Sustainability and team performance: A working model

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Date of Original Version

1-1-2017

Abstract

Climate change will require the world to move toward greater sustainability. A systems perspective will be required to support this transition. Looking at the participation of sustainability-minded individuals in team settings may help determine how sustainability can be achieved in work systems. The literature on team formation is inconclusive as to whether teams that are required to achieve sustainable outcomes need to be formed in a different way than teams that have no such requirement. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) is a scientifically validated measure of individual preference for the environment and sustainability. This article explores whether there is a relationship between an individual's propensity for sustainability, aggregated to a team level, and their team's outcome on a sustainability-oriented engineering project. These data were collected in a traditional engineering course at a research university. The results found were statistically insignificant; however, this is the first exploratory paper in this area. This contribution to the literature will help start discussion on whether or not team formulation for projects that have sustainability outcomes must consider an individual's propensity for sustainability.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

67th Annual Conference and Expo of the Institute of Industrial Engineers 2017

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