Browsing by Author "Zajac, Stephanie"

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    Diversity in Design Teams: A Grounded Theory Approach
    (2017-04-21) Zajac, Stephanie; Salas, Dr. Eduardo
    Recent workforce trends have virtually guaranteed that employees need to be able to work effectively with a diverse group of colleagues. First, US workforce demographics have changed dramatically; the population is now 16.4% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Black or African American, and 5.5% Asian. Women now make up 46.8% of the labor pool (BLS, 2015). A second trend is the widespread use of interdisciplinary teams to tackle cognitively demanding tasks, as well as to spur creativity and innovation (Cooke, Salas, Cannon-Bowers, & Stout, 2000; Fay, Borril, Amir, Haward, & West, 2006; Salas, Cooke, & Rosen, 2008). Taken together, it is clear that understanding diversity in teams is an issue that needs to be at the forefront of research and practice. In the science of teams, diversity has been labeled a double-edge sword (Chi, Huang, & Lin, 2009). Diverse members offer a wider range of expertise and ideas from which the team can draw (e.g., Watson, Kumar, & Michaelsen, 1993). According to information processing theories (e.g., van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004), this leads to team behaviors (e.g., constructive debate) that result in higher quality team processes (e.g., decision making; Horwitz & Horwitz, 2007) and performance (e.g., creativity; McLeod, Lobel, & Cox, 1996). Alternatively, similarity-attraction (Byrne, 1971) and social categorization (Hogg & Turner, 1985) theories posit that diversity leads to subgrouping based on perceived similarity, and ultimately to bias, reduced social integration, and increased conflict that can act as barriers to realizing the team-level benefits of diversity (Stahl, et al., 2010). Indeed, the influence of diversity on team process and outcomes is anything but straightforward. In fact, empirical evidence has failed to find consistent relationships (e.g., Webber & Donahue, 2001), highlighting the importance of potential moderators (see Table 1 for a sample of these factors). Towards this end, a series of meta-analytic investigations have been conducted that emphasize the importance of team type, task difficulty, task type and inter-industry factors such as competition (Bell et al., 2011; Bowers, Pharmer, & Salas, 2000; Joshi & Roh, 2009). Clearly, context matters, and understanding the diversity-performance relationship requires a deeper dive into a specific context of interest. Qualitative inquiry is one tool through which this can be achieved. Toward this end, qualitative research allows for an inductive approach to the relationship between diversity and team performance under specific contexts, and recent efforts (e.g., Shachaf, 2008) have shown that while diversity affects similar team processes (e.g., communication), the way this effect unfolds uniquely differs by context. Therefore, in line with these efforts, the current investigation takes a structured and systematic grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) to look closely at a context where creativity and innovation are demanded from today’s workforce, namely, design teams. In an attempt to shed light on persistent equivocal findings in both the team diversity and team conflict literatures, I put forth: (1) a temporally-based framework of diverse design team performance using the Input Mediator Output Input model (IMOI; Ilgen, et al., 2005), (2) an integrative theory, and a (3) set of testable findings. I argue that in engineering design teams, diversity on assertiveness, previous experience, and demographics (and the underlying cultural dimension of collectivism/individualism) can either positively or negatively influence communication behaviors (i.e., information exchange and elaboration; Van Knippenberg et al., 2004) through the avenues of frequency, timelines, equality, and comprehension of exchange. Furthermore, and in line with meta-analytic findings (Stahl et al., 2010), it is proposed that the nature of diverse teams and the engineering design process itself suggest the diversity-task conflict relationship will be strong. While previous research has largely looked at task and relationship conflict in silo (Behfar, et al., 2008), I suggest that these strongly correlated states (de Wit, Greer, & Jehn, 2012) are inextricable linked and often develop together. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism that is responsible for task conflict spiraling into relationship conflict is diversity in the directness of conflict expression (Weingart et. al, 2015), a variable associated with both assertiveness and collectivism (Oyserman & Kemmelmeier, 2002). Indeed, members varied greatly in their preference for straightforward, goal-directed expression versus ambiguous, relationship-centered expression. It is argued that heterogeneity in this construct among team members has the potential for expressions to be seen as rude, insincere, or argumentative by those less direct, or as avoidant and passive aggressive by those more direct (Taras et al., 2007), thus triggering the onset of relationship conflict. In a unique contribution to the literature, the theory then develops further to address many of the limitations cited in the conflict literature related to measurement, failure to consider reciprocal effects between conflict state, and temporal issues (Loughry & Amason, 2014). What follows is a unique look at how conflict-communication cycles unfold across a team’s lifecycle, and the team level states (e.g., social integration; O’Reilly, Caldwell and Barnett, 1989) that can act as a buffer against potentially negative effects on team performance.
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    Looking to the Middle of the Qualitative-Quantitative Spectrum for Integrated Mixed Methods
    (Sage, 2021) Paoletti, Jensine; Bisbey, Tiffany M.; Zajac, Stephanie; Waller, Mary J.; Salas, Eduardo
    Substantially advancing the study of teams will require a new research paradigm complete with methods capable of capturing the complex, dynamic process of teamwork. In this paper, we suggest studying teams with an integrated mixed methods approach (i.e., methods defined by an interconnected mix of quantitative and qualitative characteristics) can help address current methodological shortcomings of our science by promoting sufficiently contextualized research. Through a review of methods, we highlight exemplars of integrated mixed methods that have the potential to be more widely adopted; namely, interaction analysis, content analysis, cluster analysis, state space grids, and agent-based modeling.
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    Overcoming Challenges to Teamwork in Healthcare: A Team Effectiveness Framework and Evidence-Based Guidance
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2021) Zajac, Stephanie; Woods, Amanda; Tannenbaum, Scott; Salas, Eduardo; Holladay, Courtney L.
    Background: Safe and effective patient care depends on the teamwork of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals. Unfortunately, the field currently lacks an evidence-based framework for effective teamwork that can be incorporated into medical education and practice across health professions. We introduce a comprehensive framework for team effectiveness. Common challenges to teamwork in healthcare are identified along with evidence-based strategies for overcoming them.Methods: The framework was developed in four steps: 1) grounding in the existing team science literature, 2) semi-structured interviews (N = 13), 3) thematic analysis and initial framework development, and 4) revision of the framework through input from healthcare professionals representative of different functions across the healthcare system (N = 13). A diagnostic tool consisting of one survey item per team competency was developed to complement the framework. The survey was then administered to healthcare teams across clinical and administrative functions (N = 10 teams, 96 individuals), and results were compiled and then used to conduct debriefs with individual team members and teams. A set of common teamwork challenges were identified using the survey and qualitative data. Qualitative data was analyzed to explore the unique ways these challenges manifest in both clinical and administrative teams.Results: The five most common challenges that face healthcare teams relate to accountability, conflict management, decision-making, reflecting on progress, and coaching. These challenges were similar across both clinical and administrative team types. Based on the authors' collective experience designing and implementing Team Development Interventions (TDIs), strategies for managing each challenge are provided.Conclusions: The proposed framework is unique in two ways. First, it's generally applicable across the many types of teams that contribute to the quality and safety of patient care. Second, the levels of the framework build upon each other to contribute to the development of the ideal team states. The framework and accompanying strategies can provide guidance for where and how to target developmental efforts.