To main content

Teamwork Behaviours in Autonomous Cross-functional Teams

Abstract

Background: Software development is a collaborative process where people from multiple different practices are involved. It has become more and more common to structure
people as teams focusing on producing a specific parts of a system as one fully functional
whole. Having those teams work as effectively and sustainable as possible should be a
goal for any business owner, and as such new information regarding how to facilitate
better teamwork is needed.
Aim: The aim of this thesis is to investigate how teamwork behaviours appear in an
autonomous cross-functional team, and how these behaviours can be considered important to such teams. Specifically the different ways teamwork behaviours is shown by
team-members, and if there is a difference between behaviours shown in meetings compared to the workspace will be investigated. Potential benefits of teamwork behaviours
will also be investigated.
Method: A qualitative case study was conducted in a single product development team.
Data was collected by observing 15 workdays and 14 meetings, as well as conducting 6
interviews and observing the teams online chat.
Results: The results showed that 11 teamwork behaviours could be identified in the team.
Differences in how behaviours were displayed in meetings compared to the workspace was
found in eight of the teamwork behaviours. Five of the teamwork behaviours were found
to be important for autonomous teams, each facilitating different aspects of teamwork.
Conclusion: Teamwork behaviours seem to provide a great indication of teamwork in a
team, and as such seem to be worthy of attention in the field of evaluating and improving
the level of teamwork.

Category

Masters thesis

Client

  • Research Council of Norway (RCN) / 267704

Language

English

Author(s)

Affiliation

  • Unknown
  • University of Oslo
  • SINTEF Digital / Software Engineering, Safety and Security

Year

2019

Publisher

Universitetet i Oslo

View this publication at Cristin