Search

Distributed agile teams are increasingly employed in organizations, partly due to the increased focus on digital transformation. However, research findings about the performance of such teams appear to be inconsistent, calling for more research to investigate the conditions under which distributed agile teams may thrive. Given that task coordination is particularly challenging when team members are not co-located, the present study investigates the roles of the two types of task interdependence, i.e., initiated versus received task interdependence. Survey results from 191 participants working in distributed agile teams within three companies in Norway confirm our hypotheses. Specifically, we show that high initiated task interdependence is associated with higher role clarity of others, while received task interdependence is associated with higher role clarity of self, and that both subsequently result in higher team performance in distributed agile teams. Thus, we argue that each type of task interdependence contributes in a unique way to team performance in distributed agile teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In a prison, anticipation and improvisation can provide more reliable performance when new threats are imminent. • Improvisations carried out in the organisational structure and work task adjustments are vital for bureaucracies to enhance reliability. • Understanding of deviance from formal procedures as a formal phenomenon in situations where a bureaucratic organisation must adjust to new serious threats. • The personnel known as the 'reliable ones' and the 'controllable ones' are central to achieving reliability. • The co-worker experience is vital in improvising organisational security measures in a bureaucratic organisation. On 22nd July 2011, a terrorist killed 77 people in Oslo and Utøya, Norway. The day after the attack, Ila Detention and Security Prison (Ila) was asked to imprison the terrorist. In accepting this task, Ila had to improvise prison arrangements to meet the specific demands following this imprisonment. In general, prison arrangements in Norway are standardised, based on tradition, experience and legislation. In this article, we study the imprisonment of the terrorist through the lens of improvisation, to learn more about how a bureaucratic organisation such as a prison adopts alternative strategies to cope with an extraordinary situation. This can help other organisations to learn more about the need to foster the capacity to improvise from a strict rule-based approach in a given situation. This article is based on a single case study and the drawing on findings from document, observation of physical artefacts and interviews with prison managers, this article explores how Ila improvised prison arrangements to meet the specific security demands following the imprisonment of the 22/7 terrorist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the changes in the nature of the mathematical task or the T-shirt task. It presents the central aspects of the Teaching Better Mathematics (TBM) project and emphasises the theoretical constructs of didactical aim and pedagogical means. It explains how the T-shirt task was designed by didacticians at the University of Adger (UiA) in Norway and how it was implemented by a teacher from a primary school and by a teacher from a lower secondary school.

Current social shifts pose challenges for voluntary sport organizations. Various discourses present volunteering, facilities and economics as critical obstacles to the future of these organizations. In this article, I ask how voluntary sport organizations themselves see the situation. What are the most pressing obstacles to theft future development? How do they actually meet these challenges in their daily life? I also see how various kinds of sport organizations vary with respect to their answers on these questions. The study is based on a survey of Norwegian sport organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Large-scale, national eHealth services, such as the summary care record (SCR) and electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions), have been implemented by project managers as Norwegian health authority initiatives. Few studies have been conducted on the large-scale implementation of eHealth services and the relationship between the implementers' work and the use of the tools in healthcare practices. Hence, there was a need to determine the project work with a focus on changes in practice. This study explores the implementation of the SCR and e-prescriptions from the perspective of project managers; how does the implementation work by project managers relate to institutional practices in large-scale initiatives?Methods: Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were held with project managers in 2016 and 2018 and were recorded, transcribed, and coded according to the content. The analytical concepts of the "project" and "practice" were used to focus on tensions between the dimensions of time connecting historically established social practice and in situ actions.Results: The eHealth initiatives were demonstrated to have been implemented as a part of the national strategy and achieved through close collaboration with the Norwegian Directorate of eHealth (NDE). Tensions arose in relation to task-oriented actions during the implementation of the project and the daily management thereafter. Further, the work tasks of the project managers were related to the dissemination of the tools while, in practice, the tools were related to actual use by professionals. The implementation of several projects simultaneously created tensions between the implementation of a tool and a specific practice, as well as between tools.Conclusion: The objectives set out by the project managers in relation to their work should be viewed as temporary, whereas a long-term objective should apply to the use of the tools. Hence, the work of implementing eHealth initiatives might call for a renewed definition of the empirical object. Identifying factors that affect uptake, such as gaps between the intended use of an object and in situ actions or historically established activities, might expedite the future success of national eHealth initiatives. The social aspect of institutional practice has a direct bearing on the potential of a project to be implemented successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]