| This quantitative study examined collaborative relationships in unexploded ordnance (UXO) teams to determine whether a team leader's ability to collaborate could be used to differentiate the independent variable, team effectiveness, by examining six dependent variables representing dimensions of collaboration. The survey instrument used to categorize teams as "effective" or "ineffective" was developed by Neslund and is known as "The One-up Manager's Team Performance Effectiveness Evaluation Survey." The "Collaborative Team Leader Instrument," developed by LaFasto and Larson, was used to measure collaboration and influence on team effectiveness with six dimensions representing leadership competencies. Responses were collected from 108 teams, 74 "effective" and 34 "ineffective." The Bonferroni Correction for multiple comparisons was applied to all tests. Based on the results of t-tests completed on responses, no significant differences were found on the six dimensions of collaboration (focus on the goal, ensure a collaborative climate, build confidence, demonstrate sufficient technical know-how, set priorities, and manage performance) between the "effective" and "ineffective" teams for the team members; however, there were significant differences on the six dimensions of collaboration between the "effective" and "ineffective" teams for the team leaders. Pearson product moment correlation was used to evaluate correlations between the collaboration dimensions for team members and team leaders; a correlation of team collaboration was found on "All Questions" for "effective teams." Pearson Chi-square Test of Independence was used to test for association between team effectiveness and seven demographic factors (months in current assignment, total years in UXO/EOD, age, gender, education, UXO technician level, and prior military service). The results indicated that the demographic variable and effectiveness were independent of each other, except for total years in UXO/EOD for team members. |
