{"title":"From Individual Change Agents to ‘Revolutionary’ Teams: The Search and Selection Process of Team Formation within a Community of Practice","authors":"Cara Margherio, Anna L. Swan, Selen Güler","doi":"10.1007/s10755-024-09729-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>While the role of teams in leading transformations within academia is increasingly recognized, few studies have analyzed how teams form. Understanding the processes of interdisciplinary team formation within higher education will allow leaders to intentionally bring together individuals and form teams with higher likelihoods of success. In this study, we examine the early stages of change team formation within higher education, specifically looking at the two interconnected processes of search and selection, and we explore how a community of practice influences these processes through situated learning. Our longitudinal qualitative analysis demonstrates how teams form and transform over time, from the initial search process for team members to the factors that informed the initial and ongoing selection of team members. We find that a community of practice influenced these processes by shaping how teams understood their instrumental needs and how members understood their role within interdisciplinary teams. Finally, we examine a correlation between leadership structure and team member turnover, finding that a centralized leadership structure that lacks a vision for change shared among team members may drive turnover. The results provide insights into the dynamic nature of change team formation within academia.</p>","PeriodicalId":47065,"journal":{"name":"Innovative Higher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Innovative Higher Education","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-024-09729-1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
While the role of teams in leading transformations within academia is increasingly recognized, few studies have analyzed how teams form. Understanding the processes of interdisciplinary team formation within higher education will allow leaders to intentionally bring together individuals and form teams with higher likelihoods of success. In this study, we examine the early stages of change team formation within higher education, specifically looking at the two interconnected processes of search and selection, and we explore how a community of practice influences these processes through situated learning. Our longitudinal qualitative analysis demonstrates how teams form and transform over time, from the initial search process for team members to the factors that informed the initial and ongoing selection of team members. We find that a community of practice influenced these processes by shaping how teams understood their instrumental needs and how members understood their role within interdisciplinary teams. Finally, we examine a correlation between leadership structure and team member turnover, finding that a centralized leadership structure that lacks a vision for change shared among team members may drive turnover. The results provide insights into the dynamic nature of change team formation within academia.
期刊介绍:
Innovative Higher Education is a refereed scholarly journal that strives to package fresh ideas in higher education in a straightforward and readable fashion. The four main purposes of Innovative Higher Education are: (1) to present descriptions and evaluations of current innovations and provocative new ideas with relevance for action beyond the immediate context in higher education; (2) to focus on the effect of such innovations on teaching and students; (3) to be open to diverse forms of scholarship and research methods by maintaining flexibility in the selection of topics deemed appropriate for the journal; and (4) to strike a balance between practice and theory by presenting manuscripts in a readable and scholarly manner to both faculty and administrators in the academic community.