Team-building Intervention Research Articles

The “Team Tree” Professional Tree of Life intervention: development and evaluation within the acute inpatient psychiatric setting

PurposeMental health staff often experience significant levels of stress working in the acute psychiatric inpatient setting. Team-building interventions can mitigate stress in health-care settings, via improvements in team-cohesion, staff interactions and communication skills. The “Tree of Life” (ToL) is a specific narrative therapy approach which uses the metaphor of a tree to facilitate the construction and sharing of strength-based stories. This study aims to describe the development of and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and staff experiences of the “Team Tree”, an adapted Professional ToL (PToL) intervention.Design/methodology/approachA one-hour, Professional ToL intervention was designed for multidisciplinary acute inpatient staff teams working within a psychiatric hospital in London, UK. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and staff experiences of the session.FindingsParticipants were 46 multidisciplinary staff (33 women; 13 men) working across four acute psychiatric wards. The intervention was feasible to deliver and was acceptable to participants. Results showed significant improvements in self-reported mental well-being and team-cohesiveness scores post-session.Practical implicationsPsychologists face myriad barriers in working with staff teams in the acute inpatient setting. The “Team Tree” intervention was both well received by staff and practical to deliver within the challenging environment of the acute ward.Originality/valueThis adaptation of the original PToL emerged from the author’s work with distressed inpatient teams with limited time resources. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first description of this intervention using a single tree metaphor to facilitate a reflective and creative session with health-care teams.

Enhancing Corporate Cohesion with Ta’awun through Outdoor Activities for Senior Managers

This paper investigates the vital role of outdoor activities in enhancing group cohesiveness among managers, highlighting the need for innovative team-building interventions in the corporate sector. It emphasizes the effectiveness of outdoor activities as team incentives that not only foster a sense of unity and shared purpose among managers but also adapt to different cultural contexts, thereby improving task allocation and team dynamics. Additionally, this study underscores the psychological benefits of outdoor activities, notably in reducing stress and enhancing decision-making skills among leaders. The concept of Ta'awun (cooperation) is explored as a means of building social capital and resilience, particularly in small and medium enterprises. The research concludes that outdoor activities, combined with trust-building, strategic team-building activities, cooperative partnerships, and cohesive leadership, are crucial for the success of teams and the overall performance of organizations across various corporate environments.

Exploring turnover intentions of employees at a South African government education council

Orientation: Public sector organisations in South Africa, including educational institutions, experience high employee turnover. There is a general need for public sector organisations to retain valuable talent.Research purpose: This study aimed to explore the reasons behind turnover intentions at the government education council.Motivation for the study: Studies on employee turnover in the public sector focused on government departments and municipalities, with a scarcity of research studies on government education councils.Research approach/design and method: An exploratory qualitative research approach was followed which allowed for the usage of semi-structured interviews to collect data from employees (N = 11). Data were analysed using content analysis. The inductive coding method was used to get to themes and subthemes.Main findings: Employees may leave the government education council because of the micromanagement leadership styles, lack of trust by management, inadequate communication, poorly implemented performance management system, persistent workload, low pay and lack of work–life balance. However, they currently remain within the employment of the council because of its reputation, sense of belonging (teamwork), conducive work environment and career growth prospects.Practical/managerial implications: The government education council should promote autonomy and prioritise leadership skills, team building and other interventions to enhance trust, communication and work-life balance. The government education council should ensure the buy-in of the performance management system and its remuneration policy by employees.Contribution/value add: This study’s findings provide insights into the turnover intentions of employees at the government education council and then assist the organisation in strengthening its retention strategies.

Fostering team dynamics in university sport science student: a low-constraint social identity intervention

Traditionally, improving group dynamic has relied on cohesion and team building (TB) interventions. However, the time-intensive nature of TB interventions poses challenges for their implementation and effectiveness. Acknowledging the significance of the Social Identity Approach (SIA) in shaping group dynamic, this study aims to propose an enlightened TB intervention tailored for task-oriented groups. A total of 741 sports science students (Mage = 19.65; SD = 1.43; female = 187) participated in a 45-minutes intervention, based on an experimental scenario involving inter-group competition, forming 19 teams with stakes for the winners and losers. The identity group underwent a three-step intervention, including defining team boundaries, discussing team desirability and values, and creating a visual team identity symbol. The control group received a theoretical course on social identity theories. Results demonstrated a significant improvement in group belonging, ingroup ties, and cognitive centrality compared to the control group. The findings support the interest of a social identity approach for teams with demanding schedules to initiate preliminary work targeting optimal Group dynamic.

Justice Fosters the Effect of Team-Building Interventions on Viability and Performance

Building viable teams provides a sustainable organizational culture and supports efforts to overcome challenges and maintain a long-lasting and growing business. This study analyzed the role of organizational distributive justice on the relationship between team-building interventions and team viability, alongside team performance. As we understand the underlying concepts of viability and performance better, we can build more resilient teams. An empirical study was conducted on a sample of 402 employees in different teams in organizations. A research model was built with viability and performance as the dependent variables and team-building as the independent variable. The perception of distributive justice was the mediator. Team-building was measured by four variables, where the results of the factor analysis suggested that problem-solving and interpersonal relationships converged into one variable, whereas goal-setting and role clarification represented the second factor of team-building. Regression and mediation analysis showed that problem-solving and interpersonal relationships had a stronger influence on teams’ viability and performance. More remarkably, distributive justice mediated this strong relationship. Throughout the challenging business environment, improving the problem-solving abilities of our teams and encouraging them to build strong interpersonal relationships integrated with a perception of justice would improve the teams’ sustainability significantly. Independent of the strength of the relationship between the team-building factors of viability and performance, organizational distributive justice fosters performance and sustainability. The observed influence of distributive justice was stronger on the goal-setting and role clarification components, whereas direct effects were relatively weaker. The high correlation between team viability and performance should encourage leaders to give equal importance to these concepts when building and motivating their teams, measuring the outcomes, and taking necessary actions.

The effects of dynamic team-building intervention on internal communication in the hospitality industry in Sunyani Municipality, Ghana

The current study seeks to ascertain how dynamic team-building interventions can improve internal communication in the hospitality industry. The study surveyed 135 respondents from 15 hospitality enterprises in Sunyani Municipality, Ghana, using a communication assessment instrument. The mean organization diagnosis results suggest that the studied organizations' internal communication channels are riddled with delayed and late information delivery, vocally hostile behavior, and a culture of secrecy. As a result, with the study organizations, a dynamic team-building intervention was devised and implemented. The researchers compared the pre-team-building intervention assessment results with the post-team-building intervention assessment results to determine how they changed after the intervention. The data show that the assessment variables recorded an average mean transformation score of 1.8, which is closer to the ideal score of one (1) than the average mean assessment score of 2.4 prior to the team-building intervention. The computational results show that the dynamic team-building interventions were effective in bringing the mean value closer to the ideal score of one (1). Again, the Cohen's d test analysis result of 3.8 demonstrates that the transformation that happened as a result of the dynamic team-building intervention had a significant impact size. Based on the findings, options for dynamic team-building interventions to improve the efficacy of teams in the hotel industry are provided.

A Playful Way to Promote Team Flow: Evaluation of a Positive Psychological Board Game for Team Building

Modern work in team structures makes team building interventions increasingly important. A phenomenon known to have a positive effect on efficient teamwork, i.e. team performance and team satisfaction, is the experience of flow – on both individual level and team level. Approaches in positive psychology can contribute to efficient teamwork by fostering the existing potentials and resources of team members and thereby increasing individual flow and team flow at work. The present study introduces a newly developed intervention in the form of a board game based on a variety of positive psychological constructs demonstrably associated with individual flow and team flow. The aim of the game is to enhance the players’ flow and team flow experiences at work. Twelve teams from different companies with a total of 65 participants played the game. The frequency of flow and team flow at work were assessed at three time points: before playing, two weeks after playing, and four weeks after playing, with 34 participants having completed the questionnaires at all three assessment points. We found a positive effect of the board game on team flow experience at work two weeks after playing. We assume that the game enhanced the team’s feeling of togetherness and open communication thereby also enhancing team members’ flow experiences.

Mitigating Burnout in a Team of Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Advanced Practice Providers: A Team-Building Intervention

This quality improvement project used data from individual conversations and group development theory to implement a team-building intervention to mitigate burnout and improve team climate in a group of advanced practice providers. Two validated questionnaires were used to measure the impact of a team-building workshop and the drafting of a team agreement. Results demonstrated significant improvement in team burnout scores immediately post-intervention; however, improvement was not sustained. Anecdotally, the team agreement has successfully improved conflict resolution among group members.

Adapting to CONNECT: modifying a nursing home-based team-building intervention to improve hospital care team interactions, functioning, and implementation readiness

BackgroundClinical interventions often need to be adapted from their original design when they are applied to new settings. There is a growing literature describing frameworks and approaches to deploying and documenting adaptations of evidence-based practices in healthcare. Still, intervention modifications are often limited in detail and justification, which may prevent rigorous evaluation of interventions and intervention adaptation effectiveness in new contexts. We describe our approach in a case study, combining two complementary intervention adaptation frameworks to modify CONNECT for Quality, a provider-facing team building and communication intervention designed to facilitate implementation of a new clinical program.MethodsThis process of intervention adaptation involved the use of the Planned Adaptation Framework and the Framework for Reporting Adaptations and Modifications, for systematically identifying key drivers, core and non-core components of interventions for documenting planned and unplanned changes to intervention design.ResultsThe CONNECT intervention’s original context and setting is first described and then compared with its new application. This lays the groundwork for the intentional modifications to intervention design, which are developed before intervention delivery to participating providers. The unpredictable nature of implementation in real-world practice required unplanned adaptations, which were also considered and documented. Attendance and participation rates were examined and qualitative assessment of reported participant experience supported the feasibility and acceptability of adaptations of the original CONNECT intervention in a new clinical context.ConclusionThis approach may serve as a useful guide for intervention implementation efforts applied in diverse clinical contexts and subsequent evaluations of intervention effectiveness.Trial registrationThe study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03300336) on September 28, 2017.

Team Building and Appreciative Inquiry in Research and Development Teams

The changing nature of work has given rise to team-based organization structures. For making teams effective, organizations should train their employees in teamwork skills regularly. Team building is one of the training interventions often used by practitioners. The present study aims to assess the impact of team-building and appreciative inquiry training interventions in a controlled experimental setting. The impact of the interventions was assessed on the following dependent variables: group communication, group decision making, group performance, and group membership satisfaction. The sample comprised of 90 scientists of a Research & Development organization, randomly allocated to experimental conditions. The results revealed a significant impact of both the interventions. The Mean scores of participants exposed to either of the interventions were more than control group except in group membership satisfaction, where mean scores of only the appreciative inquiry group participants were higher than the control group. The results highlight the importance of both interventions in organizations. The study has wide implications for organization development theory and practice.

Barriers and facilitators for implementation of a complex health services intervention in long-term care homes: a qualitative study using focus groups

BackgroundWith rising numbers of elderly people living in nursing homes in Germany, the need for on-site primary care is increasing. A lack of primary care in nursing homes can lead to unnecessary hospitalization, higher mortality, and morbidity in the elderly. The project CoCare (“coordinated medical care”) has therefore implemented a complex health intervention in nursing homes, using inter alia, regular medical rounds, a shared patient medical record and medication checks, with the aim of improving the coordination of medical care. This study reports upon the results of a qualitative study assessing the perceived barriers and facilitators of the implementation of CoCare by stakeholders.MethodsFocus group interviews were held between October 2018 and November 2019 with nurses, general practitioners and GP’s assistants working or consulting in a participating nursing home. A semi-structured modular guideline was used to ask participants for their opinion on different aspects of CoCare and which barriers and facilitators they perceived. Focus groups were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsIn total, N = 11 focus group interviews with N = 74 participants were conducted. We found six themes describing barriers and facilitators in respect of the implementation of CoCare: understaffing, bureaucracy, complexity, structural barriers, financial compensation, communication and collaboration. Furthermore, participants described the incorporation of the intervention into standard care.ConclusionBarriers perceived by stakeholders are well known in the literature (e.g. understaffing and complexity). However, CoCare provides a good structure to overcome barriers and some barriers will dissolve after implementation into routine care (e.g. bureaucracy). In contrast, especially communication and collaboration were perceived as facilitators in CoCare, with the project being received as a team building intervention itself.Trial registrationWHO UTN: U1111–1196-6611; DRKS-ID: DRKS00012703 (Date of Registration in DRKS: 2017 Aug 23).

동료들과 친해지고 싶어요 : 팀 구축 중재 전략이 여자 하키팀 응집력에 미치는 효과

동료들과 친해지고 싶어요 : 팀 구축 중재 전략이 여자 하키팀 응집력에 미치는 효과

Advancing team cohesion: Using an escape room as a novel approach

Objective An escape room was used to study teamwork and its determinants, which have been found to relate to the quality and safety of patient care delivery. This pilot study aimed to explore the value of an escape room as a mechanism for improving cohesion among interdisciplinary healthcare teams. Methods This research was conducted at a nonprofit medical center in Southern California. All participants who work on a team were invited to participate. Authors employed an interrupted within-subjects design, with two pre- and post-escape room questionnaires related to two facets of group cohesion: (belonging – (PGC-B) and morale (PGC-M)). Participants rated their perceptions of group cohesion before, after, and one-month after the escape room. The main outcome measures included PGC-B/M. Results Sixty-two teams participated (n = 280 participants) of which 31 teams (50%) successfully “escaped” in the allotted 45 minutes. There was a statistically significant difference in PGC between the three time periods, F(4, 254) = 24.10, p < .001; Wilks’ Λ = .725; partial η2 = .275. Results indicated significantly higher scores for PGC immediately after the escape room and at the one-month follow-up compared to baseline. Conclusions This work offers insights into the utility of using an escape room as a team building intervention in interprofessional healthcare teams. Considering the modifiability of escape rooms, they may function as valuable team building mechanisms in healthcare. More work is needed to determine how escape rooms compare to more traditional team building curriculums.

The Impact of Team Building Intervention on Internal Communication in Lia S Associates Branding & Design Organizations

This study aims to determine the impact of team building interventions on the internal communication of Lia S Associates Branding & Design. Based on the diagnose results, the organization has a lack of internal organizational communication which results in important information not being conveyed properly and makes employee unable to make decision properly. Therefore researchers conducted team building interventions to improve internal communication. Researcher used the action research method, with three stages namely Pre ODI, ODI and Post ODI. To see the changes after the intervention researchers compared the Pre Test & Post Test results, it was found that there were insignificant changes after the intervention, This is due to the lack of organizational commitment to the intervention process so that the intervention has not been able to bring about changes

Motivational contagion during exercise and the role of interpersonal relationships: An experimental study.

The present research focused on the phenomenon of motivational contagion while being physically active. It can be assumed that communication with significant others impacts upon a person's behavior in situations where communication or interaction is not explicitly intended to change behavior. Specifically, the purpose of the two present studies was to examine the effect of positive (i.e., intrinsically connoted) and negative (i.e., extrinsically connoted) self-disclosure from a confederate on the motivational state of an individual simultaneously exercising with the confederate. These studies sought to replicate the experimental study of Scarapicchia, Andersen, & Bengoechea (2013). In addition, to test the further assumption that the relationship impacts upon contagion processes, we included a short team-building intervention involving our confederate and the participant in order to manipulate the relationship quality (Study 1) and to compare friends with strangers (Study 2). Our results show that the participants who were exposed to the intrinsic cues (e.g., "I enjoy riding the bike, it's great that there is a study about it") reported greater interest and enjoyment while exercising on the bicycle ergometer than those who were exposed to extrinsic cues (e.g., "I don't enjoy cycling at all. I'm only participating because my teacher told me to do so"). The relationship between the confederate and participant was not found to affect the main effect.

Using the Team Environment AssessMent (TEAM) to Enhance Team Building in Sport

Team building (TB) is recognized as one of the most prevalent and promising group-development interventions applied in sport. However, most coaches lack the necessary information to effectively and efficiently target and enhance specific group characteristics and processes. The aim of this study was to develop and apply the Team Environment AssessMent (TEAM) to better inform a TB intervention. Twenty-three male adolescent athletes (mean age 17.9 years) from an elite hockey team completed the TEAM and measures of cohesion before and after a TB intervention. Based on initial TEAM scores, role acceptance and leadership were identified and purposefully targeted in the TB intervention. Athletes’ perceptions of role acceptance, leadership, and task cohesion were stronger after the TB intervention. Furthermore, follow-up interviews with team members and coaches provided additional empirical support for the utility of the TEAM to assess and enhance the efficiency of a TB intervention in sport.

Safety attitudes in hospital emergency departments: a systematic review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to perform and report a systematic review of published research on patient safety attitudes of health staff employed in hospital emergency departments (EDs).Design/methodology/approachAn electronic search was conducted of PsychINFO, ProQuest, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed and CINAHL databases. The review included all studies that focussed on the safety attitudes of professional hospital staff employed in EDs.FindingsOverall, the review revealed that the safety attitudes of ED health staff are generally low, especially on teamwork and management support and among nurses when compared to doctors. Conversely, two intervention studies showed the effectiveness of team building interventions on improving the safety attitudes of health staff employed in EDs.Research limitations/implicationsSix studies met the inclusion criteria, however, most of the studies demonstrated low to moderate methodological quality.Originality/valueTeamwork, communication and management support are central to positive safety attitudes. Teamwork training can improve safety attitudes. Given that EDs are the “front-line” of hospital care and patients within EDs are especially vulnerable to medical errors, future research should focus on the safety attitudes of medical staff employed in EDs and its relationship to medical errors.

Team Structure and Team Building Improve Human–Machine Teaming With Autonomous Agents

Research suggests that humans and autonomous agents can be more effective when working together as a combined unit rather than as individual entities. However, most research has focused on autonomous agent design characteristics while ignoring the importance of social interactions and team dynamics. Two experiments examined how the perception of teamwork among human–human and human–autonomous agents and the application of team building interventions could enhance teamwork outcomes. Participants collaborated with either a human or an autonomous agent. In the first experiment, it was revealed that manipulating team structure by considering your human and autonomous partner as a teammate rather than a tool can increase affect and behavior, but does not benefit performance. In the second experiment, participants completed goal setting and role clarification (team building) with their teammate prior to task performance. Team building interventions led to significant improvements for all teamwork outcomes, including performance. Across both studies, participants communicated more substantially with human partners than they did with autonomous partners. Taken together, these findings suggest that social interactions between humans and autonomous teammates should be an important design consideration and that particular attention should be given to team building interventions to improve affect, behavior, and performance.

Sustainable Long-Term Effects following Team-Building Interventions: A 29-Year Impact

Boss (1983) showed that while team-building interventions generally yield short-term success, regression effects occur within less than a year. He introduced Personal Management Interviews (PMIs) t...

A Season-Long Goal-Setting Intervention for Elite Youth Basketball Teams

The current study involved a season-long team goal-setting intervention within an elite youth sport population. Participants were 75 male basketball players (Mage = 16.23 years, SD = 1.40) from 6 teams that were randomly assigned to team goal-setting (n = 3) or no-treatment control (n = 3) conditions. The intervention condition received a 3-stage team goal-setting program throughout the season, whereas no systematic program was delivered to the control teams. All participants completed questionnaires assessing perceptions of team cohesion and motivational climate at 3 time-points throughout the season (beginning, midseason, end-season). Data were first analyzed using a multivariate analysis of covariance to determine differences in cohesion and motivational climate throughout the season, with pretest scores and age included as covariates. In addition, a series of multiple mediation analyses were conducted to determine whether motivational climate mediated the relationship between preseason and postseason cohesion perceptions. Findings suggest that although perceptions of cohesion remained constant for the control condition teams, those in the intervention condition experienced a decrease throughout the season. In addition, increase in ego-involving climate within the intervention group negatively affected the cohesion perceptions throughout the season; however, task-involving motivational climate decreased for teams in the intervention condition. These results highlight the importance of accounting for additional variables when conducting team-building interventions, and findings are discussed in relation to their implications for the literature, in concert with practical implications and future directions.Lay Summary: This study extends the team-building literature by conducting a season-long goal-setting intervention in elite youth sport. In recognizing previously identified limitations within the field, the intervention involved both direct and indirect delivery methods, was conducted across the entire season, and included additional constructs beyond cohesion and a control condition.