EAGER: Identifying and Examining Operational Skills that Facilitate Effective Team Performance

团队在当今的组织中无处不在。然而，我们仍然挣扎于如何在许多方面管理它们。一个问题可能是他们都是独一无二的，不仅在他们被组合起来执行的任务上，而且在成员可以用来组成和促进特定团队过程的技能上。在以前的文献中，团队成员的技能通常被描述为与任务相关（通常被认为是功能性专业知识）或人际关系技能。虽然所有这些技能都很重要，但它们并没有完全描述，也没有充分定义，成员可以应用于团队任务和过程的各种技能。确定这些技能是什么比确定它们不是什么要困难得多。出于本建议的目的，我们将它们描述为技能，因为它是最常用于描述团队成员为团队带来什么的术语。更具体地说，我们将它们称为操作技能，因为在团队操作中包含无数将输入转换为输出的过程，并且应用不同的操作会产生不同的团队输出。正如团队成员为团队带来独特的任务相关技能一样，他们也可能拥有不同的操作技能，这些技能可以应用于团队的任务。同样，团队任务的结果可能依赖于哪个成员的技能被应用到什么团队过程中。因此，这项拟议研究的目的是开发和测试团队成员操作技能的分类，以促进团队任务的进展。特别地，这个项目的目标是(1)确定团队领域中所需的操作技能，(2)确定操作技能在配置团队中是否有用，以及(3)检查对操作技能和任务活动的明确关注是否有助于更有效的团队过程和绩效。智力优势：提议的项目代表了一种严格的、系统的方法，用于开发团队成员成功完成其项目所需的操作技能分类。操作技能是指团队成员在团队环境中组织、综合和决策的能力。学术和行业出版物暗示需要这些类型的中级技能（例如，解决问题的技能、决策技能、管理技能），但没有清楚地描述或定义它们。为了确保对这些技能进行全面检查，将从至少两个明显不同的部门（例如，医疗保健和造船）和受控环境（即游戏和实验室）中提取输入。这项研究的结果将具有变革性的影响，因为它们将(1)为研究如何使用操作技能来配置团队、分配任务和提高绩效提供理论基础；(2)将操作技能正式纳入团队规划活动。更广泛的影响：建议的研究的成功完成将以操作技能分类的形式提供对团队成员拥有的额外必要技能集的清晰解释。这种分类法将加强未来的研究工作，例如，在团队研究中包括迄今为止被忽视的或未明确规定的技能，对团队成员拥有的广泛技能进行更全面的检查，以及基于该系统研究的问卷量表。实践也可以从这项研究的结果中获益，通过引入更细致入微的团队人员配置方法，以及招聘具有这些技能的个人和帮助员工提高这些技能的培训计划的新机会。从长远来看，所提出的研究有可能成为考虑如何配置团队和分配任务工作的新范式的基础，从而改变团队中的协作过程并提高他们的绩效。拟议的研究将包括学生，特别是女性和少数民族学生，研究小组。

Teams are ubiquitous in today's organizations. Yet, we still struggle with how to manage them in many ways. One issue may be that they are all unique, not only in the tasks they are assembled to perform but also in the skills members have available to compose and facilitate specific team processes. In previous literature, team member skills are typically characterized as either task-related (often assumed to be functional expertise) or interpersonal skills. While all of these skills are important they do not completely describe, nor adequately define, the variety of skills that a member can apply to the team's task and processes. Identifying what these other skills are is far more difficult than identifying what they are not. For the purposes of this proposal, we characterize them as skills, because it is the term most often used to describe what team members bring to the team. More specifically, we label them operational skills because in team operations comprise a myriad of processes that convert inputs into outputs and applying different operations results in different team outputs. Just as team members have unique task-related skills they bring to the team, they may also possess different operational skills that can be applied to the team's task. As such, team task results may be dependent upon which member's skills are applied to what team processes. The purpose of this proposed research, therefore, is to develop and test a taxonomy of team member operational skills that facilitates forward progress on the team's task. In particular, this project's objectives are to (1) determine the operational skills needed in a team domain, (2) determine whether operational skills can be useful in configuring teams, and (3) examine whether an explicit focus on aligning operational skills and task activities facilitates more effective team processes and performance. Intellectual Merit: The proposed project represents a rigorous, systemic approach to develop a taxonomy of operational skills that team members need to successfully complete their projects. Operational skills refer to team members' abilities to organize, synthesize, and decide in the team context. Scholarly and trade publications allude to the need for these types of meso-level skills (e.g., problem solving skills, decision making skills, management skills) but do not clearly describe or define them. To ensure a comprehensive examination of these skills, input will be extracted from the field in at least two significantly different sectors (e.g., healthcare and shipbuilding) and from controlled environments (i.e., gaming and laboratory). The results of this study will have a transformative impact in that they will (1) provide a theoretical basis for examining how operational skills are used to configure teams, assign tasks, and enhance performance and (2) formalize the incorporation of operational skills into team planning activities. Broader Impacts: Successful completion of the proposed research will provide clear explication of an additional set of necessary skills team members possess in the form of a taxonomy of operational skills. This taxonomy will enhance future research efforts by, for example, the inclusion of heretofore overlooked, or poorly specified, skills in studies of teams, more comprehensive examinations of the broad array of skills team members possess, and questionnaire scales grounded in this systematic research. Practice may also reap benefit from the results of this research through an introduction to a more nuanced approach to team staffing, as well as new opportunities for recruiting individuals with these skills and training programs that help employees enhance these skills. In the long term, the proposed research has the potential to be the foundation of a new paradigm for considering how teams are configured and task work is assigned, thereby transforming collaborative processes in teams and improving their performance. The proposed study will include students, particularly women and minority students, on the research team.