Integrating Evaluation and Needs Assessment: A Case Study of an Ergonomics Program

This case study focuses on the relationship between evaluation and needs assessment and how both processes were integrated in one project. The project involved evaluating a 10‐year‐old ergonomics course. The course was one component of a broader organizational change initiative, aimed to reduce or eliminate on‐the‐job injuries. The success of the change initiative depended on applying knowledge from the course as well as other workplace variables, such as management commitment, plant communications, and the relationship between management and union labor. Robert Stake's (1967) countenance framework was modified to consider both instructional and performance issues in the research design. Data collection included observing the course, conducting focus groups with past course attendees who were ergonomic committee members, interviewing ergonomic teams in manufacturing plants, and reviewing course materials and other related documents. The findings illustrate the overlap between the needs assessment and evaluation processes. The discussion addresses how these labels can limit perception of the system of interest, the importance of adapting the research design to take advantage of naturally occurring organizational events, the value of integrating both needs assessment and evaluation perspectives, and the importance of differentiating evaluation and needs assessment recommendations.     

Making a world of difference: Collaboration.Excellence for intercultural teams

Cultural awareness training that emphasizes communication delivers only a partial solution to the challenges that intercultural work teams face. Improving collaboration requires a strong foundation of performance management before a work team can determine how they will cooperate to perform to excellence. Against the backdrop of the authors' experiences, the program Collaboration.Excellence offers a three‐phase approach that performance improvement professionals can take to build effective intercultural work teams.     

The management of inter‐disciplinary teaching teams developing a Combined Arts Project

Teaching teams were established in five comprehensive secondary schools to initiate a Combined Arts Project. We report studies undertaken in the schools to identify the organizational problems encountered by the teams. Information is provided about the responsibilities of the teams, the commitment, relationships and use of team members, decision‐making and communication, and leadership and organization. Our findings are set in a theoretical framework relating to the organization of groups within schools seeking to engage in curriculum innovation.     

Evaluating Examination Results

Problem‐solving teams (PST) play an important role with regard to organizational performance in restructured schools. The concepts of team‐work and team effectiveness are examined and related to functions of problem‐solving teams. A case study of a successful PST provides a framework for the development of propositions on effective PSTs which may be subject to testing.     

The paper beam: hands-on design for team work experience of freshman in engineering

The present research refers to the assigning of a hands-on group project to freshman engineering students, evaluating their performance, and deriving conclusions on student benefits and educational advances. The research procedure included action plans for the instructor and the students, instructions to the students on performing the work, organizational instructions to the teams and reporting guidelines, and evaluation of the success of the project. The main outcomes refer to the team co-operation, the performance of tasks, the quality of results and the reporting effectiveness. The ‘paper beam’ project benefited the student’s learning and proved the need of complementary learning styles in teams, of the appreciation of quality performance and results, as well as of the accuracy in project details.     

A cross‐disciplinary literature review: Examining trust on virtual teams

Effective and efficient teams communicate, collaborate, and perform, even if these teams are not co‐located. Although much is known about enabling effectiveness on face‐to‐face teams, considerably less is known about similarly enabling effectiveness on virtual teams. Yet the use of virtual teams is common and will likely become more commonplace as organizations continue to update and use increasingly sophisticated technology. Cohort and individual trust between team members is a significant component on most effective teams, virtual or face‐to‐face. This paper examines research on virtual teams and trust across disciplines, including management, e‐learning, business communication, decision making, human resource management, psychology, and IT, to identify major characteristics that increase our knowledge of how to establish and maintain trust in the virtual environment and on virtual teams.     

创建高效项目团队的理论思考

高效率的项目团队具有明确清晰的项目目标、相关的角色技能、共同目标的导向和一致性责任、高度的相互信任、良好的沟通、恰当的领导、内部和外部的支持等七项基本特征。高效项目团队应当遵循志同道合、精简高效、人才互补、引导协调等人员配置原则，并从计划、组织、领导和控制这四方面出发进行有效管理。     

Toward Group Problem Solving Guidelines for 21st Century Teams

Effective problem‐solving skills are criticial in dealing with ambiguous and often complex issues in the present‐day leaner and globally diverse organizations. Yet respected, well‐established problem‐solving models may be misaligned within the current work environment, particularly within a team context. Models learned from a more bureaucratic, homogenously functional organizational structure were not designed specifically to acknowledge and capitalize on the intellectual and functional diversity of teams, to ap‐ppropriate a range of technologies in the process and to work within a more holistic, contextualized view of the problem. Using a case study of a software integration project within a global training company, this article describes possible guidelines for problem solving for 21st century teams.     

Reengineering Academic Teams Toward a Network Organizational Structure*

This article examines student teamwork in the academic field from a structural perspective. Student teams are often prearranged and then left to organize themselves and get on with their work, without any further structural support; this, however, can become a negative experience on teamwork. A varied contribution among team members often occurs and unavoidably leads to friction and reduced performance. The aim of this project is to explore the main problems in academic teamwork and investigate tools that provide relevant solutions. We present the concept of network organizational structure and discuss how this can improve collaboration and communication. The main tools to achieve a structural transformation from the more traditional form of team organization to the fairer network form, and their implications are discussed.     

‘Teamwork’ or ‘Working as a Team’? The Theory and Practice of Top Team Working in UK Higher Education

This article focuses on the theory and practice of teamwork in ‘top management teams’ in UK higher education institutions. It is informed by some of the key findings from a recent two‐year research project sponsored by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education that investigated the different ways in which UK higher education institutions organise their ‘top management’ and ‘senior management’ structures ( Kennie and Woodfield, 2008 ). The authors discuss literature from the corporate and higher education sectors on the meaning of ‘teamwork’ in top teams (e.g. Bensimon and Neumann, 1993 ; Katzenbach, 1998 ; Wageman et al., 2008 ) and relate the findings to the challenges of top level team working in higher education settings. Particular issues discussed include: the terminology related to higher education top teams, areas of decision‐making and time‐management, team orientation and agenda setting, team behaviours and team roles, team performance and evaluation, location, logistical support and resources, and team development. The authors conclude that the challenges of top team working in higher education settings are similar to those found in the corporate sector, albeit nuanced by different organisational cultures, and suggest some key principles to help top teams in higher education institutions improve their ability to work effectively together.     

Team Research at the Biology–Mathematics Interface: Project Management Perspectives

The success of interdisciplinary research teams depends largely upon skills related to team performance. We evaluated student and team performance for undergraduate biology and mathematics students who participated in summer research projects conducted in off-campus laboratories. The student teams were composed of a student with a mathematics background and an experimentally oriented biology student. The team mentors typically ranked the students'' performance very good to excellent over a range of attributes that included creativity and ability to conduct independent research. However, the research teams experienced problems meeting prespecified deadlines due to poor time and project management skills. Because time and project management skills can be readily taught and moreover typically reflect good research practices, simple modifications should be made to undergraduate curricula so that the promise of initiatives, such as MATH-BIO 2010, can be implemented.     

激发高校辅导员组织公民行为的思考

研究基于响应深入学习十八大精神,以及中央所提出的要建立完善大学生思想政治教育专职队伍的建设要求,依据组织公民行为理论,重新审视了高校辅导员的管理机制,并从与高校辅导员相关的微观环境、情感承诺及绩效管理三个方面,进行如何有效激发高校辅导员组织公民行为的探讨.研究证明,加强高校辅导员组织公民行为有利于提高辅导员队伍的长期建设及发展.     

Supporting project teams: A framework used in a university‐community collaborative initiative

As commonplace as teams are in today's organizations, so too are the frustrations reported by members of many teams. Some of this frustration may be attributed to the lack of organizational support for team efforts. In this article, we draw on Kolb's components of clear direction and accountability, appropriate staffing and training, adequate information and resources, and rewards for team effort to describe and discuss a framework that was developed to support a series of 29 project teams. We use case study methodology to examine a university‐community initiative designed to increase collaboration between members of a university community and stakeholders external to the university. This design resulted in a continuous learning and feedback cycle that encouraged reflective thinking and improvement in procedures and outcomes. The focus is on the framework that was developed and executed to select, support, and evaluate these teams.     

School leavers with learning disabilities moving from child to adult Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) teams: SLTs’ views of successful and less successful transition co‐working practices

School‐leaving for pupils with long‐term speech, language, swallowing or communication difficulties requires careful management. Speech and language therapists (SLTs) support communication, secure assistive technology and manage swallowing difficulties post‐school. UK SLTs are employed by health services, with child SLT teams based in schools. School‐leaving entails transition from child‐ to adult‐services. Little is known about the process, or how SLTs develop co‐working across managerial boundaries. A qualitative study within one health board employing separately managed child and adult SLT teams interviewed SLTs and analysed their views on successful and less successful school‐leaver transitions. A critical incident approach elicited views on transitions that ‘stuck in the mind’, rather than typical instances, identifying supportive and risky co‐working factors. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, checked and thematically analysed. Three linked overarching themes emerged: SLT team remits and properties; communication and information exchange across SLT teams, and outside influences on teams. These applied to successful and less successful transitions, suggesting robust constructs along which SLTs evaluated transitions. Risk factors included unclear provision, pupils’ earlier discharge by child SLTs affecting referral at school‐leaving, and practical issues in accessing notes. SLTs used existing social‐capital relationships to facilitate transitions. Implications for practice and ways of improving transitions are discussed.     

公共管理类专业实践教学模式研究

传统实践教学模式存在诸多问题,公共管理类专业实践教学应围绕以下技能训练展开：组织管理、社交沟通、行政执法、调查研究、统计分析、公文写作与处理等。可以借助＂学生科创＂平台,让学生参与管理类项目的研究,培养学生调查研究、统计分析、项目论证和撰写研究报告等方面的技能;可以借助统一实习平台,让学生接触和参与管理活动、解决管理中遇到的具体问题,提高学生组织、协调、沟通、社交等方面的技能。     

Trade-Offs, Biases, and Uncertainty in Project Planning and Execution: A Problem-Based Simulation Exercise

The ability to plan and execute projects is a fundamental skill required among managers and business school graduates. In the opening phase of a project, the project team makes decisions about the relative priority of project time, cost, and performance objectives, oftentimes without complete information about customer and stakeholder requirements. Existing project management curriculum assists in developing skills to decide among these priorities in the abstract through paradigms such as the time–cost–performance triangle, with limited attention to the improvement of skills required to develop solutions to these trade-offs, particularly in uncertain and ambiguous project environments. Further, there is often an underlying bias in project teams toward consideration of the project task and project deliverables and reduced attention to time and cost objectives. This study demonstrates the benefits of a balanced approach to setting project time, cost, and performance objectives using a goal-based simulation exercise entitled "The Bridge to Project Leadership." Results for 124 project teams illustrate the tendency to ignore this balanced approach, resulting in reduced project performance, even among experienced project managers.     

Team conflict in ICT-rich environments: Roles of technologies in conflict management

This study looks at how an information and communication technologies (ICT)‐rich environment impacts team conflict and conflict management strategies. A case study research method was used. Three teams, part of a graduate class in instructional design, participated in the study. Data were collected through observations of team meetings, interviews with individual members, plus analysis of electronic documents exchanged among team members. Findings indicate that all teams experienced conflict at some level and that conflict management strategies evolved over time. ICT played a dual role in the conflict management of teams. These technologies seemed to facilitate conflict management by offering a formal means of communication, by making communication more effective with minimal waste or unnecessary effort, and by creating opportunities for more thoughtful reactions, with chances for reflection on the content. However, ICT also aggravated conflict, specifically when strategies for use were imposed, when team members became blunt and forthright, and when misinterpretations occurred because of differing senses of urgency in replying to emails.     

县级社区学院的功能架构及其实现策略

县级社区学院应担当起三个层面上的八项功能：组织学习的基本功能（学历进修、培训学习）和指导引领的延伸功能（指导服务、科研实验）以及协助推动的代行功能（参谋策划、资源开发、项目管理、信息集散）,并以提升地位、授予权限、配强队伍、设置处室、制订规章、充足经费等策略,保障其有效实现。     

Distance Artist: Building the Skills of Future Creatives. Developing Evidence‐Based Criteria for Global Virtual Team Tutoring and Management in Art and Design Education

This article reflects on six years of research activities in the field of long‐distance collaboration and more specifically on how creative virtual teams operate and respond to challenges set by emerging and developing technologies. Furthermore, it considers how to build, manage and shape a more inclusive virtual team, documenting the methodologies applied in each activity, the experiences of both tutors and students and the educational context in which the international study took place. The project set out with a methodology for observing, managing and developing the interaction dynamics between each creative team member involved in the design of activities and practice of delocalized teams. The project is positioned within the field of educational technology and identifies a set of operative recommendations aimed at educators so that remote creative collaborative work can result most effective. The article explores the potential of virtual teams supporting communication and design.     

论信息系统开发的项目管理

信息系统开发是智力密集型的项目，决定其成败因素的不仅仅是人和技术，开发过程的控制已被提到越来越突出的地位。项目管理是进行严谨过程控制的有效方法。章针对信息系统开发整个过程都是设计过程、其管理主要是人力资源管理的特点，论述了信息系统开发项目管理的必要性和主要措施，着重探讨了与其他项目管理相比具有的独特性和在实际开发中尤其需要注重的四个方面：提高项目的计划意识、加强项目的组织管理、保持及时有效的沟通和重视项目经验的总结，并提出了一些可操作性较强的解决方案。