Hans Jeppe Jeppesen

Teamwork and associated psychological factors: A review

Abstract Research results that have been reported indicate that the specific outcomes of teamwork vary and are in part context-dependant, while less is known about the interaction between teamwork and psychological factors. This paper reviews research results published in scientific journals in the period 2000–2005, and assesses current knowledge of teams and associated psychological factors. Furthermore, the review process identified the importance of team constituent factors (interdependence and team autonomy), team type and team size, and contextual factors for the results that were reported, and assessed the design and research-methodological foundations of those results. The main inclusion criteria for papers were that they had been based on field studies of formally established teams and were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Furthermore they must have been based on the use of questionnaires, and the occupational sector must have been identified. Fifty-five papers were identified for inclusion in the review. An almost consistent pattern of positive associations between psychological variables and teamwork was found to be reported across team types, team sizes, and contextual factors. Furthermore, the reported psychological factors appear to be positively linked to team autonomy and team interdependence. This paper discusses the strength of the interactions between teamwork and various psychological variables, and suggests directions for future research.

Moderators of shared leadership: work function and team autonomy

Purpose – Previous studies show that sharing leadership in teams offers potential performance benefits across various contexts. This paper aims to investigate moderators of the effectiveness of shared leadership. In particular, it seeks to explore the moderating effects of team work function – manufacturing versus knowledge team work – and team autonomy.Design/methodology/approach – In order to test the hypotheses, the authors conducted hierarchical regression analyses and ran moderated two‐way regression analyses using a field sample of 552 employees comprising 81 teams in a Danish manufacturing company.Findings – Contrary to expectations, the results demonstrated a non‐significant relationship between shared leadership and team performance. However, as expected, work function significantly moderated this relationship such that shared leadership exhibited a negative relationship with manufacturing team performance and a positive relationship with knowledge team performance. Moreover, team autonomy was po...

Participatory approaches to strategy and research in shift work intervention

Participation and alterations of shift schedules from a health and safety perspective are in focus. The paper elucidates the questions concerning what participatory approaches in particular have to give to the design of shift schedules and whether special conditions in shift schedule designing give participatory intervention approaches a special relevance. Reviewing intervention studies in shift work uncovers that a participatory approach is emphasized in several papers but only seldom descriptions of the participatory processes as pre-conditions, stages and dynamics are found. A specific participatory approach is appraised, and examples of general research operationalizations are provided, but it is underlined that it has to take place according to the organizational context of the intervention. In conclusion, it is assessed that shift work contains special issues like differences in attitudes and interests among the employees, negative adaptation, interplay between work time and social time that makes the potentials of participatory intervention research particularly applicable in changing shift schedules.

Internal locus of control and choice in health service shift workers

This study examined the relationship between shift work-specific locus of control (SH-LOC), active choice of work schedule and health outcomes, personal initiatives and coping behaviours in 1611 Danish Health Service shift workers. The 20-item SH-LOC scale was administered as part of a battery of measures. Multivariate analysis of covariance (controlling for age, workplace experience and weekly work hours) tested for differential responses to shift working and coping strategies. Interactive effects of internality and type of work rota were examined. Higher internality was linked to better tolerance to shift work. This did not appear to be a result of greater personal action in higher internals. The importance of control as a potential moderating factor to shift work exposure and the possible use of this measure in the process of shift worker monitoring is highlighted.

Employee attitudes to the distribution of organizational influence: Who should have the most influence on which issues?

This article investigates the relationship between how individuals actually experience influence in organizational issues and which actors in the organizational structure are preferred to have the most influence over different issues. In this way the article also highlights links between different forms of direct and indirect influence. Four different Danish companies applying teamwork, varying in size and type, participated in the study. The total sample size included 526 employees involved in teamwork who returned the questionnaire (response rate of 72 percent). The results indicated that employees would like the actors who already have responsibilities for a given area to control that area. The results of the regression analyses show significant associations between the degree to which influence was experienced and desires for which organizational actors should have most influence. Furthermore, employees who experience the highest degree of influence within a domain want similarly placed colleagues to have high levels of influence. The results emphasize the significance of considering the level of employee influence in understanding employee attitudes to the distribution of organizational influence and leadership.

A closer look into the employee influence

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to elucidate the relationship between perceived employee influence and organizational commitment by applying a multidimensional approach that includes influence perceived to stem from the individual and the team, as well as affective and normative commitment.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 526 out of a population of 732 employees (72 percent reply rate) from four Danish companies in different industries and with different types of teams participated in the questionnaire study.Findings – Results of bootstrapping mediation analyses reveal that a relationship between perceived influence of the team and affective commitment is fully mediated by perceived individual influence. Results of multiple regression analyses show a positive relationship between team and individual influence, and that normative commitment moderated the relationship negatively. The results are to suggest that influence of the team may stimulate employees’ individual influence, and in turn t...

Can varying the number of teams in a shift schedule constitute a preventive strategy

OBJECTIVE The study examines the implications for shiftworkers of applying different numbers of teams in the organization of shiftwork. METHODS The participating operators came from five different companies applying continuous shift rotation systems. The companies shared the same product organization and a common corporate culture belonging to the same multinational company. Each company had a shift system consisting of four, five or six teams, with the proportion of shifts outside day work decreasing as the number of teams increased. Questionnaire and documentary data were used as data sources. RESULTS Operators in systems with additional teams had more daywork but also more irregular working hours due to both overtime and schedule changes. Operators using six teams used fewer social compensation strategies. Operators in four teams were most satisfied with their work hours. Satisfaction with the time available for various social activities outside work varied inconsistently between the groups. CONCLUSIONS In rotating systems the application of more teams reduces the number of shifts outside day work. This apparent improvement for shiftworkers was counteracted by a concomitant irregularity produced by greater organizational requirements for flexibility. The balance of this interaction was found to have a critical impact on employees.

New Forms of Management: Shared and Distributed Leadership in Organizations

The Journal of Personnel Psychology (JPP) announces a special issue focusing on shared and distributed leadership in organizations. The focus will be on possible antecedents, moderators, and processes and outcomes of shared leadership in organizations. In today’s organizations, hierarchies are often replaced by team-based work structures. Organizations are faced with uncertainty and fast-changing environments, and work tasks are becoming increasingly complex. To succeed, organizations therefore need new forms of leadership to integrate the challenging and complex demands. Shared leadership describes a leadership in today’s organizations that is distributed on different levels and can be defined as “a dynamic interactive influence among individuals in groups for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group or organizational goals or both” (Pearce & Conger, 2003, p. 1). While our knowledge on these concepts, particularly from the theoretical point of view but also from the practitioner side, has grown, systematic investigations of the potential antecedents, processes, and contingencies of shared leadership in organizations are still relatively scarce. More research isneeded here (see Pearce, 2008; Pearce & Conger, 2003), and the current special issue is aimed toward filling this gap. This special issue will consider papers that explore the antecedents, processes, moderating variables, and outcomes of shared leadership and distributed leadership across different levels of the organization. Topics that are consistent with this purpose include: – What are the key antecedents of shared leaders? What causes shared leadership to occur? Why do leadership transitions occur? – What are the important mediating processes of shared and distributed leadership in organizations? – How does shared leadership impact on employee health, well-being, and satisfaction? – How can supervisors strengthen and encourage the collective leadership of their team members? – What role does empowerment and employee influence play? How important is organizational participation in its different forms, intensities, and levels? – How do we measure shared and distributed leadership? – How important is employee self-leadership? What role do self-management skills or proactivity of the members play? – Does shared leadership reduce employee turnover? – How does team composition (e.g., diversity in terms of members’ personality or other aspects) relate to or interact with shared leadership? – How important and how effective is shared leadership in modern and globalized or “virtual” workplaces? – Does shared leadership have only positive consequences, or are there also possible caveats? What might be important hindrances of shared leadership effectiveness?