Page 149 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Cooperation Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 149
theoretical, empirical and practical insight into team cooperation ...
climate influenced individuals’ outcomes of job performance, psycholog-
ical well-being and withdrawal through their impact on organisational
commitment and job satisfaction (Carr, Schmidt, Ford, & DeSchon, 2003).
Based on research, Kozlowski and Ilgen (2006) identified three factors
influencing the strength of the team climate:
1. ‘strategic imperatives’ (objectives with the highest priority within
organisation/team; Schneider, Wheeler, & Cox, 1992);
2. leadership (because leaders shape interpretation of the climate
for team members with whom they have good relationships, the
quality of the relationship between members, and the team leader
plays a key role in developing the nature and strength of the cli-
mate); and
3. frequent interpersonal interactions (Rentsch, 1990).
Attention to building a collective climate within ESL multi-profes-
sional teams seems warranted. If an ESL team can find its ‘strategic imper-
ative’, i.e. it can establish a consensus on what is their main goal, this will
contribute to team climate and team effectiveness. This may appear easier
than it is; professionals with different educational backgrounds and roles
in school may have different (even opposing) values, ideologies and opin-
ions on what is the goal of ESL team (e.g. the school head may want to keep
a student in school because of funding issues and the counsellor may see
the programme as not fitting the student’s needs and interests; for details
on subgroup conflict, see below). Moreover, it is important that the per-
son who takes on the leadership role is consciously striving to have good
relationships with each team member. Providing opportunities for (infor-
mal) interpersonal interactions is also necessary (e.g. to organise a social
(team-building) event for the ESL team members).
Team mental models and transactive memory
Team mental models are defined as organised mental representations of
knowledge or beliefs that are relevant to key elements of the team’s task en-
vironment and are shared among members (e.g. representations of tasks,
of situations, of response patterns or of the working relationship; Klimoski
& Mohammed, 1994). A review of empirical studies demonstrated that the
sharedness of the team’s mental model has a positive relationship with the
team’s performance (Mohammed, Ferzandi, & Hamilton, 2010), indicating
that team members must have accurate and shared knowledge of the team’s
149
climate influenced individuals’ outcomes of job performance, psycholog-
ical well-being and withdrawal through their impact on organisational
commitment and job satisfaction (Carr, Schmidt, Ford, & DeSchon, 2003).
Based on research, Kozlowski and Ilgen (2006) identified three factors
influencing the strength of the team climate:
1. ‘strategic imperatives’ (objectives with the highest priority within
organisation/team; Schneider, Wheeler, & Cox, 1992);
2. leadership (because leaders shape interpretation of the climate
for team members with whom they have good relationships, the
quality of the relationship between members, and the team leader
plays a key role in developing the nature and strength of the cli-
mate); and
3. frequent interpersonal interactions (Rentsch, 1990).
Attention to building a collective climate within ESL multi-profes-
sional teams seems warranted. If an ESL team can find its ‘strategic imper-
ative’, i.e. it can establish a consensus on what is their main goal, this will
contribute to team climate and team effectiveness. This may appear easier
than it is; professionals with different educational backgrounds and roles
in school may have different (even opposing) values, ideologies and opin-
ions on what is the goal of ESL team (e.g. the school head may want to keep
a student in school because of funding issues and the counsellor may see
the programme as not fitting the student’s needs and interests; for details
on subgroup conflict, see below). Moreover, it is important that the per-
son who takes on the leadership role is consciously striving to have good
relationships with each team member. Providing opportunities for (infor-
mal) interpersonal interactions is also necessary (e.g. to organise a social
(team-building) event for the ESL team members).
Team mental models and transactive memory
Team mental models are defined as organised mental representations of
knowledge or beliefs that are relevant to key elements of the team’s task en-
vironment and are shared among members (e.g. representations of tasks,
of situations, of response patterns or of the working relationship; Klimoski
& Mohammed, 1994). A review of empirical studies demonstrated that the
sharedness of the team’s mental model has a positive relationship with the
team’s performance (Mohammed, Ferzandi, & Hamilton, 2010), indicating
that team members must have accurate and shared knowledge of the team’s
149
