Boosting the confidence of new product development teams: The role of team boundary spanning,team size and functional diversity

In today's highly interconnected, uncertain and dynamic business environment, team boundary spanning has become an important determinant of the performance of new product development (NPD) projects. Despite the positive evidence supporting the use of boundary spanning activities by NPD teams, little is still known about how boundary spanning teams become high-performance teams. The current study advances research on this subject by examining the mediating effect of team potency on the relationship between team boundary spanning and new product performance, as well as the moderating effects of team size and functional diversity on the relationship between team boundary spanning and team potency. Data from a time-lagged survey study of 140 NPD projects found that team boundary spanning can promote team potency that, in turn, results in greater new product quality and new product creativity. The positive effect of team boundary spanning on team potency was found to be more pronounced for NPD teams of medium size and high levels of functional diversity.     

Individual learning goal orientations in self‐managed team‐based organizations: A study on individual and contextual variables

Previous research has shown the importance of individual learning goal orientation for both job and task performance and consequently organizational performance. Despite its importance, knowledge on the antecedents of learning goal orientation remains scarce, especially in the context of self‐managing team‐based organizations. In fact, most of the research on goal orientation antecedents has been focused on individual characteristics, belief, and ability, while the contextual factors that might influence them remain unspecified. We build on and further extend earlier studies by jointly exploring the role of individual and contextual factors affecting individual learning orientation. In particular, this study combines individual informal social network, self‐efficacy, performance feedbacks, and team identification into a model that explains individuals' learning goal orientation within self‐managing team‐based organizations. The model was empirically tested on a sample of 104 individuals belonging to an R&D organization relying on self‐managing teams. Results show that performance feedback has a negative direct effect, while team identification has a positive direct effect on individual learning goal orientation. In addition, we found that individual self‐efficacy is a mediator of the relationships between performance feedback and brokerage in the advice network and individual learning goal orientation. Finally, we did not find a relationship between centrality in the friendship network and individual learning goal orientation.     

Concurrent Individual And Social Learning In Robot Teams

This article discusses effective mechanisms that enable a group of robots to autonomously generate, adapt, and enhance team behaviors while improving their individual performance simultaneously. Two promising team learning concepts, namely, cooperative learning and advice‐sharing, are integrated to provide a platform that encompasses a comprehensive approach to team‐performance enhancement. These methods were examined in relation to the performance characteristics of standard single‐robot Q‐learning to ascertain whether they retain viable learning characteristics despite the integration of individual learning into team behaviors.     

Adaptive learning algorithm of self-organizing teams

In order to improve the ability of achieving good performance in self-organizing teams, this paper presents a self-adaptive learning algorithm for team members. Members of the self-organizing teams are simulated by agents. In the virtual self-organizing team, agents adapt their knowledge according to cooperative principles. The self-adaptive learning algorithm is approached to learn from other agents with minimal costs and improve the performance of the self-organizing team. In the algorithm, agents learn how to behave (choose different game strategies) and how much to think about how to behave (choose the learning radius). The virtual team is self-adaptively improved according to the strategies’ ability of generating better quality solutions in the past generations. Six basic experiments are manipulated to prove the validity of the adaptive learning algorithm. It is found that the adaptive learning algorithm often causes agents to converge to optimal actions, based on agents’ continually updated cognitive maps of how actions influence the performance of the virtual self-organizing team. This paper considered the influence of relationships in self-organizing teams over existing works. It is illustrated that the adaptive learning algorithm is beneficial to both the development of self-organizing teams and the performance of the individual agent.     

Investigating the Prevalence and Performance Correlates of Vertical Versus Shared Leadership in Emergent Software Development Teams

ABSTRACT

In this multi-disciplinary study involving 44 software development projects, we investigate how leadership types—vertical versus shared—impact team performance. The results of the study show that while vertical leadership was found to have a higher positive impact on team efficiency, shared leadership was found to have a higher positive impact on team innovation, and a balanced shared and vertical leadership was found to optimally impact team effectiveness.     

Tracking precursors of learning analytics over serious game team performance ranking

ABSTRACT

The use of serious games to improve collaborative skill transfer and retention has received considerable attention from scholars, web marketing practitioners and business consultants. Team rankings and learning progress in game learning analytics, however, have yet to be empirically examined. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to study the performance of competing teams in a web marketing serious game (Simbound), we highlight a combination of causal conditions (engagement, reach and profitability) affecting team rankings. This paper proposes a conceptual architecture of the forces that influence learning progress within a collaborative learning environment. This learning environment is studied for web marketing boot camps powered by Simbound at three European universities: Grenoble Alpes University (France), University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) and Dunarea de Jos University of Galati (Romania). Gaining knowledge of cases through game learning analytics is valuable for two reasons: It emphasises the instructor’s role in mobilising players’ engagement, and it tests variability across cases, offering precursors of team performance rankings. This approach to collective skill retention highlights the moderating factors of team performance rankings, whilst purposely calibrating a gameable learning environment. This paper enriches our knowledge of how active experimentation in learning analytics metrics can develop skills for real business competition.     

Enabling knowledge diversity to benefit cross-functional project teams: Joint roles of knowledge leadership and transactive memory system

Team members’ knowledge diversity has a “double-edged sword” nature within cross-functional project teams (CFPTs), showing an inconsistent relationship with team performance. For realizing this diversity’s potential benefits, leadership is usually an essential enabler. However, little is known about how knowledge leadership achieves this. This study proposed that knowledge leadership moderates the effect of knowledge diversity on team performance through a transactive memory system (TMS). By empirically testing survey data from 96 CFPTs, we found that knowledge leadership enables a positive linkage of knowledge diversity-CFPT performance by successively breaking down barriers to communication and cooperation in TMS development and functioning.     

Understanding the role of behavioural integration in ISD teams: an extension of transactive memory systems concept

The transactive memory system (TMS) has been considered as one critical element for effective teamwork. However, viewing TMS as a second‐order construct that mixes cognitive (specialty and credibility) and behavioural (coordination) components leads to confusion and increases the difficulty in interpreting study results. This study follows the concept proposed by one recent study and attempts to distinguish between behavioural and cognitive components. Furthermore, drawing on the need for diverse members to be integrated behaviourally, we also attempt to extend the TMS research stream by proposing a more comprehensive behavioural component of TMS. We argue that to obtain better teamwork outcomes, information system development (ISD) team members need to integrate the expertise possessed by each individual, make decisions jointly and interlink all individual actions. In light of this, our study aims to replace coordination with team behavioural integration, a more comprehensive behavioural consequence of cognition and explore the critical role of behavioural integration in ISD teams by understanding its impact on ISD teamwork project team performance. The study result, based on data collected from 205 information system project managers, supports our hypotheses that expertise specialty, credibility and their interaction positively affect team behavioural integration. This, in turn, leads to enhanced project team performance.     

An experimental study on individual and group affect in multi-tasking teams

Research has shown that affect can influence human performance in various settings. This study aimed to explore the effects of individual and group affect on task perceptions and performance under different stress conditions (task demand and technology reliability) and team training methods in multi-tasking environments. Seventy-two participants participated in the experiment in two-person teams. The participants’ affect was measured using facial expression recognition technology. Affect aggregated mean and affect similarity were used as indicators of group affect. Self-reports of workload, teamwork satisfaction, trust in team, and trust in technology were collected. The results demonstrated that different stress conditions and training methods altered individual and group affect. Individual affect did not significantly correlate with the task perception measures, while group affect was related to performance in the team-oriented task but not the individual-oriented tasks. These findings suggested that group affect may have an important role in both multi-tasking and team coordination.

Practitioner summary: Affect can influence human performance in various settings. This study explored how affect influences task perceptions and performance for teams in multi-tasking environments. The results demonstrated that individual affect was not correlated with self-reported task perceptions. Group affect was related to team performance in a team-oriented task.     

What type of learning style leads to online participation in the mixed-mode e-learning environment? A study of software usage instruction

Learning style is traditionally assumed to be a predictor of learning performance, yet few studies have identified the mediating and moderating effects between the two. This study extends previous research by proposing and testing a model that examines the mediating processes in the relationship between learning style and e-learning performance and the moderating effects of prior knowledge. The results show that the sensory/intuitive dimension of learning style predicts learning performance indirectly through the mediation of online participation. However, other types of learning styles do not affect online participation. Sensory students demonstrate a higher level and intuitive students a lower level of online participation. Prior knowledge plays an important role as a moderator between online participation and learning performance. This study was conducted in the context of software usage instruction using empirical data from 219 undergraduate students.     

Mediating team effectiveness in the context of collaborative learning: The importance of team and task awareness

Learning teams in higher education executing a collaborative assignment are not always effective. To remedy this, there is a need to determine and understand the variables that influence team effectiveness. This study aimed at developing a conceptual framework, based on research in various contexts on team effectiveness and specifically team and task awareness. Core aspects of the framework were tested to establish its value for future experiments on influencing team effectiveness. Results confirmed the importance of shared mental models, and to some extent mutual performance monitoring for learning teams to become effective, but also of interpersonal trust as being conditional for building adequate shared mental models. Apart from the importance of team and task awareness for team effectiveness it showed that learning teams in higher education tend to be pragmatic by focusing primarily on task aspects of performance and not team aspects. Further steps have to be taken to validate this conceptual framework on team effectiveness.     

The effect of process tailoring on software project performance: The role of team absorptive capacity and its knowledge‐based enablers

Software process tailoring (SPT) is a team‐based and learning‐intensive activity that addresses the particular dynamic characteristics of a development project. Because SPT critically influences how projects are conducted, its performance should be investigated. However, the extant literature lacks empirical evidence on how the underlying effects of SPT performance and its team‐supportive factors operate and influence software project performance. From the knowledge perspective, this study adopts dynamic capabilities theory and considers the learning ability and absorptive capacity of software project teams to develop a theoretical model to address this gap. The results of an empirical examination of the model with 135 software project teams advance our understanding of how team‐level learning antecedents—experience, communication quality and trust—dynamically facilitate teams' absorptive capacity (AC) when they conduct SPT, which in turn reinforces project performance. The mediating effects of the proposed model are unveiled and discussed, and theoretical implications as well as practical guidance for how AC and these factors promote SPT and project performance are suggested.     

Structural models of extraversion,communication, and team performance

We consider the degree to which the Five Factor Model characteristic of individual extraversion is predictive of the overall performance of dyadic teams. An Anti-Air Warfare Coordinator (AAWC) simulation is employed in an experimental environment wherein dyads are required to communicate key information to complete a series of tasks. Communication is monitored with respect to the number of utterances, number of words per utterance, and the durations of each utterance. Several structural equation models are considered to examine the direct and indirect effects of individual extraversion on team performance. Notably, the degree of extraversion did not directly affect team performance. However, there are several models that indicate significant relationships between extraversion and team performance with communications as mediators. The current results contribute to the literature by adding to our understanding of the mediating variables that exist within the personality–performance team dynamic.     

Eye movement as a mediator of the relationships among time pressure,feedback, and learning performance

The goal of this study is to examine the effects of time pressure and feedback on learning performance, as mediated by eye movement. Time pressure is one of main causes of human error in the workplace. Providing participants with feedback about their performance before task completion has been shown to reduce human error in diverse domains. Since both time pressure and feedback induce motivation, which is closely related to attention, we measured participants' eye movements to trace their attention and information acquisition coupled with a visual display. Time-to-deadline (long and short) and the presence of feedback were the independent factors used while measuring participants’ performance and eye movements as they learned new information about the subject of project management and answered multiple-choice questions via self-paced online learning systems. Using structural equation modeling, we found a mediating effect of eye movement on the relationships among time-to-deadline, feedback, and learning performance. Insufficient time-to-deadline accelerated the number of fixations on the screen, which resulted in longer task completion times and increased correct rates for participants learning about project management. The models in this study suggest the possibility of predicting performance from eye movement under time-to-deadline and feedback conditions. The structural equation model in the study can be applied to online and remote learning systems, in which time management is one of the main challenges for individual learners.     

The effects of individual differences and visual instructional aids on disorientation,learning performance and attitudes in a Hypermedia Learning System

Research suggests that certain visual instructional aids can reduce levels of disorientation and increase learning performance in, and positive attitudes towards, HLS for learners with specific individual differences. However, existing studies have looked at only one or two individual differences at a time, and/or considered only a small number of visual instructional aids. No study has considered the impact of the three most commonly studied individual differences – cognitive style, domain knowledge and computer experience – on learning performance, disorientation and attitudes in a HLS incorporating a full range of visual instructional aids. The study reported here addresses this shortcoming, examining the effects of, and between, these three individual differences in relation to learning performance, disorientation and attitudes in two HLS versions: one that incorporated a full set of visual instructional aids and one that did not. Significant effects were found between the three individual differences with respect to disorientation, learning performance and attitudes in the HLS that provided no instructional aids, whereas no such effects were found for the other HLS version. Analysis of the results led to a set of HLS design guidelines, presented in the paper, and the development of an agenda for future research. Limitations of the study and their implications for the generalizability of the findings are also presented.     

Housing Salesperson Performance and the Peer Structure of Competition and Cooperation

This study investigates the effects of the individual characteristics of housing salespeople and the branch characteristics of housing agencies on individual performance. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to provide estimations. The sample included 518 surveys with micro‐level observations and 47 surveys with branch‐level observations. The empirical results suggest that individual performance varies significantly from branch to branch and is better in branches with higher levels of compensation for individual performance. Individual performance is also better in branches with requirements for hours worked. Under team compensation schemes, individual performance is not significantly better than that of salespeople in branches without team compensation schemes.     

Process control and risky decision-making: moderation by general mental ability and need for cognition

Human factors and ergonomics research could benefit from focusing more strongly on individual differences – especially trait variables. The present study suggests the analysis of moderator effects as a promising way to enhance understanding of trait variables and process control performance. Process control performance was studied by analysing moderator effects of general mental ability (GMA) and need for cognition (NC) on risky decision-making (RDM) and performance. Fifty engineering students were trained on a process control task using a computer-based simulation for three hours and tested twice thereafter. Risky decision-making was measured using a computerised gambling task while GMA and NC were assessed with questionnaires. Risky decision-making in interaction with each GMA and NC explained variance in performance over and above variance explained by the single effects. In conclusion, the analysis of moderator effects between individual difference variables and process control performance seems promising.

Practitioner Summary: Individual difference variables affect learning and performance, but have often not been studied to any great extent in human factors research. This article suggests a promising approach to studying individual differences – moderator analyses – and illustrates how such differences can lead to a better understanding of what determines process control performance.     

Individual Creativity and Team Climate in Software Development Projects: The Mediating Role of Team Decision Processes

This study investigates how individual creativity is related to the quality of team decision processes and team climate, and the mediating role of team decision processes between individual creativity and team climate. A multi‐level theoretical model was proposed and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) was conducted on a sample of 139 software development projects. The results suggest that: (i) individual creativity improves the quality of team decision processes, (ii) team decision processes are positively associated with four dimensions of team climate (organizational support, innovation orientation, goal orientation and informal structure), and (iii) team decision processes partially mediate between individual creativity and team climate. In particular, the obtained results stress the role of individual creativity in the formation and evolution of a positive climate by means of team decision processes. The study implies that managers should recognize the value of creative individuals as the basic source of competitive advantage and success. It further discusses the managerial implications of the findings as well as limitations and constructive new directions for future studies to improve software development team performance.     

项目教学法在VFP实验教学模式中的应用研究

为了培养学生的自学能力、独立思考能力和创新能力,根据Visual FoxPro程序设计(简称VFP)实验课程的特点,在VFP实验课程的教学模式中,引入项目教学法,不仅给学生提供了一个创新学习的空间,还对培养学生的学习兴趣、创新思维能力和团队意识也起到了重要作用。     

Information sharing as enabler for the virtual team: an experimental approach to assessing the role of electronic mail in disintermediation

Abstract. This paper is an attempt to document empirically the relation between information sharing accomplished via electronic mail and the performance of teams. We report on an experimental study of the role of electronic mail in the operation of supply chains. A variation of the well known 'Beer Game' role-playing simulation game was computerized and implemented in an internet-based environment to study the information-sharing behaviour of teams. A total of 76 teams of four players each competed to achieve best net team profit. Results of the simulation game permit a detailed examination of email use in an organizational context. Findings indicate the expected significant correlation between email use to share information up the supply chain and net team profit. In other words, sharing information in the team has a positive impact on performance. The recorded behaviour of managers in the online simulation indicates that team members use electronic mail successfully to attempt disintermediation of the supply chain. When information is shared online, teams perform significantly better.