A study was undertaken to ascertain current practices in team teaching and to identify attitudes of faculty and clinical preceptors toward team teaching. Survey instruments were designed for faculty and preceptors and sent to each accredited CUP. Responses from 131 faculty members and 196 preceptors were included in the data analysis. Findings from this study indicated that there was wide variation in dietetic teaching teams, including the existence, structure, size, organization, composition, and responsibility of team members. Generally, there was agreement among faculty members and preceptors concerning their respective and shared responsibilities. However, faculty members appropriated to preceptors greater responsibility for selecting clinical experiences and for planning and attending clinical conferences. Preceptors expected faculty members to have greater responsibility for evaluating all aspects of the program, including the curriculum, learning experiences in the clinical area, and performance of other team members. Most faculty members and preceptors who participated in this study agreed with positive statements about team teaching. They recognized that the purpose of team teaching is to improve instruction, and they indicated trust in its value as a part of professional education. There appear to be subtle differences in the way team teaching is perceived and implemented by faculty members in schools of home economics and school of allied health. The findings suggest the need for further consideration of team identification, designation of team leaders, involvement of preceptors, time utilization, and student evaluation of team teaching.

Expediting the Development of CEEP Instructional Modules

The curriculum development model being developed and tested by the NAGT Crustal Evolution Education Project (CEEP) represents an attempt to shorten the time lag of translation of ongoing research into useful classroom materials. Each of the six development centers represents an experiment with this model. The center at Western Washington University has been successful in producing, testing, and completing a total of eleven instructional modules representing 33 classroom periods in an average time of less than nine months per module. The development process here is characterized by one writing team meeting, teacher responsibility for preliminary drafting of modules in conjunction with informal classroom testing, extensive interaction between teacher and researcher writing team members, and editing at various stages by the science educator center director. Elements contributing to the successful operations at Western Washington University include (1) clear assignment of team member responsibilities, (2) rea...