Page 129 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Cooperation Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 129
theoretical, empirical and practical insight into team cooperation ...
- common goals (members have one or more meaningful and val-
ued goals to achieve);
- specialised roles (members have different roles or functions); and
- positioning within the broader organisational context (with
boundaries and linkages to the broader system that presumably
affects their performance) (Cannon-Bowers & Bowers, 2011).
Teams are complex, adaptive and dynamic systems that affect and are
affected by a number of individual, task, situational, environmental and
organisational factors as they perform a task over time (ibid.; for a review
of the team’s ecosystem, see Bryson et al., 2006; Hood et al., 1993). Team
tasks and team capabilities are not fixed (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006) and
team functioning is not linear, consecutive or static. Teams can be observed
at multiple levels (i.e. individual, team) and these levels interact with each
other. The life of a team is cyclic (Ilgen et al., 2005) which can be brief, re-
curring or enduring (Cannon-Bowers & Bowers, 2011). Teams are often en-
gaged in multiple tasks that vary in duration and are at different stages of
their development (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006).
ESL teams clearly fit into the described conceptualisation. They are em-
bedded within the school/community and are composed of several mem-
bers who have a shared goal and responsibility to prevent ESL. To achieve
this, they need to align their actions. The work of the team depends on the
characteristics of each member (e.g. teacher’s competence), the task (e.g. to
understand and stop a student’s increased truancy), the situation (e.g. an
especially difficult personal and family history of the potential ESLer) and
other environmental/organisational factors (e.g. new regulation adopted at
the school level, renovation of school building; national strategy against
ESL adopted) and these variables all influence each other. This process is
cyclic, meaning that a similar cycle occurs every time a new student is in-
troduced to the ESL team (at the same time the work with other potential
ESL students continues, hence the team is engaged in multiple tasks). The
process is constantly changing over time as new conditions are introduced
(e.g. a new team member; another (potential) ESLer).
Factors that shape, leverage or align team processes
In the following sections, we present the factors that influence the process-
es and emergent states that occur within a team.
129
- common goals (members have one or more meaningful and val-
ued goals to achieve);
- specialised roles (members have different roles or functions); and
- positioning within the broader organisational context (with
boundaries and linkages to the broader system that presumably
affects their performance) (Cannon-Bowers & Bowers, 2011).
Teams are complex, adaptive and dynamic systems that affect and are
affected by a number of individual, task, situational, environmental and
organisational factors as they perform a task over time (ibid.; for a review
of the team’s ecosystem, see Bryson et al., 2006; Hood et al., 1993). Team
tasks and team capabilities are not fixed (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006) and
team functioning is not linear, consecutive or static. Teams can be observed
at multiple levels (i.e. individual, team) and these levels interact with each
other. The life of a team is cyclic (Ilgen et al., 2005) which can be brief, re-
curring or enduring (Cannon-Bowers & Bowers, 2011). Teams are often en-
gaged in multiple tasks that vary in duration and are at different stages of
their development (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006).
ESL teams clearly fit into the described conceptualisation. They are em-
bedded within the school/community and are composed of several mem-
bers who have a shared goal and responsibility to prevent ESL. To achieve
this, they need to align their actions. The work of the team depends on the
characteristics of each member (e.g. teacher’s competence), the task (e.g. to
understand and stop a student’s increased truancy), the situation (e.g. an
especially difficult personal and family history of the potential ESLer) and
other environmental/organisational factors (e.g. new regulation adopted at
the school level, renovation of school building; national strategy against
ESL adopted) and these variables all influence each other. This process is
cyclic, meaning that a similar cycle occurs every time a new student is in-
troduced to the ESL team (at the same time the work with other potential
ESL students continues, hence the team is engaged in multiple tasks). The
process is constantly changing over time as new conditions are introduced
(e.g. a new team member; another (potential) ESLer).
Factors that shape, leverage or align team processes
In the following sections, we present the factors that influence the process-
es and emergent states that occur within a team.
129
