Michael Beyerlein

Assessing Anxiety about Retirement: The Case of Academicians

One hundred and forty-four individuals, ninety-two of whom were active university faculty and fifty-two of whom were retired, completed a measure of anxiety about retirement as well as a battery of self-report scales assessing a number of personality, job-related, and retirement-specific constructs. Results suggested that the newly developed measure of retirement anxiety possessed high internal consistency as well as both discriminant and construct validity. Moreover, it is multidimensional in nature, and distinct in content from previous scales assessing anxiety about retirement. Its use for persons anticipating retirement is discussed in the context of the benefits of a proactive stance toward retirement preparation.

Levels of Death Anxiety in Terminally Ill Men: A Pilot Study

Twenty-five men, twelve of whom were healthy and thirteen of whom had been diagnosed with AIDS, were administered measures of overt (Templer DAS) and covert (Incomplete Sentence Blank) fear of death in order to ascertain levels of death anxiety in those with a terminal illness. Results suggested that while men who had AIDS and those who were healthy did not differ in Templer DAS scores, Incomplete Sentence Blank total scores were higher (p < .01) for males with AIDS. These findings are consistent with the observations of Pattison who suggested that ones life trajectory is redefined when the diagnosis of a terminal illness is made; such persons experience great anxiety, resulting in the denial of their fear in order to maintain a psychological equilibrium in the face of death.

Framing the Effects of Multinational Cultural Diversity on Virtual Team Processes

Globalization of the economy and the technological revolution has led to increased reliance on teams with geographically distributed membership, which has increased multiculturalism in the workplace. This study identifies factors that affect the processes and performance of nationally and culturally diverse teams working in a virtual environment. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify previous empirical studies in global virtual team research published from 1998 to 2014, focusing on the effects of deep diversity in the form of national culture on multinational virtual teams (MNVTs). Sixty of the 268 articles met our criteria for inclusion in this study. We concentrated on the critical factors regarding processes and outcomes in MNVTs. The resulting framework included four socioemotional and four task-related challenges for team leaders to focus on. We found that dynamic interdependency among socioemotional and task process factors affects MNVT performance.

Communities of Practice: A Critical Perspective on Collaboration

The importance of collaboration had been widely recognized but its nature has remained obscure. This chapter suggests that an appropriate level of analysis for collaboration research would be social interaction and the optimal unit of analysis would be communities of practice. Such a sociocultural approach departs from the traditional positivist approach, which echoes the long-standing conflict between postmodernism and modernism. Principles of organization in traditional institutions and communities of practice are then contrasted. The differences among coordination, cooperation, and collaboration are presented, suggesting that the prototypical form of collaboration locate in communities of practice. Finally, a new look at the relationships between collaboration and learning, collaboration and innovation is extended to describe the workspace created by communities of practice.

Historic Roots of Team Theory and Practice

Current levels of development in the theory and practice of work teams rest on a complex historical foundation. This chapter provides an overview of that foundation with an emphasis on early laboratory research and practical developments at work sites in Western Europe, the U.S., and Australia. The contributions of major thought leaders are mentioned, including Lewin, Emery, and Trist. And the path of development is traced up to the recent use of virtual teams. The theory continues to be further elaborated by field studies in a wide range of settings and by practice that has spread to new areas of business, to non-profit organizations, and to government. Finally, the business case for use of teams is briefly addressed, emphasizing the point that teams are so widely used now that the quality of their implementation rather than their presence is the key to competitive advantage.

Employee age and perceptions of work in self-managing and traditional work groups.

Self-managing work groups are a form of work design in which employees take responsibility for the groups tasks and have discretion over decisions which impact group performance. To explore the impact of age and work teams on job attitudes, data from 477 employees suggested that self-managed work group members differed from traditional job holders regarding perceived general job satisfaction, perceived control by supervisors, as well as a number of specific dimensions of the work environment. Moreover, while there was evidence of an age effect on attitudes toward supervisory control, there was no joint effect of age by work design on job attitudes, i.e., ones perceived general job satisfaction. Older employees who were members of self-managed work groups were however, more impacted by this form of work design in reporting more positive perceptions of their access to information essential to the performance of their work. These findings suggest that an “older” work force should not be considered a barrier to implementing a work teams approach to job design.

Measurement of Cognitive Structure in the Domain of Art History

This research represents the first known application of protocol analysis to a liberal arts knowledge domain. The purpose of this study was to capture differences in cognitive structure between experts and novices in the area of art history. A sorting task consisting of twenty-five reproductions of paintings and prints covering the 14th through the 20th centuries was used to elicit verbal protocol data from a sample of four experts and four novices. The protocols were then transcribed and scored using concept mapping and content analysis procedures. Three knowledge breadth measures, concept map propositions, concept map examples, and implicit propositions, were strongly correlated with membership in the expert or novice group. In addition, the knowledge depth measure, concept map hierarchy levels, was also strongly correlated with the group membership variable suggesting that, as predicted, experts produced a significantly greater number of concept map propositions, examples, hierarchy levels, and implicit propositions than novices. Subsequently, three discriminant analyses related to the three hypotheses of the study correctly classified 100 percent, 87.5 percent, and 100 percent of the grouped cases, respectively. Univariate F tests were statistically significant in all three analyses suggesting that the knowledge structures of experts evidence greater breadth and depth than those of novices and are related to particular elements of experience.

The parallel growth of team practices and the Center for the Study of Work Teams

In the past dozen years, significant changes have occurred in the practice and research around work teams. Some of those changes have been captured, spread, or created by the Center for the Study of Work Teams at the University of North Texas. As practices have evolved, the Center has grown to provide education and other resources, including new frames of reference, for the members of organizations working to optimize their collaborative practices.

Talent development: a systematic literature review of empirical studies

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify and examine findings from empirical research regarding organizations’ talent development (TD) strategies, taking into consideration the countries in which the studies were conducted, the TD approach organizations adopted, as well as to recognize the positive outcomes of TD implementation as well as potential issues and challenges. Design/methodology/approach This systematic literature review used Garrard’s matrix method to organize the review of publications. It identified 31 empirical articles from the total of 551 publications. Findings The findings indicate that a majority of the studies were conducted in countries other than the US and that they were all published recently, after 2007. The results show that organizations have mostly applied organizational development (OD) interventions at the individual level for developing talented employees, followed by formal training and development (FT&D). Additionally, managerial issues regarding were identified a...

Shared leadership in teams: The role of coordination, goal commitment, and knowledge sharing on perceived team performance

Purpose This study examined the effect of shared leadership on student project team processes and outcomes. We focused on shared leadership and its association with team processes (coordination, goal commitment, and knowledge sharing) and team performance. Design/methodology/approach To examine the shared leadership, team processes, and performance model, we conducted two separate surveys of 158 graduate and undergraduate students working in project teams at a large southwestern university. Findings Results showed that shared leadership positively affected coordination activities, goal commitment, and knowledge sharing, which in turn, positively affect team performance, even though shared leadership had no direct effect on team performance. Research limitations/implications – Our research adds to the knowledge of important team process factors through which shared leadership indirectly affects team performance. Practical implications Based on our findings, we provided implications for students and instructors that shared leadership can facilitate team performance by enabling team members to coordinate activities, commit to goals, and share knowledge effectively. Originality/value – This study presents an initial understanding of the shared leadership-team performance relationship by introducing influential variables, such as coordination activities, goal commitment, and knowledge sharing in a team.Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of shared leadership on student project team processes and outcomes. The authors focused on shared leadership and its association with team processes (coordination, goal commitment and knowledge sharing) and team performance. Design/methodology/approach To examine the shared leadership, team processes and performance model, the authors conducted two separate surveys of 158 graduate and undergraduate students working in project teams at a large southwestern university. Findings Results showed that shared leadership positively affected coordination activities, goal commitment and knowledge sharing, which in turn positively affect team performance. Each team process factor had a mediation effect, although shared leadership had no direct effect on team performance. Research limitations/implications This research adds to the knowledge of important team process factors through which shared leadership indirectly affects team performance. Practical implications Based on the findings, the authors provided implications for students and instructors that shared leadership can facilitate team performance by enabling team members to coordinate activities, commit to goals and share knowledge effectively. Originality/value This study presents an initial understanding of the shared leadership-team performance relationship by introducing influential variables, such as coordination activities, goal commitment and knowledge sharing in a team.