Abstract:

E-learning literature highlights the need for collaborative teamwork for achieving best results in the teaching and learning process. Although the importance of organizational routines and collaborative teamwork has been well recognized in e-education literature, little attention has been given to study the relationship between these two factors. The present research intends to examine this relationship through the application of relational coordination model (Gittell et al., 2000; Gittell, 2002) as a measure of teamwork quality that can be in later analysis applied to the success of e-learning contexts. Shared knowledge, shared goals and mutual respect are the relationship dimensions, while frequent, timely, accurate, and problem-solving communications are the communication dimensions of relational coordination. In order to conceptualize teamwork quality as relational coordination among team members, this paper takes insights from Gittell (2002) and Hoegl and Gemuenden (2001). Gittel was of the view “If groups are sets of organizational members who must work interdependently to achieve a task designated by the organization, and coordination is the management of interdependence, then coordination is arguably a central element of what effective groups do.” As teamwork is the ability of a group of people to work together, it can be argued that groups working on interdependent activities are in fact doing teamwork. If coordination is what the groups do and teamwork is also what the groups do, then teamwork will be reflected by the coordination in a team. In the paper, a relationship between each individual dimension of relational coordination and the implementation of organizational routines is discussed.

Keywords:

Teamwork, relational coordination, educational context, performance.