TEAM COOPERATION TO FIGHT EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING

Theoretical and empirical insight into team cooperation from the perspective of group processes

jeudi 12 novembre 2015, par Maša Vidmar



Multi-professional teams at the local level have been recognized as important in tackling ESL, but many challenges are still ahead. The aim of this article is to bring forward expertize from teams and small groups literature to help deal with challenges and to contribute to awareness of what is needed for effective teams. It focuses on contemporary meta-analyses and review articles found by computerized literature searches and backward procedures. ESL teams are complex, dynamic and cyclic systems that operate at multiple interacting levels (individual, team, organization). They are characterized by interdependence of members’ action, shared responsibility, common goals, specialized roles and positioning within broader organizational context/school (Cannon-Bowers and Bowers, 2011 ; Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006). Team composition indicates that ESL team members require adequate task- and team-related competences, that composition of competences across members is to be considered as well as non-equal influence of members (Mathieu et al., 2014). Understanding role of team composition and its dynamic nature can help anticipate problems and take preventive actions. Team processes (e.g. trusting, planning, bonding, adapting) and other mediating factors (e.g. emergent states – team climate, shared mental models, team cohesion) describe how inputs are converted into outcomes, but also serve as inputs for team functioning ; thus attention to these variables is warranted. Team training has been proven to have an impact on variety of team-related variables (e.g. Salas et al., 2008), thus needs to be embedded in ESL team (e.g. cross-training, assertiveness training) via various training media (e.g. videos and exercises that replicate or simulate the task context). Team leadership is a dynamic process in which both leadership and team processes influence each other (Zaccaro et al., 2011). Attention should be devoted to developing leadership expertize (task-focused and person-focused ; Burke et al., 2006) – either centralized in one person or distributed across members.

Forthcoming

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