Interdisciplinary teams

Workshop participants enumerated a variety of problems that currently inhibit effective collaborations, ranging from difficulty in communication across disciplines and the need for more cross-disciplinary educational programs to administrative barriers that inhibit research teams. Interdisciplinary activity in the academic environment would be enhanced by a reward structure that better recognizes the value of such collaborative efforts. 

Facilitate interchange of ideas. The most effective team leaders are often facilitators, not dictators. An interdisciplinary team s greatest strength lies in its multiple perspectives and fresh ideas. Try to incorporate your own ideas into the group s discussion rather than imposing them. Keep in mind that healthy disagreement can enhance both the process and its end result. 

If you decide on a formal presentation, consider having the full PSM team participate. Similarly, written communications concerning the plan (if, for example, it is broadly distributed for comment) should originate with the team. This will not only acknowledge their contribution but will also tangibly demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of the challenge you have undertaken. 

As the previous discussion suggests, interdisciplinary teamwork often benefits the design of PSM systems, both by spreading out the work involved and by drawing on multiple perspectives. In addition, the team approach can expedite buy-in from PSM end users, if only because it s harder to resist the findings of a team than the conclusions of a single individual, however well-respected he or she may be. If you are not in a position to mobilize a formal company team to focus on PSM system design, you should at least consider... 

Ackoff and Sasieni [1] defined operations research (OR) as the application of scientific method by interdisciplinary teams to problems involving the control of organized (man-machine) systems so as to provide solutions which best serve the purposes of the organization as a whole . 

A cancer patient may encounter many different health care professionals phlebotomists, pathologists, surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, counselors, dieticians, social workers, and chaplains all may be involved with a single patient. Each one plays an important role in care of the cancer patient. The pharmacist s role may include education of patients and family members, education of staff about new agents and safety issues, preparation of therapies, resolution of reimbursement issues, development of order sets, and participation in clinical trials. Each patient should have access to an interdisciplinary team to assist him or her during treatment. 

Treatment plans are effective only if they help clients and families improve. To be able to determine progress, you need to review treatment plans periodically. Usually treatment teams will conduct weekly interdisciplinary staff reviews of a client s progress, and the staff s recommendations for improving care will be documented in the chart. These interdisciplinary staff meetings are quite useful,... 

Another area in need of work is the on-site grafting, attachment of polymeric materials on biological sites such as particularly badly broken bones where the leg is surgically opened and a polymeric material chemically attached after suitable bone activation with the polymeric material degrading after its use period is up. This area 1s mentioned only to reinforce the notion that interdisciplinary team efforts and polymer chemists with broad training are needed to make the best use of... 

My team approaches these questions with two main projects which are interconnected and open to wider interdisciplinary cooperation. One of these projects focusses on the ethology of art, the other on urban ethology. 

The situation may be illustrated well by the development of the public discourse on hydropower in Switzerland over the past few years. As 60% of Swiss electricity generation stems from hydropower, its environmental impacts have time and again raised political debates over the past 50 years. More recently, the liberalization of electricity markets has opened up new windows of opportunity for the development of new approaches of mitigation. One example of an integrative concept was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers in the late 1990s. It has been implemented in the currently operating eco-label for sustainably produced electricity in Switzerland (naturemade star). 

Interdisciplinary approaches tend to be viewed differently by industry and academia. A high interest in interdisciplinary collaboration has been shown in industry. The participants believe that students may like working in teams for research purposes but dislike working in teams on graded classroom projects. 

For over 25 years, TUV SOD Management Service GmbH has been dedicated to the certification of quality and other types of management systems. The experts at TUV SOD Management Service are familiar with all relevant international and national standards and, working in interdisciplinary teams, have also developed their own standards. "Certified Chemical Leasing"... 

ChemKit is an interdisciplinary team of experts providing consulting to suppliers and users of chemicals with the aim of implementing a service-oriented business model for an optimised use of chemicals in industrial processes. 

The highly motivated and superbly qualified interdisciplinary founding team provides its customers with innovative and revenue-optimised solutions. Each team member has extensive knowledge of business, chemistry and... 

A four-year grant from the federal Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program allowed the University of Nebraska and collaborators to plan and implement training from 1993 to 1997 across the North Central Region of the USA. Each workshop was planned and topics chosen by an interdisciplinary team of extension specialists in close consultation with the local educators and non-profit farmer and research groups in states where the workshop would be held. An attempt to make the learning methods systemic for future workshops included these steps ... 

Within firms, the hybrid or matrix concept has become increasingly fashionable in pharmaceutical companies. Project teams are created that comprise membership from departments with specific technical, organizational, and management expertise. Such teams form and dissolve as the need arises. In principle, advantages of the matrix structure include cross-disciplinary enrichment of the team s activities and crossfertilization of expertise. Disadvantages of the matrix system include a relative lack of professional development for specific technical expertise for each team member, the potential for cross-departmental rivalry, and competition for each team member s time based on the needs of the interdisciplinary project versus those of his/her technical "home" department (Verona and Ravasi 2003). These multi-functional teams have the potential to increase bureaucracy and delay innovation. At least on a small scale, it may be better to solve a problem with two people rather than with ten. 

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