Organizational Teamwork Research Articles

Impacts of respect, support, and teamwork on hotel employees' morale in Egypt

Employees' morale plays a vital role in the success of any organization. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of some organizational variables, i.e. respect, support, and teamwork on employees' morale in Egyptian five-star hotels. From total number of 157 five-star hotels in Egypt, a random sample of 55 hotels was selected, representing 35% of the population. The results of the study revealed a significant relationship between employees' perception of respect, support, and teamwork and their morale. The findings of the study provide a clear indication that hotel management has to consider ways of improving workplace relationships by making efforts to support employees, respect their needs, and enhance teamwork in order to heighten morale.

Organization Behaviour and Development-Related Issues in Effective Implementation of ISO 9001

The demand for ISO 9001 certification is increasing, both from the public and private sectors. The adoption of a quality management system should be a strategic decision of an organization. The design and implementation of an organization's quality management system is influenced by varying needs, particular objectives, the products provided, the processes employed and the size and structure of the organization. It is necessary to explore the issues related to effective implementation of ISO 9001. The objective of this article is to scrutinize the OBD issues, facts, and problems related to implementing ISO 9001 in various industries in order to collect and categorize these factors and issues for finding common critical factors. Authors tried to find related data from each industry with the aim of internet, observation, interview, and questionnaire. After data collection, the Meta analysis will be used to achieve probable common factors or factors that have had more influence on implementing ISO9001 successfully. The influential issues in effective implementation of ISO9001 can be classified into internal and external issues. There are several OBD-related issues like organizational culture, leadership commitment, team working and communication that have a crucial role in this area. The three most important OBD–related issues are organizational culture, leadership commitment and team working.

Patients' views of teamwork in the emergency department offer insights about team performance.

Research into efforts to engage patients in the assessment of health-care teams is limited. To explore, through qualitative methods, patient awareness of teamwork-related behaviours observed during an emergency department (ED) visit. Researchers used semi-structured question guides for audio-recorded interviews and analysed their verbatim transcripts. Researchers conducted individual phone interviews with 6 teamwork subject matter experts (SMEs) and held 5 face-to-face group interviews with patients and caregivers (n=25) about 2weeks after discharge from the emergency department (ED). SMEs suggested that a range of factors influence patient perspectives of teams. Many patients perceived the health-care team within the context of their expectations of an ED visit and their treatment plan. Four themes emerged: (i) patient-centred views highlight gaps in coordination and communication; (ii) team processes do concern patients; (iii) patients are critical observers of ways that team members present their team roles; (iv) patients' observations of team members relate to patients' views of team effectiveness. Analysis also indicated that patients viewed health-care team members' interactions with each other as proxy for how team members actually felt about patients. Results from both sets of interviews (SME and patient) indicated that patient observations of teamwork could add to assessment of team processes/frameworks. Patients' understanding about teamwork organization seemed helpful and witnessed interteam communication appeared to influence patient confidence in the team. Patients perspectives are an important part of assessment in health care and suggest potential areas for improvement through team training.

Teaming up for better hospital medicine

FigureFigurePhysician assistants (PAs) are a valuable part of the hospitalist team, and the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) has recognized that by expanding its popular Fellows program to include PAs. Hospital medicine is the fastest growing specialty in the history of American medicine. The forces that have fueled this rapid growth include the pursuit of higher-quality patient care among a higher acuity patient population, hospitals' realization of the financial advantages of hospitalists managing their patients, and the relative decrease in resident workforce as a result of duty hour restrictions by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. These are not likely to abate soon, so the demand for practitioners of hospital medicine will intensify. PAs are and will continue to be called upon in increasing numbers to fulfill this growing need. Conceptually, PA-based teams have a lot to offer the field of hospital medicine, which has embraced the value of a team-based approach in caring for complex and severely ill patients. A variety of models for the hospitalist physician-PA team has emerged, each adapted to the unique requirements and characteristics of the clinical environment. This nascent landscape of PA-based hospitalist teams brings with it challenges and opportunities-–two sides of the same coin. A rigorous evaluation urgently is needed to quantify the promise of the synergistic addition of value to patient care by PA-based teams. The various models of these teams need to be described and best practices established to guide their deployment. Simultaneously, PAs must become active in hospital medicine program leadership and design. In November 2012, we at SHM expanded the eligibility for our Fellow in Hospital Medicine (FHM) program to include PAs, NPs, and hospital medicine practice administrators. The program, which has inducted more than 1,100 Fellows and Senior Fellows since 2009, is designed to recognize clinicians who have demonstrated a commitment to hospital medicine, the Society's Core Competencies, system change, and quality improvement principles.1 The expansion of the program exemplifies SHM's philosophy that team-based collaboration is a cornerstone of quality healthcare. In the words of SHM Immediate Past President Shaun Frost, MD, SFHM, “The standards by which SHM Fellows are measured promote the highest quality of patient care and system efficiency. And they can be equally applied to physicians, PAs, NPs, and administrators within the hospital medicine specialty.” Candidates for the SHM Fellows designation submit applications that demonstrate experience, organizational teamwork and leadership, and a dedication to lifelong learning. The most recent Fellow in Hospital Medicine (FHM) and Senior Fellow in Hospital Medicine (SFHM) classes were inducted at SHM's 2013 Annual Meeting last May. This group included the inaugural class of PA Fellows. SHM has long aspired to be a “big tent” society, and this extension of Fellow recognition, unique among medical professional organizations, proves that we are serious about it. For more information about the program and qualifications for candidacy, visit http://www.hospitalmedicine.org/fellow.

Gap of Proficiency for Skilled Workers and Employer Needs Towards Non-technical Skills for Electronic Sector in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Abstract This paper focuses on the gap of proficiency for skilled workers and employer needs towards Non-technical Skills for electronics sector in Klang Valley, Malaysia. This research is a quantitative research that uses a survey as the medium. There are seven elements in Non-technical Skills which are; communication skills, creative thinking and problem solving skills, information management skills, leadership and organizational skills, teamwork skills, work attitudes, and personal traits and self-management skills. Mean for all Non-technical Skills proficiency on skilled workers and the Non-technical Skills needed by the employer for their workers is used in this study. Radar chart is used to present the data and T-test is used to analyze the data. Findings from the T-test show that there is a significant gap between all Non-technical Skills proficiency on skilled workers and the Non-technical Skills needed by employer for their workers for electronics sector in Klang Valley, Malaysia. So we can conclude that the skilled workers do not fulfil the needs from employers towards Non-technical Skills proficiency. From this research, we suggest that the company should provide trainings which focus on enhancing the Non-technical Skills for skilled workers in the industry by using the National Dual Training System (NDTS).

How do Thinking Styles Influence Collaborative Dispositions? A Study on the Relationships between Thinking Styles and Collaborative Dispositions for Youngsters in Taiwan

Collaboration dispositions keep attracting high attention in the business world for organizational competition and teamwork efficiency. Educators also highly value the cultivation of youngsters' thinking strategies and styles which facilitate their learning performance and even career achievement. This study was conducted to identify the relationship among thinking styles (including positive thinking and negative thinking) and collaborative dis- positions. Three self-rating instruments were employed to survey 901 college students' experience as research data. A series of analyses on the reliability and validity of instruments were conducted to validate the measure- ment model. The SEM analysis results indicated the structural model and the influences of both thinking styles on the youngsters' collaborative dispositions. In addition, it was concluded that only the individuals highly evalu- ating others were willing to and able to collaborate with others well. On the other hand, the factor of maladjust- ment and little desire for change was the dominant negative thinking which severely eliminated collaborative dispositions. Several suggestions were accordingly provided on the bases of research conclusions.

The impact of subgroup type and subgroup configurational properties on work team performance.

Scholars have invoked subgroups in a number of theories related to teams, yet certain tensions in the literature remain unresolved. In this article, we address 2 of these tensions, both relating to how subgroups are configured in work teams: (a) whether teams perform better with a greater number of subgroups and (b) whether teams perform better when they have imbalanced subgroups (majorities and minorities are present) or balanced subgroups (subgroups are of equal size). We predict that the impact of the number and balance of subgroups depends on the type of subgroup-whether subgroups are formed according to social identity (i.e., identity-based subgroups) or information processing (i.e., knowledge-based subgroups). We first propose that teams are more adversely affected by 2 identity-based subgroups than by any other number, yet the uniquely negative impact of a 2-subgroup configuration is not apparent for knowledge-based subgroups. Instead, a larger number of knowledge-based subgroups is beneficial for performance, such that 2 subgroups is worse for performance when compared with 3 or more subgroups but better for performance when compared with no subgroups or 1 subgroup. Second, we argue that teams perform better when identity-based subgroups are imbalanced yet knowledge-based subgroups are balanced. We also suggest that there are interactive effects between the number and balance of subgroups-however, the nature of this interaction depends on the type of subgroup. To test these predictions, we developed and validated an algorithm that measures the configurational properties of subgroups in organizational work teams. Results of a field study of 326 work teams from a multinational organization support our predictions.

Influence of Resource Allocation on Teamwork and Team Performance Within Self-Organizing Teams

A critical challenge to our nation’s Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) community is the complex task of identifying clandestine networks in cultural “clutter” for counter-terror / counter- insurgency operations. MIT Lincoln Laboratory has developed an ISR “Red/Blue” exercise in which teams work to uncover a complex “Red” network within a simulated urban environment. Teams use wide-area persistent surveillance data and decision support tools to trace relationships between individuals, events, and sites. This exercise was used to investigate the influence of resources on teamwork and performance, modeling the activity as a two-stage decision process, and using Signal Detection Theory (SDT) as a framework to describe performance at each stage and derive metrics to describe teamwork. Team performance and teamwork were investigated within the naturalistic behavior of self-organizing teams, comprising of different organization structures, teamwork behaviors, and communication interactions that were promoted by resource allocation. The affordances provided by available resources drove the mechanisms for communication and collaboration that distinguished the different team types. The research was executed in two phases. Phase 1 involved 46 teams, of varying team size (1, 3, 4, 6, 8) and number of computers per team (1, 2, 3, 4, 6). Results from Phase 1 showed that increasing resources (people and computers) had the potential to improve performance, but once team size grew beyond an optimal size, it caused degradation in performance. Phase 1 also showed that balanced communication interactions amongst team members were indicative of better teamwork. This phase also demonstrated that the exercise, as a two-stage process, could be decomposed into taskwork and teamwork components. Phase 2 extended the study by focusing on the teamwork component of the process within 3-person teams. By holding the team size variable constant, the investigation specifically studied the effect of resource allocation (1, 2, or 3 computers) on teamwork, organization, and performance. Phase 2 results showed that providing each team member his/her own information source (computer), which provided each person the direct ability to produce and process information, resulted in improved teamwork and performance. The indication, then, in designing high performing teams, would be to facilitate each person’s ability to acquire, generate, process, and share their own information as active contributors to the team process and performance.

Terms of Organizational Psychology, Personnel Empowerment and Team Working: A Case Study

Personnel empowerment is described as increasing authority of employees to make decisions and process of enhancing employees in organizations by means of training, sharing and team working. It is the perception that employees can help determine their own roles, accomplish meaningful work and influence workplace decisions. Empowerment has been studied from different perspectives, such as employee perceptions, leadership behaviors and team working. Researchers suggest that empowerment strategies and team working can offer real benefits for employees and managers. Personnel empowerment in organizations is the perception by members that they have the opportunity to help determine work roles, accomplish meaningful work, and influence important decisions. Empowerment is commonly considered important because of the potential benefits that can result from it, including increased employee commitment, improved quality, more innovation, increased job satisfaction and productivity. Thus, organizational teamwork is a tool in making use of the synergetic effe ct of the personnel empowerment.

The relationship between servant leadership, affective team commitment and team effectiveness

Orientation: Value-based leadership practices play a critical role in teamwork in high-performance organisations. Research purpose: The aim of the study was to empirically validate a theoretical model explicating the structural relationships between servant leadership, affective team commitment and team effectiveness. Motivation for the study: The increased eliance on teams for production calls for an analysis of the role of follower-focused leadership practices in enhancing eam effectiveness.Research design, approach and method: A non-probabilityand multicultural sample consisting of 202 primary and secondary school teachers was drawn from 32 chools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.Main findings: High levels of reliability were found and uni-dimensionality of the subscales was demonstrated through exploratory factor analyses. Good fit with the data was found for the measurement models through confirmatory factor analyses. Structural equation modelling showed a reasonable fit for the structural model. Positive relationships were found amongst servant leadership, team effectiveness and affective team commitment. Standard multiple regression analysis showed that affective team commitment moderated the relationship between servant leadership and team effectiveness.Practical/managerial implications: The findings emphasise the central role played by servant leadership and affective team commitment in team performance. Servant leadership fosters team effectiveness if employees feel committed to their work team.Contribution/value-add: The servant leadership style alone may not be a sufficient condition for team effectiveness; other variables, such as affective team commitment, also play a role. The study suggested specific variables that may also combine with leadership to positively influence team effectiveness.

Managing team performance: saying and paying

PurposeIn a turbulent economic climate, characterised by pressures to improve productivity and reduce costs, performance management has a more central role in helping to ensure competitive advantage. A focus on teamwork has become an almost universal feature of performance management in modern organizations. It is essential that messages concerning teamwork and rewards are clear and seen to be fair if they are to bring about commitment to discretionary effort, which is increasingly a key feature in gaining competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to focus on whether employee perceptions of the fairness of performance management systems have an impact on the effectiveness of team performance and discretionary effort.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the concepts of equity and motivation to explore the outcomes, procedures and implementation of teamwork in contemporary organizations. It draws on a range of theoretical frameworks from both philosophy and social science, examines current practices and experiences and considers future trends. Empirical research includes a ten‐year study of practising managers and also ethnography, questionnaires and interviews in two large manufacturing and service organizations.FindingsInvestigations show that the espoused theory of organizations concerning the need for teamwork is often at odds with their theory in use. This frequently creates both actual and perceived injustice in organizations and a tension between managing performance and encouraging engagement, which is dependent on perceptions of fairness.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that organizations are sending out mixed messages that are causing tensions which may affect productivity.Originality/valueThis research opens a debate that seeks to assess the contribution of teamwork to the achievement of an organization's goals and how this may be applied in the practice of performance management.

The Individual-Level and Team-Level Effects of Dominance and Prestige in Organizational Work teams

In this paper, we examined the sources by which individuals gain social influence in organizational work teams. In a scenario study among 94 university students (i.e., Study 1), we provided initial...

Personalidad y escuela, cepa de una expresión artística.

Taking a look at the university theater phenomenon through its social significance in current times and its historical nooks and crannies in the seventies and nineties, this essay seeks to decipher the task of the student, the teacher and the university, and the relationships that arise between them in the process of generating a method that forges personality and school based on organized teamwork. Our considerations are based on the experiences and lessons learned from the practice of drama school itself as an organic response to the needs of professional theatrical movements in the region. Stock of artistic expressions, birthplace of theaters, experience in the construction of a theoretical/practical line of work which explores and does research in action. Universes that are interconnected by the instructional process in the classroom and seek to strengthen the creative process and the theoretical foundation of theatrical practice in our latitudes.

Organizational Performance and Teamwork

Organizational Performance and Teamwork

A Leadership Challenge

The purpose of this study was to measure RNs' perceptions of teamwork skills and behaviors in their work environment during a multiphase multisite nursing organizational teamwork development initiative. Teamwork is essential for patient safety in healthcare organizations and nursing teams. Organizational development supporting effective teamwork should include a just culture, engaged leadership, and teamwork training. A cross-sectional survey study of bedside RNs was conducted in one 5-hospital healthcare system after a TeamSTEPPS teamwork training initiative. TeamSTEPPS teamwork training related to improved RN perceptions of leadership. Initiatives to align the perspectives and teamwork efforts of leaders and bedside nurses are indicated and should involve charge nurses in the design.

Evaluación de los cursos de simulación médica avanzada para la formación de los médicos residentes de pediatría en situaciones de emergencia

ObjectiveTo analyse the usefulness of simulation courses in paediatric emergencies in a new training program for paediatrics residents. MethodsAn advanced simulation course with practical cases of paediatric emergencies was designed. Assessment of each clinical case was rated from 1 to 5 in the following sections: organization and coordination of team work, physician orders, monitoring, clinical examination, treatments, interpretation of laboratory tests, parent information, and global evaluation. The results were compared by year of residency of the participants. Student satisfaction with the course was assessed through a survey. ResultsThere were six courses of simulation with 55 residents, of whom 29% were second-year residents (R2), 47% third year (R3), and 23% fourth year (R4). The median global score was 3.4 (IR: 3.2 to 3.7). The highest score was the initial monitoring (median: 4; IR: 4 to 4.3) and the initial medical examination (median: 4; IR: 3.4 to 4.2). The worst aspect was the information to the parents (median: 3; IR: 2.3 to 3.4). There were no significant differences in the global score according to the year of residency. The residents felt very positive about simulation courses, emphasizing the realism and practicality. ConclusionsThe inclusion of advanced simulation courses in paediatric emergencies in the training program of paediatric residents is a useful educational method, and is appreciated by residents.

History and current condition of Russian psychiatry

Russian psychiatry has a dramatic history, and until now has been at a transitional stage of development. It is facing problems not only common in world psychiatry, but also specific to eastern Europe, in particular Russia. Starting from the beginning of the 1990s, considerable changes have occurred in psychiatry, especially after 1992 when the law on psychiatric care and guarantees of citizens’ rights in its provision was adopted. It became the ideological and legislative basis for reforms. However, there are definite obstacles to structural reforms in psychiatry. They are unfavourable technical conditions in many psychiatric clinics, hypercentralization of psychiatric services, shortage of clinical psychologists and social workers in psychiatry, some difficulties in cooperation between psychiatric and general medical institutions. Economic difficulties in the transition period of Russia's social development prevent the overcoming of these problems. They are being actively discussed and some of them are being gradually solved, e.g. the organization of team work in mental health services, the increasing number of specialists on social work, and the involvement of non-government organizations in psychosocial rehabilitation.

The impact of antecedents supporting organizational innovation on employees’ psychological empowerment: An empirical study of Saudi and Jordanian industrial corporations

Various antecedents support the adoption of organizational innovation. Despite the extensive research on innovations, research focusing on how these antecedents affect psychological empowerment has remained thin. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of six antecedents supporting organizational innovation (employee participation, training and development, organizational culture, incentives, leadership pattern, and teamwork) on the four constructs of psychological empowerment (meaningfulness, competence, self-determination, and impact). Based on prior research, the study develops a number of testable hypotheses. It examines how employee participation, training and development, organizational culture, incentives, leadership pattern, and teamwork influence employees' psychological empowerment. The paper uses multiple regressions analyses and empirically tests these hypotheses using a sample of 249 employees working at Jordanian and Saudi industrial corporations. The result shows that all six antecedents of organizational innovation are positively related to psychological empowerment. In addition, 67.2% of the variation in employees’ psychological empowerment is explained by the six antecedents of organizational innovation. This empirical study reflects the need to strengthen different organizational innovation's antecedents’ capabilities to achieve an adequate level of employees' psychological empowerment and thus improve performance and foster innovation. Key words: Organizational innovation, physiological empowerment, industrial corporations, Jordan, Saudi Arabia.

Towards an integrated framework for Lean Six Sigma application: Lessons from the airline industry

By following a qualitative methodological approach, this article aims to investigate the critical factors influencing the application of Lean Six Sigma (L6σ) in an airline company. Secondary data were collected through an analysis of company's written procedures and quality assurance policies. In addition, primary data were collected through a number of interviews with managers. Findings suggest that there are particular factors that influence the implementation of L6σ such as leadership and strategic orientation, quality-driven organisational culture, continuous training, teamwork, customer satisfaction, and technical systems. This study supports the view that the above factors are not only significant for L6σ application but, also, can be seen as useful investigation tools in their potential application. This article has four major contributions. Firstly, it expands our understanding regarding the implementation of L6σ in the service industry, by exploring the interrelationship of both positive and negative factors affecting its application. Secondly, it focuses on the responses of managers, who always play the most significant role in the adoption sophisticated management practices. Thirdly, it explores L6σ application in an airline service industry, which seems to be neglected by the current literature. Finally, it provides future research studies with an integrated framework that can be investigated in many different organisations coming from other sectors, attempting to find ways of institutionalising L6σ philosophy in any organisational setting.

The Technological Innovation Journey of Hisense Group

This case illustrates key innovations that took place in Hisense Group, one of the leading companies in the electronic appliances industry in China, from 1990s to 2010. Several factors contributed to its leading position, including strategic positioning, consistent technological innovation over decades, and an efficient administrative system. Since 1992, Hisense has paid close attention to technological innovation. It makes it clear that R&D plays a dominant role in competition. Hisense has continuously invested heavily in R&D and restructured its R&D administrative system, including the organizational framework, incentive mechanisms, project management and teamwork. Hisense's strategy has resulted in major technological innovations. Hiview chip is a technological breakthrough, which helps the company gain competitive advantages.