Showing papers on "Team management published in 2001"

Community mental health team management in severe mental illness: a systematic review.

Abstract: Background Community mental health teams are now generally recommended for the management of severe mental illness but a comparative evaluation of their effectiveness is lacking. Aims To assess the benefits of community mental health team management in severe mental illness. Method A systematic review was conducted of community mental health team management compared with other standard approaches. Results Community mental health team management is associated with fewer deaths by suicide and in suspicious circumstances (odds ratio=0.32, 95% Cl 0.09-1.12), less dissatisfaction with care (odds ratio=0.34, 95% Cl 0.2-0.59) and fewer drop-outs (odds ratio=0.61, 95% Cl 0.45-0.83). Duration of in-patient psychiatric treatment is shorter with community team management and costs of care are less, but there are no gains in clinical symptomatology or social functioning. Conclusions Community mental health team management is superior to standard care in promoting greater acceptance of treatment, and may also reduce hospital admission and avoid deaths by suicide. This model of care is effective and deserves encouragement.

Alternative uses of electronic learning systems for enhancing team performance

Abstract: Web‐based education and training programs are becoming widely offered at education institutions and companies today. The new electronic learning, or e‐learning, systems employed by these programs may also be used by work teams at organizations for facilitating creative energy in a virtual context to increase team performance. Various features such as discussion boards, virtual classrooms, digital drop boxes, task lists, calendars, and other features of the e‐learning systems can help teams work and communicate more efficiently. Explores potential features and strategies for team leaders and members to innovatively enhance team management and increase performance using e‐learning systems as a support tool.

Machiavellianism in Belbin team roles

Abstract: In the description of his team model, Belbin describes certain “allowable” weaknesses in the roles, the true‐life experience of teamworking, however, sometimes reveals behaviour among colleagues which is far from “allowable”. The Belbin model is silent on such behaviour, so an investigation of Machiavellianism within each of the Belbin team roles was undertaken to explore this darker side of team behaviour. The instrument chosen for the investigation was the Christie and Geis Machiavellianism IV scale. Sizeable correlations in the experimental data were obtained which were readily interpreted within the framework of the Belbin theory. Suggestions regarding aspects of team management were made based on the experimental findings.

Cross-functional teams in a concurrent engineering environment — principles, model, and methods

Abstract: Present research on Concurrent Engineering (CE) mainly focusses on technological aspects like information sharing, and common communication platforms, or coordination systems such as CE-Tools like CAD, CAM, DFA or QFD. In the European context, the implementation of Concurrent Engineering certainly involves changes of organizational management and people. traditional way of work. For the success of Concurrent Engineering, organizational, managerial and human issues are very important. This chapter presents the results of a current research project that is being carried out at the Chair and Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics of the University of Technology in Aachen, Germany. It shows the results of a study about cross functional teams in a Concurrent Engineering environment. Based on a multi-dimensional model of self directed work organization for teams in Concurrent Engineering, preconditions were generated to design and develop learning organizations which use Concurrent Engineering. Based on this team model for a learning organization in CE, requirements for soft skill qualification for team members were developed. In the core of the Concurrent Engineering Team research, there are three levels: individual issues, team issues and organizational issues. Individual issues focus on the differences among team members that may influence the cooperation in the team (different specialization, different work departments, different values, different socializations etc.). The team level issue focusses on the internal management of a CE team (goal system, distribution of tasks, sharing of team rules, interaction style, interpersonal relations, team leadership etc.). Finally, the organizational level can be regarded as a team-external support environment for team management (management, commitment and involvement, empowerment of the team leader etc.). The individual and organizational levels influence the team level factors. But cross functional organization effectiveness in a Concurrent Engineering environment is more than the design of teams. The implementation of Concurrent Engineering must change the whole organization. An effective organization can be based on eight principles of the Learning Organization, as pointed out by Senge or Probst. The objective for the design of this organization is to be self-organized. To reach these principles in a CE team environment, the involved team members must be qualified to be prepared for new work in a crossfunctional organization. A soft skill qualification system for Concurrent Engineering will be presented at the end of the research project. Contents of this qualification model include communication in teams, techniques of group discussion and project management.

Task and team management in the Distributed Software Project Management Tool

Abstract: The Distributed Software Project Management Tool (DSPMtool) is an integration of tools opening the realms of software project management to users distributed across the world. The first prototype presented the core of a software repository and configuration management. The authors present DSPMtool's second prototype and introduce new concepts of task and team management to improve the quality of software projects. Pursuing a task management system, no doubt introduces the need for a self-monitoring mechanism, which DSPMtool successfully provides. Born and raised in a Visual Basic environment, the second prototype continues to adapt to this environment, incorporating the new design into the existing architecture. The DSPMtool utilises Component Object Modeling (COM) and ActiveX technologies, as well as employing object-oriented software design methodology to build the architecture for the DSPMtool second prototype.

A Grounded Theory of Virtual Facilitation: Building Relationships with Virtual Team Members

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of the issues facing virtual team facilitators as they implement and facilitate virtual teams. The study asked the following research question: How do facilitators of virtual teams build relationships with their virtual team members? Because virtual teams are a new form of highly dynamic and ambiguous collaborative interaction, a major challenge of this study was the need to generate relevant data and analyze it in an appropriate manner. To achieve this, a research framework involving a training program format was instituted based on methods developed in Action Learning (AL), with data collection and analysis based on grounded theory approaches (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The AL-based 'virtual team facilitation' training program used in this study was designed to achieve the following three goals: to generate interest and incentive for would-be participants, to give participants information and skills to initiate and facilitate their own virtual teams, and to generate data for analysis. After being recruited, participants were broadly interviewed to determine their prior experience with virtual teams and their perceived needs and concerns in implementing and facilitating their own virtual team. The researcher then developed a ten-week training program to meet these needs. A pilot program and two subsequent training programs were held. During the training programs, each participant planned for, or actually initiated and facilitated a virtual team within their own organizational context. Every two weeks the participants met with the researcher to investigate issues related to initiating and facilitating virtual teams and to discuss issues that were arising in their own virtual teams. In all seven participants from a variety of New Zealand organizations took part in the study. The seven participants formed a diverse group, from the managing director of a one-man, global virtual organization who worked exclusively in global virtual team settings to a self-employed consultant managing a local virtual work team. The participants were in various stages of their virtual team lifecycle, from planning through initiation to full-scale facilitation and evaluation of a just-completed virtual team project. The participants' virtual team project tasks ranged from managing a political campaign on the other side of the world to developing and running a national web-based academic assessment center. A unique feature of this study is that it involves organizational professionals as opposed to students. Data was collected from face-to-face and telephone interviews, group discussions and e-mail correspondences. Data collection extended to several months beyond the end of the training sessions. Using grounded theory techniques, the data was analyzed using "a general method of (constant) comparative analysis". Data was collected and coded simultaneously over the course of the training sessions, with subsequent coding confirming, refining, extending and modify the data. The data showed very clearly that the facilitators considered it essential to build some level of personal relationship with their virtual team members before commencing a virtual working relationship. Further, a unifying framework of three inter-related theoretical steps in the overall process a virtual facilitator goes through when building relationships with virtual team members was inductively derived from this study. These three steps are Assessing Conditions, Choosing Level of Relationship, and Creating Strategies. This study is the first to identify the steps a virtual team facilitator undertakes when building relationships with virtual team members. It has implications for virtual team practice, research and training.

Invited commentary on: Community mental health team management in severe mental illness

Abstract: The community mental heath team (CMHT) has become the focus of mental health care in the UK and has generated a rich, if poorly focused, descriptive literature ([Peck, 1999][1]). Simmonds et al ([2001][2], this issue) report a systematic review, using a meta-analysis, of CMHT management compared

Using Risk Reduction to Measure Team Performance

Abstract: The use of teams is a common feature in many organizations. Effective management of teams, however, is not an easy task. Team management can be particularly difficult when the projects undertaken have significant levels of risk. This article reports on a risk-based metric used to assess team performance. The metric, which is comprised of technical, cost, and schedule components, was used to identify and track risks for seven project teams working in an engineering group that supported manufacturing systems design. When the metric was used, there was a significant decrease in the duration of team meetings. A survey of team members also showed significant improvement in individual perceptions of the success of meetings in addressing customer requirements when compared to other meetings they were involved in that did not use the metric. Additional analysis examined team members' level of satisfaction with how meetings were managed and overall project success. The article closes by noting some potenti...

Team management of collection development from a team member's perspective

Abstract: Team management in libraries is not a new model, yet most articles discussing the implementation and use of this model are from the administrative point of view. This article will review the literature and also provide the perspective of a team member from working on a team to managing collection development on a day-to-day basis. Issues such as communication and personalities are addressed. Given all of the challenges of managing collections today, those who share a common goal working with a team may be the solution to meet those challenges.

Psychological contracts for dynamic knowledge-based teamwork

Abstract: This paper analyzes the necessities of building dynamic knowledge teamwork and the characteristics of knowledge workers.Based on querying some typical assumptions about team management,it proposes some new viewpoints:The traditional performance appraisal and incentive principals should be changed to be impressed on commitment-focused incentives and value-based compensations,and only those managers who are able to make psychological contracts with the team members could become real team leaders.

CHIPDESIGN-a novel project-oriented microelectronics course

Abstract: As an initiative to increase students' interest in microelectronics and as an effort to introduce more learning situations involving so-called "soft skills" like presentations and team management into the curriculum, a novel project-oriented advanced-level microelectronics course has been offered. The common goal of all students in this one semester course is to design, implement, and verify an ASIC, starting with a rough specification, using state-of-the-art software tools and a standard cell design flow, down to the final layout specification and manufacturing. Students start to work in groups on sub-modules of the whole design, which requires them to coordinate their work, plan new tasks as the project progresses, and assume new responsibilities to succeed. A special presentation skills class helps students to prepare the mandatory final oral presentation. Lessons learned from two holdings of the course are summarized.

Collaboration Effects on Distributed Student Team Performance

Abstract: Face-to-face communication has long been considered the richest medium of communication and research has found that different mediums affect engineering design team interaction. However, the question left unanswered is how the reduction or elimination of face-to-face interaction impacts team performance. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate distance collaboration elements that impact student project team performance. Using students in a distance learning engineering course (E*Course) at Wright State University, traditional face-to-face teams and distributed teams were formed. Teams were required to complete a project with three main deliverables. Team management metrics were evaluated along with team performance. The coordination of work was found to be highly correlated with team performance for distributed teams. High performing distributed teams also had to work harder at organizing their work and adapting to their team members. None of the team management measures correlated with p...

Overcoming operational obstacles to privatization: the art and craft of contracting

Abstract: In earlier work, we noted that the quality and cost of government services can substantially influence a nation’s ability to compete in a global marketplace. One method used by public managers is to improve the management of government programs is to utilize the techniques such as team management, privatization, reengineering, benchmarking and quality management. (Cohen and Eimicke:1998) Of these innovation techniques, the one used most frequently is contracting out to private for-profit and nonprofit organizations to help deliver public goods and services. While this trend may reflect an ideological preference for smaller government, public manages have correctly concluded that they will more successfully implement public policy if they learn to work with private organizations.

Collaborative interaction: Military managers consulting with American Indians

Abstract: This research paper outlines methods for American Indians’ and military land managers’ collaborative work of accomplishing resource stewardship aimed at achieving both the Indians’ “One Earth” and military “Mission Preparedness” postures. The research goal is to benefit military facility managers’ by providing tools to establish interaction programs with Indian Tribes and organizations. The paper provides a process framework, gleaned from on-going programs, directives, and policies identified by reviewing books, journals, and reports. A comparison of the process-streams from several programs was conducted determining steps recurring in the programs. These repeated steps form key processes for use by installation managers in starting and conducting government-to-government relations with American Indians. The research goal is to provide valid ideas, to be implemented leading to improving methods for conducting American Indian Interaction Programs, providing cooperative team management of military installation land. The process strategies are derived from reviewing interaction programs and research into cooperation, collaboration, and management strategies.

Belbin and the formation of construction project teams

Abstract: This research focuses on the industry procedure used for the selection of members to new construction project teams. To date, a great deal of theory and methodology has been written about how to organise and manage teams, the objective of this paper is to benchmark current industry awareness of team formation skills with specific association to the work of Dr. R. Meredith Belbin. Most project managers are likely to have some knowledge of team theory, but it still appears that many project teams fail to deliver the predicted outcomes. A Construction Industry Report from the DETR (1999) states that, “construction projects on average overrun by 9% on time and 1% on cost compared with tender figures”. It may be that construction project managers work on the basis of implicit knowledge or are operating in an organisational structure of limited choices, defined demands and decision constraints. The implicit knowledge has been developed through experience, collating good and bad outcomes and aligning these via casual analysis of complex circumstances. The organisational and commercial pressures of a highly competitive industry create an environment that leaves little scope for team evaluation and selection. The team members’ specific functional demands create the basis for recruitment rather than research and methodological appraisal. This is especially so when the review and audit phase is omitted and the turnover in the construction project teams is high. The next construction project may be viewed as new and unique but the promotion of team accrual skills may provide a basis for improved project team performance. The work of Dr. R. Meredith Belbin offers an insight in to team dynamics, providing a framework for selection and possible performance enhancement. The aim of this study is to assess whether the guidelines suggested by Belbin’s Team Role Theory is applied in the field of construction project management and to ascertain the potential for improvement within this management theme. The research methodology concentrates on the formation of project teams within the contracting sector of the United Kingdom construction industry. The results are drawn from two separate, but inter-related studies. The first study is witness statements from senior managers (i.e. Project Directors) responsible for the management of human resources to construction projects; this has been obtained by means of a structured interview and addresses the issues related to project resource allocation. The second study assesses the response of practicing project / site managers to matters of management style and team philosophy by means of a postal questionnaire. This paper provides commentary on the research findings, identifying opportunities and threats to the empowerment of project management teams. Interpretations of the responses provide a valuable insight in to the current awareness of Belbin’s work within the construction industry and it’s potential for change on team management philosophy. The results offer positive verification for further analysis in to the promotion of project team formation skills.