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The influence of teammates ' shared mental models on team processes and performance was tested using 56 undergraduate dyads who "flew " a series of missions on a personal-computer-based flight-combat simulation. The authors both conceptually and empirically distinguished between teammates' task- and team-based mental models and indexed their convergence or "sharedness " using individually completed paired-comparisons matrices analyzed using a network-based algorithm. The results illustrated that both shared-team- and task-based mental models related positively to subsequent team process and performance. Furthermore, team processes fully mediated the relationship between mental model convergence and team effectiveness. Results are discussed in terms of the role of shared cognitions in team effectiveness and the applicability of different interventions designed to achieve such convergence. Increased technology has contributed to the complexity of many tasks performed in the workplace, making it difficult for employ-ees to complete their work independently. In response to the technological advances, many organizations have adopted a team approach to work. Teams are viewed as being more suitable for complex tasks because they allow members to share the workload, monitor the work behaviors of other members, and develop and contribute expertise on subtasks. An abundance of research has been conducted on the factors that contribute to high team perfor-mance (for reviews, see Gist, Locke, & Taylor, 1987; Salas, Dickinson, Converse, & Tannenbaum, 1992). One variable that has recently received much theoretical attention concerns the in-

In this paper, we describe an interface agent, two different route planning agents and a pilot study which examined whether these agents could support a team planning task. The MokSAF interface agent links an Artificial Intelligence (AI) route-planning agent to a Geographic Information System (GIS). The user specifies a start and an end point and the route-planning agent finds a minimum cost path between the points. The user is allowed to define additional "intangible" constraints (not due to terrain characteristics) corresponding to geographic regions, which can be used to steer the agent's behavior in a desired direction. A second agent (the naive route planning agent, or Naive RPA) has access to the same knowledge of the terrain and cost functions available to the Autonomous RPA, but uses this knowledge to critique paths specified by the user. We hypothesize that as the complexity of intangible aspects of a planning problem increase, the Naive RPA will improve in relative performanc...

Software development has traditionally been regarded as an activity that can only be effectively conducted and managed within a firm setting. However, contrary to such assertions, the open source software development (OSSD) approach, in which software developers in digital social networks coordinate to voluntarily contribute programming code, has recently emerged as a promising alternative. Although many high profile cases of successful OSSD projects exist, the harsh reality is that the vast majority of OSS projects fail to take off and become abandoned. A commonly cited reason for the failure of OSS projects is the inability of the software project to bring together a critical mass of developers. This paper empirically examines the role of prior collaborative ties on how OSSD project teams are formed. Using software project data from real world OSSD projects, we find that the existence and the amount of prior collaborative relations in the developer network do increase the probability that an OSS project will attract more developers and that a developer’s prior relationships with a project initiator do increase the likelihood that a developer will join a project initiated by a past collaborator. We also explore the performance implications of early team formation behaviors.

SUMMARY—Teams of people working together for a common purpose have been a centerpiece of human social organization ever since our ancient ancestors first banded together to hunt game, raise families, and defend their communities. Human history is largely a story of people working together in groups to explore, achieve, and conquer. Yet, the modern concept of work in large organizations that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is largely a tale of work as a collection of individual jobs. A variety of global forces unfolding over the last two decades, however, has pushed organizations worldwide to restructure work around teams, to enable more rapid, flexible, and adaptive responses to the unexpected. This shift in the structure of work has made team effectiveness a salient organizational concern. Teams touch our lives everyday and their effectiveness is important to well-being across a wide range of societal functions. There is over 50 years of psychological research—literally thousands of studies—focused on understanding and influencing the processes that underlie team effectiveness. Our goal in this monograph is to sift through this voluminous literature to identify what we know, what we think we know, and what we need to know to improve the effectiveness of work groups and teams. We begin by defining team effectiveness and establishing the conceptual underpinnings of our approach to understanding it. We then turn to our review, which concentrates primarily on topics that have well-developed theoretical and empirical foundations, to ensure that our conclusions and recommendations are on firm footing. Our review begins by focusing on cognitive, motivational/affective, and behavioral team processes—processes that enable team members to combine their resources to resolve task demands and, in so doing, be effective. We then turn our attention to identifying interventions, or ‘‘levers,’ ’ that can shape or align team processes and thereby provide tools

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We thank the senior editor on the manuscript, V. Sambamurthy, and the anonymous associate editor and reviewers for their many insightful suggestions on earlier

Collaborative teams are becoming increasing important for industry, both within and across companies. There is a need for communication technology to support teams because many teams are non-collocated, or "virtual". We observed two automotive supply chain teams while they were experimenting with multimedia conferencing in order to determine what support non-collocated teams need and the potential effects of introducing technologies on their group processes. Our observations included meeting recordings and other sources which show the organizational factors affecting teams. Working in teams requires very close collaboration. Communication technology can help teams if it is used to foster close and relatively informal person-to-person interaction. Organizational constraints on how the technology is introduced favour high-technology, special-purpose installations, but teams can best be supported using relatively modest equipment with desktop access. Author Notes Correspondence concerni...

We review the literature on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and on software development, distributed work and teams more generally to develop a theoretical model to explain the performance of FLOSS teams. The proposed model is based on Hackman’s [1] model of effectiveness of work teams, with coordination theory [2] and collective mind [3] to extend Hackman’s model by elaborating team practices relevant to effectiveness in software development. We propose a set of propositions to guide further research. 1.

We review the literature on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and on software development, distributed work and teams more generally to develop a theoretical model to explain the performance of FLOSS teams. The proposed model is based on Hackman’s [34] model of effectiveness of work teams, with coordination theory [52] and collective mind [79] to extend Hackman’s model by elaborating team practices relevant to effectiveness in software development. We propose a set of propositions to guide further research.

Advances in information technology, coupled with competitive pressures, have led to the increasing use of virtual teams in organizations. Their growing popularity has attracted the attention of researchers in both information systems and organizational behaviour. Despite the fact that research on this topic is blooming, our understanding of the virtual team phenomenon is still at an embryonic stage and there is much to learn about such teams before we can fully reap their potential benefits. In our view, a preliminary but necessary step is to investigate the multifaceted nature of virtual teams, so as to better define the true object of our investigations. Therefore, this paper first explores a basic definition of what a virtual team truly is and differentiates it from other related concepts such as virtua l group, virtual organization, virtual community, and telecommuting. In a second step, we identify those key characteristics that 1) differentiate virtual teams from conventional ones and 2) distinguish alternative configurations of virtual teams. Lastly, we illustrate how different configurations of virtual teams may raise different challenges and how management strategies must be chosen accordingly to ensure success. Implications for both practice and research are discussed in the conclusion section.