Page 125 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Cooperation Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 125
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Theoretical, Empirical and Practical Insight
into Team Cooperation from the Perspective
of Group Processes, Part I:
Factors that Shape, Leverage or Align
Team Processes
Maša Vidmar
Synopsis
When introducing local ESL multi-professional teams, considera-
tion should be given to designing the team in accordance with the
institutional context, shared vision, the development of the team
and task competencies of team members, adequate team composi-
tion, the required training of team members and the development of
leadership expertise.
Summary
Multi-professional teams at the local level have been recognised as
important for tackling ESL, but many challenges still lie ahead. Two
interrelated and complementary articles aim to bring forward ex-
pertise from the teams and small groups literature to help deal with
challenges and contribute to awareness of what is needed for teams to
function effectively at the micro-level: this first article focuses on the
factors that shape, leverage or align team processes (part I), where-
as the second article looks at the team processes (including emer-
gent states) per se (part II). Findings from this article show that ESL
teams are complex, dynamic and cyclic systems that operate at mul-
tiple interacting levels (individual, team, organisation). Teams are
characterised by the interdependence of members’ action, shared re-
sponsibility, common goals, specialised roles and positioning within
a broader organisational context/school (Cannon-Bowers & Bowers,
125
Theoretical, Empirical and Practical Insight
into Team Cooperation from the Perspective
of Group Processes, Part I:
Factors that Shape, Leverage or Align
Team Processes
Maša Vidmar
Synopsis
When introducing local ESL multi-professional teams, considera-
tion should be given to designing the team in accordance with the
institutional context, shared vision, the development of the team
and task competencies of team members, adequate team composi-
tion, the required training of team members and the development of
leadership expertise.
Summary
Multi-professional teams at the local level have been recognised as
important for tackling ESL, but many challenges still lie ahead. Two
interrelated and complementary articles aim to bring forward ex-
pertise from the teams and small groups literature to help deal with
challenges and contribute to awareness of what is needed for teams to
function effectively at the micro-level: this first article focuses on the
factors that shape, leverage or align team processes (part I), where-
as the second article looks at the team processes (including emer-
gent states) per se (part II). Findings from this article show that ESL
teams are complex, dynamic and cyclic systems that operate at mul-
tiple interacting levels (individual, team, organisation). Teams are
characterised by the interdependence of members’ action, shared re-
sponsibility, common goals, specialised roles and positioning within
a broader organisational context/school (Cannon-Bowers & Bowers,
125
