Organisational Psychology Research Group (OPRG)

Multidisciplinary Teams Research Project

The common use of multidisciplinary or functionally diverse teams in healthcare implies that such teams are important across the healthcare industry. However, feedback from healthcare teams tends to indicate dissatisfaction, stress, role and power struggles, communication problems and difficulties in achieving goals, resulting in adverse consequences. Such consequences range from poor human resource factors relating to retention and turnover, low morale and poor communication, which lead to accidents and incidents or less then optimal patient care.

The research is linked with the NHS Studies conducted by Professor Michael West at Aston Business School. Research by the Aston team has found that this is definitely not a soft topic for health care, as effective team working is related to outcomes such as:

• Reduced hospitalisation and costs
• Increased effectiveness and innovation
• Increased well-being of team members
• Higher quality patient care and more innovations
• Lower patient mortality
• Reduced error rates
• Reduced turnover and sickness absence

Research Aims

Monash University has been awarded a 3-year Australian Research Council grant to investigate the characteristics of successful MDTs and determine how teams can manage a range of factors to deliver effective, sustainable and superior outcomes for all stakeholders. Specifically, the research aims to;

1. identify characteristics of effective and ineffective Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary teams (MDTs and IDTs)
2. elicit criteria for establishing and supporting such diverse teams in tertiary healthcare settings
3. identify how team inputs and processes impact on patient care and HR and administrative outcomes

The Research Model

An 'input-process-output' model provides a framework for the research, and the model permits predictions and hypotheses about the relationships between team factors and their effect on team performance.

Research Investigators

This project represents a collaborative research effort involving investigators from numerous Universities and institutions.

Chief Investigator
Dr Elisabeth Wilson-Evered
Senior Lecturer in Monash Postgraduate Organisational Psychology Program and Chief Investigator in Organisational Psychology Research Group

Professor Charmine Hartel
Deputy Head, Department of Management, Monash University

Principle Investigators
Professor Michael West
Head of Research and Professor of Organisational Psychology, Aston Business School, Aston University

Professor Lawrie Powell
Director of Research at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and Professor Emeritus at The University of Queensland

Dr Marloes L. van Engen
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University

Project Coordinators
Yvette Bryant
Doctor of Psychology (Organisational) Candidate, Monash University

Fiona Page
Doctor of Psychology (Organisational) Candidate, Monash University

Involved Health Care Facilities

The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Southern Health Service including the Monash Medical Centre, Peninsula Health Service and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre currently have teams involved in this research.

Preliminary findings

Our research is on going, but preliminary analysis shows that teams are more effective, innovative and satisfied when the following inputs and processes are in place:

• Organisational support (a positive climate for team working, training for team working, and effective information and communication systems)
• Team members have appropriate skills are motivated and believe in the abilities of their colleagues
• The team takes time out to review its objectives and the ways in which the team is working to achieve these objectives
• The leader manages the team including managing diversity, monitoring performance, recognising the performance and efforts of the team and giving helpful feedback
• Team members have shared mental models as to the function, purpose and objectives of the team, and the roles, responsibilities and KSAs of team members and identify with the MDT

Recommendations
Our preliminary analysis suggests that the following would benefit multidisciplinary health care teams:

• Team education - along multidisciplinary lines in university and subsequent professional development
• Team diversity - valuing difference while sharing mental models
• Team leadership - clarity in regards to leadership roles and responsibilities, one leader is better than many
• Team stability - allowing team members for form shared mental models and identify with the team

Want to help your team be more effective?

This project is assisting numerous health care teams to understand and improve their effectiveness. If you wish to request any further information or to discuss involvement in this research project, contact the project team (MDT@med.monash.edu.au) or the Chief Investigator, Elisabeth Wilson-Evered (Elisabeth.Wilson-Evered@med.monash.edu.au).

• Teams receive a comprehensive feedback report once they reach a 70% response rate. These reports include important information on the team member's perceptions of the team inputs, processes, leadership and outcomes
• In addition, hospitals with multiple teams participating receive an executive report with overall results and recommendations
• Teams are compared with a growing sample of Australian health care teams and a large sample of NHS teams
• Following the second time period of surveying, hospitals receive a report that indicates changes between the first and second surveys
• The results will provide an objective means of evaluating existing improvement programs
• The research is an opportunity to benchmark with other hospitals, potentially with directly comparable teams (e.g., medical, surgical teams)
• Hospitals have access to a team of international investigators who are accomplished in leading health service research in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands

Interesting references

Anderson, N. R. & West, M. A. (1998). Measuring climate for work group innovation: development and validation of the team climate inventory.
Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 235-258.
(pdf 230kb)

West, M. A. (2002). Sparkling fountains or stagnant ponds: An integrative model of creativity and innovation implementation in work groups.
Applied Psychology: An International Review, 51 (3), 355-424.
(pdf 477kb)

West, M. A., Borrilla, C. S., Dawson, J. F., Brodbeck, F., Shapiro, D. A., Haward, B. (2003). Leadership clarity and team innovation in health care.
The Leadership Quarterly, 14, 393-410.
(pdf 207kb)

West, M. A., Brodbeck, F. C., & Richter, A. W. (2004). Does the 'romance of teams' exist? The effectiveness of teams in experimental and field settings.
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, 467-473.
(pdf 72kb)

West, M. A. & Wallace, M. (1991). Innovation in health care teams. European Journal of Social Psychology, 21, 305-315.
(pdf 1.4Mb)

Mathieu, J. E., Heffner, T. S., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E. & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2000). The Influence of Shared Mental Models on Team Process and Performance.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(2), 273-283.
(pdf 1.3Mb)

Millward, L. J. & Jeffries, N. (2001). The team survey: a tool for health care team development. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 35(2), 276-287.
(pdf 158kb)

Stout, R. J., Cannon-Bower, J. A., Salas, E. & Milanovich, D. M. (1999). Planning, shared mental models, and coordinated performance:
An empirical link is established. Human Factors, 41(1), 61-71.
(pdf 1.1Mb)