Chemnitz University of Technology, Department of Psychology: Behavioural and Social Sciences: Department of Psychology: Economic, Organizational, and Social Psychology: EAWOP SGM

Every single phenomenon in teams is affected by time: All teams are formed at some point in time, exist for a certain period, and eventually dissolve. During their lifetime a myriad of changes take place. As team members come and go, the team’s composition and structure change. Teams pass through different stages, which brings stability and instability (Gersick, 1989); they exhibit changing types of conflict (Jehn & Mannix, 2001); and the performance of teams accumulates over time with the team's experience (Brodbeck & Greitemeyer, 2000). Furthermore, what happened before the team was formed and what might happen after it dissolves can also influence team members' current behavior (Roe, 2008).

It is important to consider time in teams from several angles (Blount, 2004; Roe, 2008). First, team interaction unfolds over time. Social integration and affective reactions to working in teams (such as identification, satisfaction, cohesion, and trust), cognitive mechanisms like transactive memory systems, and behavioral phenomena like routines all require team members to interact for some time. Second, team members vary in their perception and handling of time. Some work very quickly, others extremely slowly. Some can easily multitask, others have problems focusing on a single task only. In order to coordinate their activities and cooperate effectively, team members need to align their perception of rhythm and change. Third, a team's context creates temporal demands. Clients impose deadlines, competing teams want to be faster than each other, and recurring cycles in the environment (e.g., conference deadlines, semester breaks, or economic ups and downs) all shape team processes. Fourth, what happens before and after stable team phases affects team functioning. Former tasks and members shape current team processes. The same can be said for upcoming changes in team composition and future tasks.

The TACIT Small Group Meeting aims to promote the study of time and change in teams in several regards. It will bring together participants from two areas. First, we invite contributions dealing with change over time in teams. Such research – both theoretical and empirical – would involve conceptual models of processes unfolding over time, and empirical studies of such processes. Second, we invite methodological contributions that illustrate how time can be included in research designs. During the meeting, we would also like to offer a workshop where participants have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience on incorporating time as a variable in statistical analysis.

Submissions to this SGM could cover, but are not restricted to, these example topics:

		Team member time perceptions and time management
		Team development (e.g., team learning)
		Change of team processes and/or performance over time
		Teams under time pressure
		Changes in team composition
		Methods and designs accounting for time

Submissions can cover studies of time at different levels (individual, team, organization) and at different scales: micro-level (encompassing intervals of minutes or hours) and macro-level (encompassing intervals of weeks or months). Furthermore, time can be input or output variable.

In summary, we aim to bring together team researchers and students from different fields in order to exchange views and experiences on time and change processes. We hope for a fruitful exchange of paradigms, approaches, and methods for capturing time and change in teams. This meeting will help participants to better understand the functioning of teams and to help making teams be more effective.

The Small Group Meeting is a workshop over three days with approximately 20 paper presentations and plenty of time for discussions. There is no registration fee. Costs for meals during the day will be covered by the EAWOP.

Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany
Economic, Organizational, and Social Psychology (Chair: Prof. Dr. Lioba Werth)
Chemnitz is situated in the heart of Saxony in the Southeast of Germany and more than 800 years old. The changing times are most vividly reflected in the city's architecture: industrial monuments, redeveloped Gründerzeit residential quarters, or the city center, which has been completely modified since reunification. The most famous architectural monument is the 7.1 meters high Karl- Marx-bust made in 1971. Chemnitz is easy to reach by train, plane (via the airport Dresden), and car. For more information about the city, visit: http://www.chemnitz.de/chemnitz/en/ 

For information about Chemnitz, Hotels, Bars, and Restaurants, please click here. 

Participants can learn more about the analysis of longitudinal data from teams in a three-hour workshop. A newly developed intra-subject approach to analyze longitudinal team data will be introduced. This approach differs from conventional inter-subjects longitudinal approaches (e.g. repeated-measures MANOVA, latent growth modeling) in terms of the underlying assumption and analysis logic. The application of other techniques (e.g. time series analysis) in longitudinal team research will also be discussed briefly. Jia Li will teach the workshop. She is a lecturer in the Organization and Strategy department, School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Participation costs € 50.

Paper abstracts (up to 500 words) should be submitted by October 30, 2010 to: www.tu-chemnitz.de/hsw/psychologie/professuren/sozpsy/SGM/application.php
Participants will be notified about the acceptance of their paper by November 15, 2010. Full papers should be submitted by January 15, 2011 so that they can be made available to all participants before the meeting.
 

We have applied for travel stipends for postdoctoral researchers from Eastern European countries. If our application is granted, we will be able to provide € 500 travel stipends to selected postdocs. They will be chosen based on the quality of their abstracts. Please indicate on your submission if you would like to apply for this stipend. Definite information on the availability of these stipends will be available in December.

Christine Gockel (christine.gockel@psychologie.tu-chemnitz.de)
Bertolt Meyer (bmeyer@sozpsy.uzh.ch)