The Team Climate Inventory (TCI): a psychometric test on a Taiwanese sample of work groups

Understanding the feasibility of applying the Team Climate Inventory (TCI) in non-Western cultures is essential for researchers attempting to understand the influence of culture on workers' perceived climate. This study describes the application of the TCI in such a setting using data from 203 administrators employed in a Taiwanese medical center. Reliability and factor analyses were performed to establish the feasibility and psychometric properties of the TCI Taiwan version. Reliabilities of both the four- and five-factor solutions exceeded .80. Factor analyses indicated a satisfactory four-factor structure, despite some variations in comparison with the U.K. version. The TCI Taiwan version is feasible and has acceptable psychometric properties. Further research is warranted regarding the degree to which disparities result from cultural differences and the specific nature of organizational systems in Chinese communities.

Positive mood is not always good:the role of team mood and work stressors for creative work performance

Presentation of an abstract

Positive mood is not always good:the role of team mood and work stressors for creative work performance

Presentation of an abstract

A versenyképesség aktuális kérdései a pénzügyekben - Összefoglaló a pénzügyi kutatócsoport munkájáról = Current issues of competitiveness - Summary on the work of the Finance research team

A pénzügy kutatócsoport a TÁMOP-4.2.1.B-09/1/KMR-2010-0005 azonosítójú projektjében igen szerteágazó elemzési munkát végzett. Rámutattunk, hogy a különböző szintű gazdasági szereplők megnövekedett tőkeáttétele egyértelműen a rendszerkockázat növekedéséhez vezet, hiszen nő az egyes szereplők csődjének valószínűsége. Ha a tőkeáttételt eltérő mértékben és ütemben korlátozzák az egyes szektorokban, országokban akkor a korlátozást később bevezető szereplők egyértelműen versenyelőnyhöz jutnak. Az egyes pénzügyi intézmények tőkeallokációját vizsgálva kimutattuk, hogy a különféle divíziók közt mindig lehetséges a működés fedezetésül szolgáló tőkét (kockázatot) úgy felosztani, hogy a megállapodás felmondás egyik érintettnek se álljon érdekében. Ezt azonban nem lehet minden szempontból igazságosan megtenni, így egyes üzletágak versenyhátrányba kerülhetnek, ha a konkurens piaci szereplők az adott tevékenységet kevésbé igazságtalanul terhelték meg. Kimutattunk, hogy az egyes nyugdíjpénztárak befektetési tevékenységének eredményességére nagy hatással van a magánnyugdíjpénztárak tevékenységének szabályozása. Ezek a jogszabályok a társadalom hosszú távú versenyképességére vannak hatással. Rámutattunk arra is, hogy a gazdasági válság előtt a hazai bankok sem voltak képesek ügyfeleik kockázatviselő képességét helyesen megítélni, ráadásul jutalékrendszerük nem is tette ebben érdekelté azokat. Számos vizsgálatunk foglalkozott a magyar vállalatok versenyképességének alakulásával is. Megvizsgáltuk a különféle adónemek, árfolyamkockázatok és finanszírozási politikák versenyképességet befolyásoló hatását. Külön kutatás vizsgálta a kamatlábak ingadozásának és az hitelekhez kapcsolódó eszközfedezet meglétének vállalati értékre gyakorolt hatásait. Rámutattunk a nemfizetés növekvő kockázatára, és áttekintettük a lehetséges és a ténylegesen alkalmazott kezelési stratégiákat is. Megvizsgáltuk azt is, hogy a tőzsdei cégek tulajdonosai miként használják ki az osztalékfizetéshez kapcsolódó adóoptimalizálási lehetőségeket. Gyakorlati piaci tapasztalataik alapján az adóelkerülő kereskedést a befektetők a részvények egy jelentős részénél végrehajtják. Külön kutatás foglakozott a szellemi tőke hazai vállalatoknál játszott szerepéről. Ez alapján a cégek a problémát 2009-ben lényegesen magasabb szakértelemmel kezelték, mint öt esztendővel korábban. Rámutattunk arra is, hogy a tulajdonosi háttér lényeges hatást gyakorolhat arra, ahogyan a cégek célrendszerüket felépítik, illetve ahogy az intellektuális javakra tekintenek. _____ The Finance research team has covered a wide range of research fields while taking part at project TÁMOP-4.2.1.B-09/1/KMR-2010-0005. It has been shown that the increasing financial gearing at the different economic actors clearly leads to growth in systematic risk as the probability of bankruptcy climbs upwards. Once the leverage is limited at different levels and at different points in time for the different sectors, countries introducing the limitations later gain clearly a competitive advantage. When investigating the leverage at financial institutions we found that the capital requirement of the operation can always be divided among divisions so that none of them would be better of with cancelling the cooperation. But this cannot be always done fairly from all point of view meaning some of the divisions may face a competitive disadvantage if competitors charge their similar division less unfairly. Research has also shown that the regulation of private pension funds has vital effect on the profitability of the investment activity of the funds. These laws and regulations do not only affect the funds themselves but also the competitiveness of the whole society. We have also fund that Hungarian banks were unable to estimate correctly the risk taking ability of their clients before the economic crisis. On the top of that the bank were not even interested in that due to their commission based income model. We also carried out several research on the competitiveness of the Hungarian firms. The effect of taxes, currency rate risks, and financing policies on competitiveness has been analysed in detail. A separate research project was dedicated to the effect of the interest rate volatility and asset collaterals linked to debts on the value of the firm. The increasing risk of non-payment has been underlined and we also reviewed the adequate management strategies potentially available and used in real life. We also investigated how the shareholders of listed companies use the tax optimising possibilities linked to dividend payments. Based on our findings on the Hungarian markets the owners perform the tax evading trades in case of the most shares. A separate research has been carried out on the role played by intellectual capital. After that the Hungarian companies dealt with the problem in 2009 with far higher proficiency than five years earlier. We also pointed out that the ownership structure has a considerable influence on how firms structure their aims and view their intangible assets.

Team- och ledarskapsfaktorer som påverkar sjuksköterskors förmåga att arbeta patientsäkert – en litteraturstudie : Team level- and leadership predictors that affect nurses' in their work to achieve patient safety- a literature study

Sjuksköterskor ska arbeta utifrån patientens behov för att åstadkomma en patientsäker vård. Det är teamet samt ledaren som står sjuksköterskor närmast i utövandet av hens omvårdnadsarbete. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva vilka team- och ledarskapsfaktorer som påverkar sjuksköterskors förmåga att arbeta patientsäkert. Metoden som användes för denna litteraturstudie är baserad på Forsberg & Wengströms modell (2013). Resultatet är baserat på 11 vetenskapliga artiklar, publicerade mellan år 2000 och 2016. Vid bearbetning av artiklarna framkom flera teman vilka delades in mot teamfaktorer som påverkar sjuksköterskors förmåga att arbeta patientsäkert samt ledarskapsfaktorer som påverkar sjuksköterskors förmåga att arbeta patientsäkert. Teamets huvudfaktor identifierades som att ha förmåga att samarbeta. Teman som visade ingå var förmåga att kommunicera och förmedla kunskap samt relationer i teamet genom respekt och konflikthantering. Ledarens huvudtema som identifierades var att inspirera och motivera samt att ge stöd. Slutsatsen av denna litteraturstudie är att teamet samt ledaren visade sig ha en betydande roll för sjuksköterskors förmåga att arbeta patientsäkerhet. Då teamet och ledaren har visat sig kunna påverka patientsäkerheten på många olika sätt, genom att påverka sjuksköterskors arbete, är det väsentligt att dessa uppmärksammas i patientsäkerhetsarbete.

Invisible, therefore isolated: comparative effects of team virtuality with task virtuality on workplace isolation and work outcomes

The new standards of technological and flexible arrangements have made virtual work prevalent for almost everyone in all levels of an organization. Whether in a virtual or traditional setting, current working conditions allow anyone to collaborate, work and interact with others through electronic means of communication, thereby creating a lack of face-to-face contact. Even though the dynamics of virtuality have been widely elaborated at the team level, there are still many unknowns about the impacts of virtuality experienced at an individual level. This paper aims to shed light on the relationship between workplace social isolation, job satisfaction, perceived performance and turnover intention comparing individual responses to team virtuality and task virtuality. Our findings propose that there are statistically significant relations between individual task virtuality, workplace social isolation, satisfaction, perceived performance and turnover intention in organizations. The results also reveal that task virtuality is a better predictor than team virtuality in estimating workplace social isolation and turnover intention.

Construction Of A Manual Of Work Processes And Techniques From Centro De Dispensação De Medicamentos De Alto Custo (cedmac), Hospital De Clínicas, Unicamp.

The Centers for High Cost Medication (Centros de Medicação de Alto Custo, CEDMAC), Health Department, São Paulo were instituted by project in partnership with the Clinical Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine, USP, sponsored by the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, FAPESP) aimed at the formation of a statewide network for comprehensive care of patients referred for use of immunobiological agents in rheumatological diseases. The CEDMAC of Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (HC-Unicamp), implemented by the Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, identified the need for standardization of the multidisciplinary team conducts, in face of the specificity of care conducts, verifying the importance of describing, in manual format, their operational and technical processes. The aim of this study is to present the methodology applied to the elaboration of the CEDMAC/HC-Unicamp Manual as an institutional tool, with the aim of offering the best assistance and administrative quality. In the methodology for preparing the manuals at HC-Unicamp since 2008, the premise was to obtain a document that is participatory, multidisciplinary, focused on work processes integrated with institutional rules, with objective and didactic descriptions, in a standardized format and with electronic dissemination. The CEDMAC/HC-Unicamp Manual was elaborated in 10 months, with involvement of the entire multidisciplinary team, with 19 chapters on work processes and techniques, in addition to those concerning the organizational structure and its annexes. Published in the electronic portal of HC Manuals in July 2012 as an e-Book (ISBN 978-85-63274-17-5), the manual has been a valuable instrument in guiding professionals in healthcare, teaching and research activities.

Workgroup emotional intelligence: Scale development and relationship to team process effectiveness and goal focus

Over the last decade, ambitious claims have been made in the management literature about the contribution of emotional intelligence to success and performance. Writers in this genre have predicted that individuals with high emotional intelligence perform better in all aspects of management. This paper outlines the development of a new emotional intelligence measure, the Workgroup Emotional Intelligence Profile, Version 3 (WEIP-3), which was designed specifically to profile the emotional intelligence of individuals in work teams. We applied the scale in a study of the link between emotional intelligence and two measures of team performance: team process effectiveness and team goal focus. The results suggest that the average level of emotional intelligence of team members, as measured by the WEIP-3, is reflected in the initial performance of teams. In our study, low emotional intelligence teams initially performed at a lower level than the high emotional intelligence teams. Over time, however, teams with low average emotional intelligence raised their performance to match that of teams with high emotional intelligence.

The role of affect, fairness, and social perception in team member exchange

Accumulating evidence suggests that Team-member exchange (TMX) influences employee work attitudes and behaviours separately from the effects of leader-member exchange (LMX). In particular, little is known of the effect of LMX differentiation (in-group versus out-group) as a process of social exhange that can, in turn, affect TMX quality. To explore this phenomenon, this chapter presents a multi-level model of TMX in organizations, which incorporates LMX differentiation, team identification, team member affect at the individual level, and fairness of LMX differentiation and affective climate at the group-level. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our model for theory, research, and practice.

Emotional Intelligence, emotional Self-Awareness, and Team Effectiveness

An issue at the forefront of recent emotional intelligence debates revolves around whether emotional intelligence can be linked to work performance. Although many authors continue to develop new and improved measures of emotional intelligence (e.g. Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2001) to give us a better understanding of emotional intelligence, the links to performance in work settings, especially in the context of group effectiveness, have received much less attention. In this chapter, we present the results of a study in which we examined the role of emotional self-awareness and emotional intelligence as a predictor of group effectiveness. The study also addresses the utility of self- and peer assessment in measureing emotional self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

Designing teams for first-of-a-kind, complex systems using the initial phases of cognitive work analysis: Case study

We present a technique for team design based on cognitive work analysis (CWA). We first develop a rationale for this technique by discussing the limitations of conventional approaches for team design in light of the special characteristics of first-of-a-kind, complex systems. We then introduce the CWA-based technique for team design and provide a case study of how we used this technique to design a team for a first-of-a-kind, complex military system during the early stages of its development. In addition to illustrating the CWA-based technique by example, the case study allows us to evaluate the technique. This case study demonstrates that the CWA-based technique for team design is both feasible and useful, although empirical validation of the technique is still necessary. Applications of this work include the design of teams for first-of-a-kind, complex systems in military, medical, and industrial domains.

Social work, stress and burnout: A review

Stress and burnout for health care professionals have received increasing attention in the literature. Significant administrative, societal and political changes have impacted on the role of workers and the responsibilities they are expected to assume. Most writers suggest that social work is a highly stressful occupation, with stress deriving in particular from role conflict between client advocacy and meeting agency needs. This article reviewed the social work literature with two questions in mind: Are social workers subject to greater stress than other health professionals? What factors contribute to stress and burnout among social workers? We found that most of the literature was either anecdotal or compared social worker stress with general population norms rather than with stress levels of workers in comparable professions. Such empirical research as is available suggests that social workers may experience higher levels of stress and resulting burnout than comparable occupational groups. Factors identified as contributing to stress and burnout included the nature of social work practice, especially tension between philosophy and work demands and the organization of the work environment. There was some evidence that supervision and team support are protective factors.

Measuring spatial interaction behavior in team sports using superimposed Voronoi diagrams

In team sports, the spatial distribution of players on the field is determined by the interaction behavior established at both player and team levels. The distribution patterns observed during a game emerge from specific technical and tactical methods adopted by the teams, and from individual, environmental and task constraints that influence players' behaviour. By understanding how specific patterns of spatial interaction are formed, one can characterize the behavior of the respective teams and players. Thus, in the present work we suggest a novel spatial method for describing teams' spatial interaction behaviour, which results from superimposing the Voronoi diagrams of two competing teams. We considered theoretical patterns of spatial distribution in a well-defined scenario (5 vs 4+ GK played in a field of 20x20m) in order to generate reference values of the variables derived from the superimposed Voronoi diagrams (SVD). These variables were tested in a formal application to empirical data collected from 19 Futsal trials with identical playing settings. Results suggest that it is possible to identify a number of characteristics that can be used to describe players' spatial behavior at different levels, namely the defensive methods adopted by the players.

Effects of team task structure on team climate for innovation and team outcomes

In this cross-sectional study we analyzed, whether team climate for innovation mediates the relationship between team task structure and innovative behavior, job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and work stress. 310 employees in 20 work teams of an automotive company participated in this study. 10 teams had been changed from a restrictive to a more self-regulating team model by providing task variety, autonomy, team-specific goals, and feedback in order to increase team effectiveness. Data support the supposed causal chain, although only with respect to team innovative behavior all required effects were statistically significant. Longitudinal designs and larger samples are needed to prove the assumed causal relationships, but results indicate that implementing self-regulating teams might be an effective strategy for improving innovative behavior and thus team and company effectiveness.