Jmp Josette Gevers

Time pressure, potency and progress in project groups

Many project groups have a hard time meeting their deadlines. This research addresses this issue by studying group perceptions and group self-regulatory actions that may impede or foster the timeliness of group projects. Longitudinal data were collected from 22 student project groups developing a business solution in a field assignment. Using a questionnaire, we measured perceived time pressure, group potency, planning, and reflexivity, as well as the projects progress at three points during the 13-week working period: at the start of the project, just after the orientation phase, and finally after the execution phase and the project deadline. Our findings suggest that the effect of time pressure on progress is moderated by group potency. Furthermore, there were differential effects of planning and reflexivity in the orientation phase and the execution phase. Execution planning and reflexivity did not appear to be very useful for progress in the orientation phase of the project. However, in the execution phase, both planning and reflexivity contributed to meeting the deadline.

How project groups achieve coordinated action: A model of shared cognitions on time

This chapter addresses how project teams achieve coordinated action, given the diversity in how team members may perceive and value time. Although synchronization of task activities may occur spontaneously through the nonconscious process of entrainment, some work conditions demand that team members pay greater conscious attention to time to coordinate their efforts. We propose that shared cognitions on time – the agreement among team members on the appropriate temporal approach to their collective task – will contribute to the coordination of team members’ actions, particularly in circumstances where nonconscious synchronization of action patterns is unlikely. We suggest that project teams may establish shared cognitions on time through goal setting, temporal planning, and temporal reflexivity.

The relation between off-job recovery and job resources: person-level differences and day-level dynamics

It is well-known that recovery from work and job resources can counteract negative effects of high job demands, but less is known about how off-job recovery and job resources are related to each other. In this two-level daily diary study, 67 employees filled out daily surveys over the course of 8 days to examine this issue. Consistent with our expectations, multilevel analyses revealed that previous day’s detachment from work is positively related to the state of being recovered before going to work, and that the state of being recovered is positively related to one’s level of job resources. Moreover, the results indicated that both person-level differences and day-level dynamics play a role in these relations. Our study highlights the importance of recovering from work in the sense that it does not only help individuals by repairing negative strain effects but can also function as a catalyst in the activation of job resources.

Work Stress Interventions in Hospital Care: Effectiveness of the DISCovery Method

Effective interventions to prevent work stress and to improve health, well-being, and performance of employees are of the utmost importance. This quasi-experimental intervention study presents a specific method for diagnosis of psychosocial risk factors at work and subsequent development and implementation of tailored work stress interventions, the so-called DISCovery method. This method aims at improving employee health, well-being, and performance by optimizing the balance between job demands, job resources, and recovery from work. The aim of the study is to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of the DISCovery method in hospital care. Specifically, we used a three-wave longitudinal, quasi-experimental multiple-case study approach with intervention and comparison groups in health care work. Positive changes were found for members of the intervention groups, relative to members of the corresponding comparison groups, with respect to targeted work-related characteristics and targeted health, well-being, and performance outcomes. Overall, results lend support for the effectiveness of the DISCovery method in hospital care.

Dynamics between member replacement and team performance : the role of members' relative attributes

Analysing the 367 member replacement acts in the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament, we uncover important dynamics between member replacement and team performance. We find that poor team performance leads to substitutions with more competence gains (or with less competence loss), that substituting and substituted members’ functional background dissimilarity improves subsequent content-related team performance (i.e. scoring more goals), and that their competence superiority is associated with the speed of team performance turnaround (i.e. scoring goals faster). Going beyond contrasts between teams with and without membership change, the paper highlights the importance of substituting and substituted members’ relative task-related attributes and provides a more nuanced understanding of the complex phenomenon of team membership change. Furthermore, the paper extends the methodological spectrum of dynamic team composition research from predominantly laboratory experiments with short-lived student groups performing cognitive tasks to field studies with real-life work teams performing action tasks.

Functional diversity appropriateness: members' and managers' differential perceptions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceptions of team performance and teamwork processes relate to functional diversity appropriateness perceptions (FDAP), that is, whether one believes that the right functions are represented in a team. Thereby, the authors distinguish between perceptions of team managers and team members. Design/methodology/approach – The study involved a cross-sectional survey study among 48 sourcing teams from 12 multinational companies, all from different industries. Findings – Members’ and managers’ congruent perceptions of performance showed differential relationships with their perceptions of the team’s functional diversity appropriateness. For managers, perceptions of team performance and functional diversity appropriateness were directly and positively related. For team members, this relationship was moderated by teamwork behavior. Moreover, unlike team members, purchasing managers did not consider functionally diverse teams to be more suitable for execut...

De rol van tijd in organisaties : introductie op het thema

Dit themanummer gaat over de rol van tijd in organisaties. Tijd is inherent aan elke vorm van actie en interactie, en vormt als zodanig een belangrijke factor voor het functioneren van mensen in arbeidssituaties. Dit besef lijkt aanleiding te hebben gegeven tot een recente herontdekking van het thema tijd in de hedendaagse psychologie van arbeid en organisatie. In dit inleidende artikel geven we een beknopt historisch overzicht van de aandacht die er voor dit thema is geweest, waarbij een duidelijke verschuiving zichtbaar is van de objectieve, gemeten tijd naar de subjectieve, beleefde tijd. Vervolgens belichten we een aantal situaties uit de praktijk om aan te geven dat beide invalshoeken voor ons vakgebied relevant zijn. Ook schenken we aandacht aan de ontwikkeling en de stand van zaken ten aanzien van theorievorming en onderzoeksmethoden. Ten slotte introduceren we de artikelen die in het themanummer zijn opgenomen. We besluiten met een korte reflectie op de richting voor toekomstig onderzoek.