Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science (2015) / Chapter Skim
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4 Team Composition and Assembly
4 Team Composition and Assembly
Pages 81-96
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From page 81... ...
The third section of the chapter discusses tools and methods to facilitate composition and assembly of science teams and larger groups. The fourth section discusses the role of team composition and assembly in addressing the seven features that create challenges for team science outlined in Chapter 1.
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From page 82... ...
. Higher conscientiousness, measured as a team's mean conscientiousness, is also positively related to team performance, although the relationship is stronger for performance and planning tasks than it is for creative and decision-making tasks that are similar to those carried out by science teams (Koslowski and Bell, 2003)
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From page 83... ...
Based on data collected using unobtrusive badges to record team member interactions, Pentland (2012) also found that the level of equality in taking turns when speaking was related to team performance.
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From page 84... ...
. Although the finding that a high level of general cognitive ability enhances team effectiveness might suggest that science teams and groups should be composed entirely of individuals with this characteristic, a balance of characteristics may most benefit team effectiveness (Kozlowski and Ilgen, 2006)
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From page 85... ...
The authors found that contextual factors such as team interdependence and occupational setting influenced the direction and level of the relationships. For example, gender diversity had a significant negative effect on team performance in male-dominated occupational settings but a significant positive effect on team performance in gender-balanced occupational settings.
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From page 86... ...
In contrast to these meta-analytic findings, two recent studies focusing specifically on science found positive relationships between demographic and national diversity and the effectiveness of science teams or groups. First, Freeman and Huang (2014)
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From page 87... ...
Overall, the research findings on the facilitative or inhibiting aspects of team diversity are mixed, although the meta-analytic evidence clarifies the picture somewhat. Further research is needed to explore how various forms of diversity are related to team performance.
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From page 88... ...
but worse for team performance if the subgroups are based on demographic characteristics, such as the same age and gender. On the one hand, in the case of knowledge-based subgroups, having an equal representation of knowledge sources on the team can be beneficial for integrating what is known (van Knippenberg, De Dreu, and Homan, 2004)
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From page 89... ...
Changing team composition through membership changes, often considered detrimental to team effectiveness, seems in some instances to have a positive effect and might be a useful intervention. In particular, faultlines that have formed may be disrupted by changing membership and collaboration dynamics that may be dysfunctional to team effectiveness may be pushed off their trajectory, resulting in positive process change.
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From page 90... ...
Data on team composition were derived from authorship data from the five to seven top journals in each field, circa 1955–2004, as recorded in the Web of Science. They found that science team performance, as measured by the average citations accumulated by a paper (i.e., the journal impact factor)
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From page 91... ...
Assembly of science teams and groups may also benefit from cognitive engineering methods. Cognitive architectures, such as ACT-R, social network models, and agent-based modeling, have been used to understand and improve team effectiveness in highly cognitive tasks and can also be used to guide team assembly (Kozlowski and Ilgen, 2006)
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From page 92... ...
These systems enable users to discover research expertise across multiple disciplines; identify potential collaborators, mentors, or expert reviewers; and assemble science teams based on publication history, grants, and/or biographical data (Obeid et al., 2014)
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From page 93... ...
is directly addressed by the research in team composition, faultlines, and subgroups summarized above. The finding that task-related diversity is associated with more effective teams is a promising finding for team science projects, which are composed primarily on the basis of task diversity.
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From page 94... ...
They noted that membership fluidity has been found to have both positive and negative effects on team performance, facilitating knowledge transfer on one hand, yet potentially reducing team members' bonds of affiliation on the other hand. To address these challenges, the authors suggested using team assembly tools, increasing role clarity, developing transportable team competencies, and focusing on team handoffs and transitions.
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From page 95... ...
However, taskrelevant heterogeneity does seem to be related to team effectiveness with important implications for science teams or groups including multiple disciplines. Further research on faultlines and the subgroups that can result from them corroborate the positive influence of task-related heterogeneity and the need to carefully manage demographic heterogeneity.
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From page 96... ...
Task analytic methods developed in non-science contexts and research networking tools developed in science contexts allow practitioners to consider team composition systematically. Recommendation 1: Team science leaders and others involved in as sembling science teams and larger groups should consider making use of task analytic methods (e.g., task analysis, cognitive modeling, job analysis, cognitive work analysis)
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