Rebecca Mitchell

Toward Realizing the Potential of Diversity in Composition of Interprofessional Health Care Teams An Examination of the Cognitive and Psychosocial Dynamics of Interprofessional Collaboration

Interprofessional approaches to health and social care have been linked to improved planning and policy development, more clinically effective services, and enhanced problem solving; however, there is evidence that professionals tend to operate in uniprofessional silos and that attempts to share knowledge across professional borders are often unsuccessful.Interprofessional approaches to health and social care have been linked to improved planning and policy development, more clinically effective services, and enhanced problem solving; however, there is evidence that professionals tend to operate in uniprofessional silos and that attempts to share knowledge across professional borders are often unsuccessful.

The Role of Openness to Cognitive Diversity and Group Processes in Knowledge Creation

This study examines how group member beliefs regarding cognitive differences influence ability to create knowledge. Specifically, this study explores whether the impact of openness to cognitive diversity on knowledge creation is a result of associated collaborative behaviors. To investigate this theory, it is assessed whether the behaviors of debate and decision comprehensiveness mediate the relationship between openness to cognitive diversity and knowledge creation. The results of a survey of 98 workplace teams support the hypotheses that the impact of openness is consequent to the emergence of behavioral patterns that facilitate open and rigorous discussion and contribute to the understanding of the psychosocial and behavioral variables underpinning knowledge creation.

Knowledge creation measurement methods

Purpose – This paper sets out to examine the operationalisation of knowledge creation. Given the importance of knowledge creation for national and corporate wealth, assessing its measurement is a valuable exercise; however, current research utilises a range of measures, and this lack of agreed construct operationalisation is a barrier to robust empirical investigation. This paper aims to review current measurement methods and to construct a taxonomy of knowledge creation measures. Design/methodology/approach – A four-step classification method is followed. In order to generate information on the essential properties of measurement methods, relevant empirical research is reviewed and a content analysis performed on the resultant measures. The literature review includes key-term searches on bibliographic databases, yielding a sample of 63 empirical papers that incorporated knowledge creation measures. Both of the authors independently created a cognitive map of these measures based on three different attributes. Findings – The main contribution of the paper is the development of a hierarchical taxonomy of knowledge creation measures. This taxonomy, in which movement up the hierarchy provides broader conceptual classification and movement down provides conceptual refinement, advances knowledge creation research by categorising measures in a way that facilitates assessment against existing comparable definitions. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of the research stem from issues of bias. In addition to sampling bias, some bias may have entered the coding with respect to placement of measures into process or output categories. Originality/value – The research has significant implications for future research in knowledge creation: the taxonomy facilitates consistency between knowledge construct definition and measurement, and differentiation between knowledge creation and other, related constructs, such as innovation. Such a taxonomy makes it easier to clarify similarities and differences among knowledge creation measures, develop new propositions for future investigation, and identify neglected areas of study.

Interprofessional Practice and Professional Identity Threat

Abstract The implementation of interprofessional practice (IPP) within healthcare appears to be fraught with difficulties, despite the attention it has received in the literature. Although there are examples where IPP has reaped significant benefits, it has also been shown to impede team performance. We demonstrate that a key cause of failure in IPP can be attributed to interprofessional conflicts based on threats to professional identity, and provide insight into how professional identity faultlines have the potential to be activated and conflict induced when there is differential treatment of professional groups, different values between professions, assimilation, insult or humiliating action and simple contact within the team. This has significant implications for the management of interprofessional healthcare teams and provides information for team leaders and health managers.

Transformation through tension: The moderating impact of negative affect on transformational leadership in teams

Transformational leadership has consistently been argued to enhance diverse team outcomes, yet related research has generated ambiguous findings. We suggest that effectiveness is enhanced in interprofessional teams when transformational leaders engender dynamics that are characterized by interprofessional motivation and openness to diversity. Drawing on the mood-as-information perspective, we argue that negative affective tone moderates the impact of these mediators on team effectiveness. Further, we suggest that this moderating role is such that conditions of high negative affect enhance the mediating role of interprofessional motivation, while low negative affect strengthens the mediating role of openness to diversity. In order to investigate these divergent effects, the current study develops a model of leadership and interprofessional team effectiveness through two pathways reflecting the parallel mediating effects of interprofessional motivation and openness to diversity, and a moderating role for negative affect. Findings from a survey-based study of 75 healthcare teams support the utility of this model.

The Abc of health care team dynamics: Understanding complex affective, behavioral, and cognitive dynamics in interprofessional teams

Background: Interprofessional teams form the basis of many health care problem-solving and decision-making mechanisms. However, more than 70% of medical errors are attributable to dysfunctional team dynamics. The recent suggestion that health care teams are more complex than nonmedical teams suggests that we require more sophisticated knowledge of team dynamics and processes. Purposes: The mechanisms of dysfunctional interprofessional teams focusing on affective, behavioral, and cognitive effects are explored. We argue that interprofessional composition impacts team dynamics by increasing the likelihood of affective conflict, which mediates a decrease in elaborative behaviors and open-mindedness. Methodology: The hypotheses are investigated using a cross-sectional, correlational design. Survey data received from 218 members of 47 interprofessional teams employed in an acute care setting, representing a 39% response rate, is used to investigate two moderated mediation pathways. Findings: Analysis supports a significant relationship between interprofessional composition and affective conflict but only when team rate highly for professional identification. Results also support a dual moderated mediation pathway through which professional diversity has a dysfunctional effect on debate and open-mindedness. Practice Implications: A range of strategies emerge from the findings to minimize dysfunctional interprofessional team dynamics. These include the use of leadership strategies, such as transformational styles, reinforcement of shared values such as patient-centeredness, and development of a shared group identity.

Knowledge worker control: understanding via principal and agency theory

Purpose – The growing prominence of knowledge workers in contemporary organisations has led to a considerable amount of research into their role and activities, however, despite this growing interest, there remains a lack of clarity regarding the relationship of knowledge workers to management. This paper aims to respond by investigating the features of knowledge work that impose barriers to traditional managerial control methods and exploring the extent to which alternative approaches to influence are available to knowledge work managers, and the circumstances under which these different approaches are indicated.Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilised agency theory to investigate the implications of knowledge asymmetry in principal‐knowledge worker exchanges, and argues against the utility of models of control based on principles of scientific management on which agency models are typically based, towards models of control based on reciprocity and commitment.Findings – The paper has two main out...

The Divergent Effects of Transformational Leadership on Individual and Team Innovation

Transformational leadership has consistently been argued to enhance team innovation, yet related research has generated ambiguous findings. We suggest that our understanding of leader impact on innovation would benefit from explicitly recognizing both group- and individual-focused transformational leadership dimensions and their distinct effects on team and individual innovation. In particular, we predict a novel contrasting effect in which group-focused transformational leader behavior has a positive impact on team innovation but a negative impact on individual innovation. We further argue that this divergence in leader effect is strengthened by task interdependence, which enhances the negative effects of group-level transformational leadership on individual innovation. Data from 195 members of 56 teams support our predicted pathways, which contribute to a clearer understanding of the complex, multilevel effects of leadership in innovation in teams, and highlight the importance of differentiating between team and individual leader dimensions and outcomes.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling in HRM research

Abstract Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become a key multivariate analysis technique that human resource management (HRM) researchers frequently use. While most disciplines undertake regular critical reflections on the use of important methods to ensure rigorous research and publication practices, the use of PLS-SEM in HRM has not been analyzed so far. To address this gap in HRM literature, this paper presents a critical review of PLS-SEM use in 77 HRM studies published over a 30-year period in leading journals. By contrasting the review results with state-of-the-art guidelines for use of the method, we identify several areas that offer room of improvement when applying PLS-SEM in HRM studies. Our findings offer important guidance for future use of the PLS-SEM method in HRM and related fields.

The link between high performance work practices and organizational performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relationship between high-performance work practices (HPWP) and organizational performance through a multi-dimensional model of the relationship between HPWP and performance, which conceptualizes HPWP according to the ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) framework. HPWP are conceptualized as HR practices capable of enhancing the AMO of employees to contribute to organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 118 Jordanian firms operating in the financial and manufacturing sectors. A questionnaire completed by the HR director in each firm assessed HPWP adoption and their influence on organizational performance. Findings – The findings generate support for the link between HPWP and organizational performance and confirm the utility of the AMO model for conceptualizing HPWP and their impact on organizational performance. Research limitations/implications – While this study relies on cross-sectional data, ...