How the Network Position of R&D Team Managers and Members Affects their Evaluations of Creative Performance

Monitoring the creative performance of R&D teams as the nucleus of creating new knowledge is inherently difficult. In most cases, only the team managers and team members can be tapped as reliable sources of information. However, there are indications that neither team managers nor team members provide a sufficient introspection to evaluate the R&D team's creative performance. This contradiction was investigated in 51 R&D teams by examining the team managers' and members' network position and their resulting performance evaluations. The central findings of the study are that team managers and members evaluate the creative performance of their R&D teams more negatively when the amount and variety of information they are supplied are insufficient and that there are no relevant differences between team managers' and team members' evaluations or network positions.     

Building Effective Project Teams

Most IS managers know that managing a project to its successful completion is not an easy task. Conflicts among team members often delay a project's schedule and can ruin the team's morale. Although most managers usually follow the traditional, authoritative style of management to control their team members, this style is no longer considered as effective as the more contemporary, collaborative approach. This article describes how IS managers can manage their projects more effectively by creating collaborative project teams.     

A knowledge capture approach for directly acquiring team mental models

In order to better study team behavior and performance, much attention has focused on obtaining team members' mental models for the purposes of analysis and prediction. This paper describes a knowledge capture approach and a supporting graphical tool that together allow for direct acquisition of team mental models in the form of conceptual graphs. We performed acquisition experiments on over one hundred teams where team members used the tool to specify their team process. In addition to acquiring team members' models, non-team observers created “expert” models of the team process for comparison. We obtained good results on accepted measures of recall and precision compared to the “expert” models.     

Team structure and team performance in IS development: a social network perspective

Teamwork during IS development (ISD) is an important issue. This paper discusses the relationship between team structure and ISD team performance using a social network approach. Based on empirical evidence collected from 25 teams in a system analysis and design course, we found that:

• (1)Group cohesion was positively related to overall performance.
• (2)Group conflict indexes were not significantly correlated with overall performance.
• (3)Group characteristics, e.g., cohesion and conflict, fluctuated in different phases, but in later stages, much less cohesion occurred and the advice network seemed to be very important.
• (4)Group structures seemed to be a critical factor for good performance.

Further in-depth studies were conducted on teams exhibiting the highest and lowest performance to determine their differences from a sociogram analysis perspective.     

A model of information systems development project performance

abstract. Performance in information systems development (ISD) projects can be critical to business success. But, while project performance has been the subject of much debate, there has been little empirical research into its determinants. A survey of IS projects in the UK and New Zealand is analysed to test hypotheses concerning performance in terms of both project completion and budget (time-cost) variances. Subsequently, a secondary analysis of the findings is used to build a more complete empirical model of project performance. The paper helps to develop the theory of IS development project performance and also has significant implications for practice. Discussion of the findings highlights the importance of project team dynamics, risk management, senior management support for strategic projects and user participation in ensuring successful IS project performance.     

Vendors’ perspectives on trust and control in offshore information systems outsourcing

Whereas most discussion of outsourcing has concentrated on the clients’ perspective, we investigated the formation of offshore IS vendors’ trust in their client and the client's control over the vendor; these were assumed to affect the vendor's performance. Focusing on the Japan–China offshoring context, we conducted a survey of 110 project managers in nine Chinese IS outsourcers. Our findings indicated that trust had a significant effect on project quality but little on cost adherence; the relationship between control and the two vendor performance measures were the opposite of this. Furthermore, information sharing, communication quality, and inter-firm adaptation emerged as three significant contributors to the vendor's trust in the client; goal setting and cultural blending turned out to be significant in influencing the client's control over the vendor. One of the key contributions and implications of our research was that certain offshore client behaviors could shape vendor performance by influencing the vendor's trust in the client and client's control over the vendor, beyond formal contracts. These findings may be useful for both offshore vendors and clients in developing successful IS outsourcing.     

Pre-project partnering impact on an information system project,project team and project manager

Information system (IS) managers have long recognised the need to use project management approaches in the design and delivery of their system development projects. The result has been the widespread use of project teams headed by a project leader or manager. However, given the fact that there has been a low success rate for IS projects, there is a growing need to seek out new methods and controls for projects. One approach involves the practice of altering the project environment prior to the commencement of project tasks. To determine whether such pre-project activities may be effective, a model is proposed and tested relating the activities to the performance of the project manager and characteristics of an effective project team. Data from a sample of 186 project team members indicate that the pre-project activities lead to more effective teams and managers and eventually to project success. Thus, it is important that organisations begin work on projects at an earlier stage.     

Entrepreneurial Leadership and New Ventures: Creativity in Entrepreneurial Teams

This study tests the view that new venture's innovative capability is influenced by the interaction of a lead entrepreneur's leadership and his or her entrepreneurial team members' creativity, as measured by the creation of patents. Focusing on 112 entrepreneurial teams in Taiwan's high‐tech new ventures, the findings suggest that lead entrepreneurs who are risk‐taking, pro‐active and innovative can stimulate their entrepreneurial team members' creativity. Moreover, new venture's innovative capability can be improved by the joint contribution of higher entrepreneurial leadership and more creativity in entrepreneurial teams. The findings also imply that the contingent impact of creativity in teams on the leadership–innovation relationship needs to be considered.     

Contextualising collective efficacy in virtual team research: The essential role of collaborative technologies in the virtual team efficacy conceptual framework

One factor receiving contemporary interest from virtual team researchers is collective-level efficacy, that is, a team's shared belief in its collective abilities to work effectively. However, our understanding of this literature leads to two concerns. First, depending on traditional team-focused collective-level efficacy concepts conveys an indifferent view of technology that ignores decades of research explaining how virtual teams' reliance on collaborative technologies differentiates them from traditional teams. Second, the information systems literature has largely ignored the concept of collective-level efficacy in virtual team research. That collective-level efficacy is underexamined in IS research is disappointing, given the growing recognition (outside the IS literature) that it is crucial to virtual team success. This absence becomes even more concerning given that IS researchers developed the concept of virtual team efficacy (VTE) specifically for virtual team settings. Unlike collective-level efficacy measures designed for traditional team settings, VTE incorporates technology into its conceptual definition and the operationalization of its measurement indicators. Thus, it is a stronger predictor of virtual team outcomes. To demonstrate its importance to IS research, we used a deductive theory-driven approach to propose and empirically evaluate whether VTE indirectly acts on virtual team effectiveness through the critical concepts of trust and participants' perceptions of problems associated with the collaboration inhibitors of time difference, geographical separation, and cultural differences. This research contributes significantly to the literature by confirming VTE's relationship to important virtual team success factors and informing IS researchers about the appropriate choice of constructs when studying collective-level efficacy in virtual team settings.     

Impacts of collaborative IS on software development project success in Indian software firms: a service perspective

The collaborative work of team members has become a common occurrence in software development projects. Collaborative information systems (CIS), designed to facilitate and support teamwork, appear critical for software project success. However, the quality and convenience of the services and functions delivered by CIS have not received robust attention in academia. Hence, the current study investigates the role of the CIS service characteristics of service quality and service convenience in teamwork and software development project success using DeLone and McLean’s (D&M) Information System (IS) Success Model as the theoretical framework. This study incorporates the success indicators of teamwork quality, teamwork performance, and project success as measured by software quality and project performance. Data from 153 Indian software companies confirm that collaborative IS services, as well as teamwork quality/performance, are central to software development project success. We believe that the findings of this study will be helpful to project managers of software development firms.     

Successful extreme programming: Fidelity to the methodology or good teamworking?

ContextDeveloping a theory of agile technology, in combination with empirical work, must include assessing its performance effects, and whether all or some of its key ingredients account for any performance advantage over traditional methods. Given the focus on teamwork, is the agile technology what really matters, or do general team factors, such as cohesion, primarily account for a team’s success? Perhaps the more specific software engineering team factors, for example the agile development method’s collective ownership and code management, are decisive.ObjectiveTo assess the contribution of agile methodology, agile-specific team methods, and general team factors in the performance of software teams.MethodWe studied 40 small-scale software development teams which used Extreme Programming (XP). We measured (1) the teams’ adherence to XP methods, (2) their use of XP-specific team practices, and (3) standard team attributes, as well as the quality of the project’s outcomes. We used Williams et al.’s (2004a) [33] Shodan measures of XP methods, and regression analysis.ResultsAll three types of variables are associated with the project’s performance. Teamworking is important but it is the XP-specific team factor (continuous integration, coding standards, and collective code ownership) that is significant. Only customer planning (release planning/planning game, customer access, short releases, and stand-up meeting) is positively related to performance. A negative relationship between foundations (automated unit tests, customer acceptance tests, test-first design, pair programming, and refactoring) is found and is moderated by craftsmanship (sustainable pace, simple design, and metaphor/system of names). Of the general team factors only cooperation is related to performance. Cooperation mediates the relationship between the XP-specific team factor and performance.ConclusionClient and team foci of the XP method are its critical active ingredients.     

Identity ambiguity and the promises and practices of hybrid e-HRM project teams

The role of IS project team identity work in the enactment of day-to-day relationships with their internal clients is under-researched. We address this gap by examining the identity work undertaken by an electronic human resource management (e-HRM) ‘hybrid’ project team engaged in an enterprise-wide IS implementation for their multi-national organisation. Utilising social identity theory, we identify three distinctive, interrelated dimensions of project team identity work (project team management, team ‘value propositions’ (promises) and the team’s ‘knowledge practice’). We reveal how dissonance between two perspectives of e-HRM project identity work (clients’ expected norms of project team’s service and project team’s expected norms of themselves) results in identity ambiguity. Our research contributions are to identity studies in the IS project management, HR and hybrid literatures and to managerial practice by challenging the assumption that hybrid experts are the panacea for problems associated with IS projects.     

An integrated computer-based procedure for teamwork in digital nuclear power plants

Computer-based procedures (CBPs) are expected to improve operator performance in nuclear power plants (NPPs), but they may reduce the openness of interaction between team members and harm teamwork consequently. To support teamwork in the main control room of an NPP, this study proposed a team-level integrated CBP that presents team members' operation status and execution histories to one another. Through a laboratory experiment, we compared the new integrated design and the existing individual CBP design. Sixty participants, randomly divided into twenty teams of three people each, were assigned to the two conditions to perform simulated emergency operating procedures. The results showed that compared with the existing CBP design, the integrated CBP reduced the effort of team communication and improved team transparency. The results suggest that this novel design is effective to optim team process, but its impact on the behavioural outcomes may be moderated by more factors, such as task duration.

Practitioner Summary: The study proposed and evaluated a team-level integrated computer-based procedure, which present team members' operation status and execution history to one another. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional procedure design, the integrated design reduces the effort of team communication and improves team transparency.     

Mediators between coordination and IS project performance

Successful IS projects result from coordination among team members and stakeholders. We examined the effects of horizontal and vertical coordination on project performance. A total of 169 responses from IS project managers listed in the Project Management Institute of the USA were solicited, obtained, and analyzed. The results indicated that horizontal coordination can enhance the level of leadership empowerment and knowledge transfer, and help to clarify the mission and objectives among team members, while vertical coordination can enhance knowledge transfer. The results further suggested that project performance was improved by empowering team members, promoting knowledge transfer among team members and specifying clear mission and project objectives.     

The impact of legitimacy-based motives on IS adoption success: An institutional theory perspective

Firms frequently adopt new information systems (IS). To better understand IS adoption, research has been focused on motives for an IS adoption. In this study, three legitimacy-based motives (coercive, mimetic, and normative pressure) are examined for their impact on two success determinants (i.e., project management approach and team competence) and the subsequent impact of the success determinants on IS adoption success. In a quantitative study of Australian firms, we found that coercive pressure and normative pressure influence the project management approach, whereas mimetic pressure influences team competence. Both the project management approach and team competence in turn influence IS adoption success.     

Building Effective Project Teams

Most IS managers know that managing a project to its successful completion is not an easy task. Conflicts among team members often delay a project's schedule and can ruin the team's morale. Although most managers usually follow the traditional, authoritative style of management to control their team members, this style is no longer considered as effective as the more contemporary, collaborative approach. This article describes how IS managers can manage their projects more effectively by creating collaborative project teams.     

TEAM SIZE AND PRODUCTIVITY IN SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT Bigger Does Not Always Mean Better

Abstract

IS managers know that the performance of individuals in systems development groups changes under various circumstances. People often have lower performance levels in groups than their individual capabilities would indicate. This article examines the effect of team size on systems development productivity and overall job performance and recommends techniques to mitigate the negative effects of large team size through the use of such tools and techniques as computer-aided software engineering and object-oriented programming.     

Discriminative effect of user influence and user responsibility on information system development processes and project management

Context

User participation in information system (IS) development has received much research attention. However, prior empirical research regarding the effect of user participation on IS success is inconclusive. This might be because previous studies overlook the effect of the particular components of user participation and other possible mediating factors.

Objective

The objective of this study is to empirically examine how user influence and user responsibility affect IS project performance. We inspect whether user influence and user responsibility improve the quality of the IS development process and in turn leads to project success, or if they have a direct positive influence on project success.

Method

We conducted a survey of 151 IS project managers in order to understand the impact of user influence and user responsibility on IS project performance. Regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship among user influence, user responsibility, organizational technology learning, project control, user-developer interaction, and IS project management performance.

Results

This study shows that user responsibility and user influence have a positive effect on project performance through the promotion of IS development processes as mediators, including organizational technology learning, project control, and user-IS interaction.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that user responsibility and user influence respectively play an important role in indirectly and directly impacting project management performance. Results of the analysis imply that organizations and project managers should use both user participation and user influence to improve processes performance, and in turn, increase project success.     

A method for conflict detection based on team intention inference

One of the typical causes of errors in team cooperative activities, such as in central control rooms of power plants and cockpits in aircrafts, is conflicts among team members' intentions. If mutual awareness and communication were perfectly established and maintained, conflicts could be detected and recovered by team members; however, this does not happen in practice. In this paper, we provide a framework for detecting conflicts among team members' intentions based on team intention inference, aiming to make machines function as a coordinator for cooperative activities. In previous work, we developed a method for team intention inference based on a definition of ‘we-intention’. We-intention is other-regarding intentions relating to situations in which some agents act together, and is represented as a set of individual intentions and mutual beliefs. In this framework, a conflict can be defined as a set of individual intentions and false beliefs (undesired procedures), and detected by searching for such combinations. We applied the proposed method to the operation of a plant simulator operated by a two-person team, and it was confirmed through an experiment that this method could list candidates for conflicts by type and set the actual conflict high in priority in the tested context.     

Managing change in an information systems development organization: understanding developer transitions from a structured to an object‐oriented development environment1

Abstract. Object‐oriented systems development has attracted great interest in the information systems (IS) field because of a belief that using object‐oriented development (OD) makes it easier to develop and maintain software plus achieve software reuse. However, the transition from structured to OD may be especially challenging for IS developers. In fact, some argue that structured development (SD) knowledge may interfere with the ability to learn OD approaches because of a form of proactive interference. To understand how knowledge of SD concepts influences the ability to gain OD knowledge, we assessed a team of IS developers' understanding of structured and object‐oriented concepts at the beginning of their first OD project and repeated our assessment 1 year later. Developers increased their understanding of some object‐oriented concepts, but these changes were associated with increases in understanding of one of the SD concepts. Further, at the beginning and end of the project, developers' mental models were highly consistent with one another and that of an OD expert with regard to most OD concepts. It appears that the formal training that developers received allowed them to attain a good understanding of most object‐oriented concepts. These findings challenge the idea that structured developers must ‘unlearn’ SD to adopt OD approaches. Future research may wish to examine the different types of software development knowledge to ascertain which are amenable to positive transfer and which are more likely to suffer from proactive interference.