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Problem Solving in a workplace

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Problem Solving in a workplace
Uorice R. De Cohen
Walden University

Abstract

The literature review provides substantial information regarding teamwork and its capability in contributing to effective communication. This review focuses on how miscommunication and uncertainty affect employees and residents due to the lack of teamwork (e.g., Motivation ability). For instance, there is constant tension among ARF residents. The studies presented in this literature review suggest that administrators can use group problem-solving more effectively.

Statement of the research problem/question
The focus of the study is the lack of teamwork in problem solving and decision making. For example, in (1986) when Space Shuttle Challenger crashed it was that a lack of team effort contributed to the disaster. This catastrophe raised questions as to whether there had been communication and teamwork in conducting the mission. The belief is held that teamwork in general is better for safe productivity and/or performance. For instance, in the area of adult residential facilities, teamwork is critical. Teamwork is beneficial in terms of cognitive processing specifically, problem solution. A literature review is presented that will examine studies in cognitive psychology literature regarding teamwork, increasing teamwork efficiency, and group problem-solving between staff members at and Adult Residential Facility.

A. Investigating Face-to-Face and Virtual Teamwork Over Time:
When Does Early Task Conflict Trigger Relationship Conflict?

References
Martínez-Moreno, E., Zornoza, A., González-Navarro, P., & Thompson, L. (2012). Investigating face-to-face and virtual teamwork over time: When does early task conflict trigger relationship conflict? Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, And Practice, 16(3), 159-171. doi:10.1037/a0029569

Summary
The discussion in this article is focused on three components on conflict rather than two. Typically, in group problem-solving, the literature is examined based on a task or relationship conflict. Here, the authors add process conflict, as well.
B. Perceptions of team workers in youth care of what makes teamwork effective
References
Buljac‐Samardzic, M. M., Van Wijngaarden, J. H., van Wijk, K. P., & van Exel, N. A. (2011). Perceptions of team workers in youth care of what makes teamwork effective. Health & Social Care In The Community, 19(3), 307-316. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00978.x
Summary
An examination of this article reveals three views on what makes teamwork work that include: interactions, encouraging communication, and facilitating each person's functionality as a team member.
Usefulness
We found three views of what makes teamwork effective. One view emphasized interaction between team members as most important for team effectiveness. A second view pointed to team characteristics that help sustain communication within teams as being most important. In the third view, the team characteristics that facilitate individuals to perform as a team member were put forward as most important for teamwork to be effective.

C. The Knowledge, Skill, and Ability Requirements for Teamwork: Revisiting the Teamwork-KSA Test's validity
References
O'Neill, T. A., Goffin, R. D., & Gellatly, I. R. (2012). The knowledge, skill, and ability requirements for teamwork: Revisiting the teamwork‐KSA test's validity. International Journal Of Selection And Assessment, 20(1), 36-52. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2389.2012.00578.x
Summary
This validity of the knowledge skills and abilities (KSA) test that assesses a person's aptitude for team work is evaluated in this article.
Usefulness
The practice of organizing employees into teams responsible for critical work activities has become the norm for many different types of organizations (Rapp& Mathieu, 2007; Williams & Allen, 2008). One of the challenges of staffing team-based organizations is selecting applicants who are both technically competent and interpersonally suitable for work in teams.

D. A CONFIGURAL THEORY OF TEAM PROCESSES: ACCOUNTING FOR THE STRUCTURE OF TASKWORK AND TEAMWORK
References
Crawford, E. R., & Lepine, J. A. (2013). A configural theory of team processes: Accounting for the structure of task work and teamwork. The Academy Of Management Review, 38(1), 32-48. doi:10.5465/amr.2011.0206
Summary

Teamwork and task work are differentiated in this article in which the productive importance of separate tasks and multiple goals within a team is explained.
Usefulness

Such theory is vital to our understanding of team functioning and effectiveness. It would allow us to account for familiar team situations, such as when members exert disproportionate influence on team process interaction by virtue of the positions they occupy, their relative status, or their standing with regard to cliques that exist within the team (Mathieu et al., 2008).

E. Factors influencing workplace supervisor readiness to engage in workplace-based vocational rehabilitation

References
Blackman, I., & Chiveralls, K. (2011). Factors influencing workplace supervisor readiness to engage in workplace-based vocational rehabilitation. Journal Of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21(4), 537-546. doi:10.1007/s10926-011-9297-1
Summary
In this article, the stages of repair in relationship between people involved in teamwork are examined. There is a special emphasis on communication relate to non-task as well as task.

Usefulness
Given that most rehabilitating employees would be returning to the workplace in which the injury was sustained, there are likely to be significant issues that will influence the communication not only between employee and supervisor, but also between the supervisor and his or her manager. Gardner and Jones suggest that employees and their supervisors differ in how they interpret different workplace communication scenarios.

F. Effects of Status on Solutions, Leadership, and Evaluations During Group Problem Solving
References
Chiu, M. (2000). Effects of status on solutions, leadership, and evaluations during group problem solving. Sociology Of Education, 73(3), 175-195. doi:10.2307/2673215
Summary
In the event that a group of employees are on a team to solve problems and seek solutions together, they can offer "different" knowledge and perspectives; and provide mutual support. Conversely, if individual members do not work together they cannot solve problems alone, and the organization might fall apart. An example is the Challenger shuttle crash in which it is suggested that a lack of team work contributed to the shuttle's disaster

Usefulness
Cooperative learning, in which students work together to achieve a common goal, has demonstrated a number of positive out- comes, including increased learning, decreased racial tension, and more positive attitudes toward school (Good, Mulryan, & McCaslin 1992; Slavin 1990),

G. Perceptions of team workers in youth care of what makes teamwork effective

M. Buljac-Samardzic MSc, J.D.H. van Wijngaarden PhD, K.P. van Wijk PhD and N.J.A. van Exel. Perceptions of team workers in youth care of what makes teamwork effective
Health and Social Care in the Community (2011) 19(3), 307-316. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00978.x
Summary
This article aims to "identify the principle characteristics" related to effective teamwork. It provides a recent literature review that concluded with five categories: (a) team effectiveness: (b) job design, (c) interdependence, (d) team design, and (e) context and process.
Usefulness
Little is known about what makes teamwork effective. What is known mostly reflects the view of managers in care organizations, as objective outcome measures are lacking. The objective of this article was to explore the views of youth care workers in different types of teams on the relative importance of characteristics of teamwork for its effectiveness. Q methodology was used. Fifty-one respondents rank-order 34 opinion statements regarding characteristics of teamwork. Individual Q sorts were analysed using by-person factor analysis.

H. Group level learning and decision making: a simulation of a group of managers

Visentin, M. (2011). Group level learning and decision making: A simulation of a group of managers. Journal Of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 23(2), 137-152. doi:10.1080/09528131003712996
Summary
The article wants to look at normal people - people who use short cuts to make decisions like, "oh, who want to buy the George Forman Grille because, well because George Forman seems to be a trustworthy guy. It must be good!" Or, "he/she buy that shampoo because Jennifer Aniston uses it - or she must use it because she's in this commercial for it!" Those short cuts are heuristics.

Usefulness
This article presents and analyses the results of a simulation involving a group of managers of a real company. A group of marketing managers from the largest private Italian television company was observed over a long period of time during their activities concerning the group's network programming. Both the artificial subject, which implemented the specifications and the structural limits that define the decision-making activity of the marketing group, and the marketing group were observed over a certain period of time while engaged in the same decision-making tasks.

I. Groups as problem-solving units: Toward a new meaning of social cognition

Larson, J. R. and Christensen, C. (1993), Groups as problem-solving units: Toward a new meaning of social cognition. British Journal of Social Psychology, 32: 5-30. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1993.tb00983.x
Summary
The most difficult task at hand regarding workplace experience is communication. For example, both experienced workers and non-experienced workers a workplace need to work together. Effective workplace communication includes teamwork and problem solving problems. As an example, if a business has one owner and two assistant administrators on duty, all administrators need to be in communication with each other and with other employees.

Usefulness
Social' is used to denote how cognition is accomplished, not its content. It is proposed that at least some social cognition occurs in every kind of group problem-solving situation, though the amount and type depends on the specific problem-solving functions that need to be addressed in order to reach a problem solution. We examine a number of these functions, and consider how they are served by various group member actions.

J. The effects of experience grouping on achievement, satisfaction, and problem-solving discourse in professional technical training
References
Mulcahy, R. (2012). The effects of experience grouping on achievement, satisfaction, and problem-solving discourse in professional technical training. Educational Technology Research And Development, 60(1), 15-29. doi:10.1007/s11423-011-9203-8
As a result of interaction, peers elaborate their cognitive structures. For example, a peer may provide an example for a concept that helps elucidate that concept. 'Elaboration' can involve the restructuring of existing cognitive structures or the addition of new information to existing structures....The role of verbalization in the cognitive/elaborative approach is critical'' (p. 338). Qualitative data was collected by the researcher recording and observing groups. For each of the 18 problem solving activities in the course, the researcher systematically chose one homogenous or heterogeneous group to observe the entire problem solving process so that by the end of the week all groups were observed at least once.

Usefulness
In this study, learners were randomly distributed between the two types of groups; learning gains, satisfaction, and problem-solving discourse were compared. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to study the relationship between experience grouping and learning gains in small groups of adults learning to solve technical, relatively ill-structured problems.

K. Rational Versus Intuitive Problem Solving: How Thinking "Off the Beaten Path" Can Stimulate Creativity

References
Dane, E., Baer, M., Pratt, M. G., & Oldham, G. R. (2011). Rational versus intuitive problem solving: How thinking "off the beaten path" can stimulate creativity. Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts, 5(1), 3-12. doi:10.1037/a0017698

For example, when individuals focus on a particular facet of creativity (e.g., originality, flexibility) as they develop ideas, this targeted facet of creativity may be enhanced (e.g., Runco & Okuda, 1991). These arguments suggest that creativity may be enhanced when problem-solving requirements differ from an individual's natural thinking style. In line with this logic, we hypothesize that individuals' typical thinking styles will interact with problem-solving approach to affect creativity such that individuals will be more creative when using a problem-solving approach that differs from their natural thinking style tendencies.
This interaction perspective, if supported, would imply that neither rational nor intuitive problem-solving approaches are necessarily more conducive to creativity, but rather that problem-solving approaches and thinking style tendencies must be considered in combination to comprehensively understand how different problem-solving approaches relate to creativity.
Summary
Quantitative and qualitative analyses are examined to demonstrate how to think systematically about expertise. Experiments are provided to test a new understanding of expertise.
Usefulness

By focusing on two types of problem-solving approaches— rational versus intuitive—we are drawing on an expanding line of research positing the existence of two distinct, relatively independent, systems of information processing within human beings (Epstein, 2002; Sloman, 1996). One system of information processing enables individuals to learn information deliberately and engage in analyses in an attentive manner (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Kahneman, 2003; Stanovich & West, 2000). Following the work of Epstein (1994, 2002), we refer to this system as rational. When an individual approaches a problem systematically and deliberately, a rational thinking mode is being employed.

IV. Compare the articles to one another

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Solution Summary

The expert examines problem solving in a workplace. The individual approaches to a problem systematically are provided.

Solution Preview

Below is an example of my lit review. When I began my review I completed it like the samples from Walden online but my teacher wanted it presented like below. I have one topic supported by different sources and my last paragraph brings together all the information.

Review of the Literature
Conceptual Framework
Malcolm Knowles

Malcolm Knowles' theory of adult learning can be applied to teachers as learners to provide a foundation for understanding the transformation of information involved in the Virginia Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers. Andragogy is a conceptual framework that can be applied to many constitutions of adult learning and recognizes that learning is a complex activity (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2011). Knowles also recognized the importance of the relationship between the instructor and the adult learner. Knowles asserted that the teacher is the facilitator of learning and a positive relationship between the learner and the teacher is essential for progress (Knowles et. al., 2011). Therefore, for teachers to learn from the feedback of principals during the evaluation process a constructive relationship must be present. Subsequently, the goals of the evaluation include improving teachers and student success. This conceptual framework is significant to this research study because it provides a theory of principles accepted in the field of learning as a viable means to understand learning.

A review of literature indicates that the integration of Malcolm Knowles' theory of adult learning is a critical component of the Virginia Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers (Knowles, 2011). The integration of Malcolm Knowles' theory of adult learning into effective teaching development entails more than the attention of teachers and education policy makers at large. Accordingly, Knowles' (2011) six principals of the theory of androgogy which included (a) the need to know, (b) self direction, (c) learner experiences, (d) readiness to learn, (e) orientation to learn, and (f) motivation to learn.

The evaluation process involves supporting teachers toward developing into stronger ...

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