Tennant, S and Langford, D (2006) Team performance measurement: Let's reward teamwork. In: Boyd, D (ed.) Proceedings of 22nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2006, Birmingham, UK.
Abstract
The appeal of team working has been of interest to behavioural management theorists since the 1930s but over the last decade the attractiveness of team concepts within the business community has experienced a renaissance. Traditional team philosophies consolidate the objective of the task with the well-being of the employee, part altruistic in its intent and tactical in its application. Today the objective is strategic, better performance - faster, delivering a corporate edge in a competitive, dynamic and fluid commercial environment. Whilst team working is advocated as a viable business opportunity present-day performance management principles align with a more orthodox, individualistic perspective of organisational wellbeing. The management and reward of team performance remains the exception rather than the rule, perpetuating a contradiction in action (team work) and HRM policy (the individual). Disparity between corporate structure and team ethos has the potential to frustrate the management of collaborative working practices upon which the construction sector relies. The research, in cooperation with three major UK contractors collated site project information related to both the team dynamic and corresponding project performance. Team attributes were assessed using attitude questionnaires issued to all permanent site team members. Project performance was measured by employing Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard framework in concurrence with seven carefully selected Key Performance Indicators taken from the Constructing Excellence suite of KPI's. The statistics disclose a significant level of confidence in the authenticity of the team - performance equation. The innovative capture of team - performance data and the resultant empirical evidence presents a rational argument for the implementation of a sound and organisationally transparent team related performance incentive. The potential for managing teams and rewarding their performance has never been more opportune and will in all probability support the pursuit of High Performance Cross-Functional Team (HPXfT) working in construction.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction; management; performance; rewards; teams |
| Index terms: | philosophy, working practice, key performance indicator, teamwork, balanced scorecard, performance management, team performance, disparity, construction sector, statistics, implementation, cooperation, evidence, project performance, questionnaire, well-being |
| Subjects: | psychology, project delivery, contractual arrangements, mental health and wellbeing, mathematical modelling, data collection methods, evaluation and assessment methods, social justice, industry analysis, philosophical studies, performance measurement, management, project management theory and practice |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Ethics, Organizational Design, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Project Management, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here