The Effects of Teamwork on Competency Building in Manufacturing–PBL (Project-based Learning)

Abstract

Enhancing students’ competency through team activities has become a social demand. Previous studies in higher education claim that Manufacturing--Project-based Learning (M-PBL) enhances students’ competencies, although empirical studies are limited. Therefore, this study addresses the following questions in M-PBL: 1) how do the input and throughput components of teamwork influence each other, and 2) does “working in a team” per se facilitate competencies? Our purposes are 1) to clarify the teamwork factor structure in the M-PBL by factor analysis, 2) to create a process model that shows how both input and throughput components of teamwork affect competency building, and 3) to empirically verify the model by structural equation modelling (SEM). Our methodology included: 1) the revision of questionnaire items on existing teamwork, scaled for a non-manufacturing industry, and 2) collection of data from fourth-grade students of three polytechnic colleges (N = 157) who had finished 972 hours of industry-academia collaborative M-PBL. The students came from different departments (machinery, electricity, and programming) and were organised into teams. The factor analysis results revealed two “team-orientedness” factors, three “team leadership” factors, three “team process” factors, and two “competency-building” factors. The SEM results showed that input components of teamwork enhanced throughput components and throughput components enhanced competency building. The relationships among teamwork components were clarified, such as “work-norm--orientedness” and “human relation leadership” enhanced “problem coping”. The influence of teamwork on competency building was illustrated by the throughput components of teamwork, which enhanced both technical and attitudinal competency building at the individual level.

Keywords: Manufacturing-PBLteamwork components modelcompetency building

Introduction

Enabling students to develop job-related competencies through a variety of team activities has become a social demand of higher education. The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) defines three key competencies by the DeSeCo project for the international standardisation of competency (Rychen & Salganik, 2003), all of which are involved in interactions with the environment. This suggests that a considerable part of competencies is formed by interpersonal interaction.

This is particularly important in manufacturing education. It can be easily understood if we think about the fact that even one ballpoint pen is the result of a combination of different industrial technologies. Recently, practices of project-based learning (PBL) have increased rapidly in the engineering faculty, and it is mentioned that “PBL facilitates students’ competency” (Neo, 2005; Ngai, 2007; Walters & Sirotiak, 2011; Lockrey & Johnson, 2013). However, most of these are case studies, and empirical research based on psychological theory is limited. In contrast, previous studies in psychology have been interested in the motivational effect of PBL, but they do not address PBL’s effect on competency building (Blumenfeld, Soloway, Marx, Krajcik, Guzdial, & Palincsar, 1991; Helle, Tynjälä, Olkinuora, & Lonka, 2007; Minnaert, Boekaerts, & de Brabander, 2007; Cheng, Lam, and Chan, 2008).

Therefore, this study presents a model to theoretically explain the mechanism of competency development by teamwork and empirically verifies it by analysing data acquired from a questionnaire for fourth-grade students of polytechnic colleges who finished the M-PBL (real production system development by teams).

Problem Statement

Difference between PBL and M-PBL: Division-of-labour system

PBL is an instructional approach that requires teamwork and creates a finished product. Manufacturing–PBL (M-PBL) is a one-year PBL course in which the fourth-grade students from different academic departments (e.g., mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and informatics) form cross-disciplinary teams and produce authentic production systems, which are used in local firms’ manufacturing lines.

See Full Size >

Research Question

The hypotheses of this study provided by the aforementioned arguments are (Fig.1) as follows:

H1: Input components of teamwork positively influence Throughput components of teamwork.

H2: Throughput components of teamwork positively influence members’ competency building.

See Full Size >

Purpose of the Study and Research Method

Results

Competency building

We deleted two items that had the ceiling effect, adopted two factor solutions (explanation rate = 73.4%), and deleted one item.

See Full Size >

The relationship between teamwork and competency building in M-PBL

We verified the hypothetical model by structural equation modelling (SEM) with the maximum likelihood estimation method using the Amos software (Version 22.0). The final model is shown in Figure 2 . The numerical values show the standardised pass coefficients and coefficients of correlation. We judged the conformity of data and the model to be the tolerance level, as the goodness-of-fit index was GFI = .95, CFI = .98, and RMSEA = .084.

See Full Size >

Discussion

Impact of input components on throughput components

Team orientation

“Work-execution orientedness” positively influenced “work execution”. It is logical that intentionality to work influences actual work activities. “Work-norm orientedness” positively influenced “mutual understanding and support” and “problem coping”. In addition to concentrating on one's task, being conscious of connectedness with others may lead to supportive behaviour and problem coping.

Team leadership

“Technical leadership” positively influenced “work execution”. This shows that technical initiative is indispensable in manufacturing. “Human relation leadership” positively influenced “mutual understanding and support” and “problem coping”. It is revealed that, if members are merely dedicated to assigned tasks, it does not automatically lead to mutual support and problem solving, and building a good relationship is a necessity in M-PBL. “Knowledge and information leadership” had a positive influence on both “mutual understanding and support” and “work execution”. Knowing who has what knowledge and skills and understanding the order of each production process are indispensable to the division-of-labour system.

Impact of teamwork process on competency building

The individual level

At the individual level, "technical competency" was positively affected by both "mutual understanding and support" and "work execution" behaviours. It can be thought that tackling the actual task with understanding of manufacturing holistically facilitates the development of technical competency. “Attitudinal competency” was positively affected by both “work execution” and “problem coping”, contributing not only by the accomplishment of the assigned task but it is also conceivable that addressing emerging problems jointly reinforces one’s readiness “to work in a team”.

The collective level

At the collective level, it was confirmed that technical leadership affects technical competency. A team in which members who have task-required knowledge and skills work proactively and can be said to be a team of high technical competency at the team level.

The difference between the individual and collective levels

In M-PBL, a division-of-labour system exists, unlike in non-manufacturing activities. Hence, only a few subscales of the model could be aggregated to the collective level. Because the degrees of collaboration differ by task, the perceptions of such subscales vary among the members.

The difference between M-PBL and existing pedagogical methods

The results of this study suggest that students can develop their conceptual competency (Winterton Delamare-Le Deist, & Stringfellow, 2006) by cognitive effort in a conventional lecture, and authentic team activity is necessary in order to develop operational (technical and attitudinal) competency.

Conclusion

The originality of this study is summarised below. First, we extended the existing teamwork scale to the manufacturing context. Accordingly, applicability to other PBL and OJT in manufacturing has increased. Second, our study exhibited a problem in that most teamwork components were not aggregated to the collective level in M-PBL because of the existence of the division-of-labour system. Third, we suggested the limit of the conventional pedagogical methods and the possibility of M-PBL from the viewpoint of competency building.

For educational practices, we suggested a new evaluation method for PBL. For example, appropriate evaluation of teamwork and the consideration of necessary intervention will be enabled by using this scale at the mid-point of a project.

Future challenges and limitations of this study are twofold. The first is a measurement of the objective variable. For this study, we used a self-report to measure competency building, whereas development of an objectivity measurement by third-party evaluation is expected in future. The second is the refinement of the model. Solving the difficulty of variable aggregation in the division-of-labour system would allow for further multi-level considerations. Further investigation about mediating processes (shown in Figure 3 ) is also necessary.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP26350303.

References

1. Bliese, P. D. (2000). Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability: Implications for data aggregation and analysis. In K. J. Klein & S. W. J. Kozlowski (Eds.) Multi level theory, research, and methods in organizations: Foundations, extensions, and new directions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. pp. 349-381.
2. Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J. S., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26, 369-398.
3. Cheng, R. W., Lam S., & Chan, C. (2008). When high achievers and law achievers work in the same group: The roles of group heterogeneity and processes in project-based learning. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 205-221.
4. Dickinson, T. L. & McIntyre, R. M. (1997). A conceptual framework for teamwork measurement. In M. T. Brannick, E. Salas, & C. Prince (Eds.), Team performance assessment and measurement: Theory, methods, and applications. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 19-43.
5. Helle, L., Tynjälä, P., Olkinuora, E., & Lonka, K. (2007). ‘Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing’. Motivation and study processes on a work-based project course in information systems design. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 397-411.
6. James, L. R. (1982). Aggregation bias in estimates of perceptual agreement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 219-229.
7. Katz, R. L. (1955). Skills of an Effective Administrator, Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb., 33-42.
8. Klein, K. J., Griffin, M. A., Bliese, P. D., Hoffman, D. A., Kozlowski, S. W. J., James, L. R., Dansereau, F., Yammarino, F. J., Gavin, M. B., & Bligh, M. C. (2000). Multi-level analytical techniques: Commonalities, difference, and continuing questions. In K. J. Klein & S. W. J. Kozlowski (Eds.) Multi level theory, research, and methods in organizations: Foundations, extensions, and new directions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 512-553.
9. Lockrey, S. & Johnson, K. B. (2013). Designing pedagogy with emerging sustainable technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 61, 70-79.
10. Minnaert, A., Boekaerts, M., & de Brabander, C. (2007). Autonomy, competence, and social relatedness in task interest within project-based education. Psychological Reports, 101, 574-586.
11. Misawa, R., Sasou, K., & Yamaguchi, H. (2009). Development of the teamwork measure for nursing teams. Japanese Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 219-232. (In Japanese with English abstract)
12. Neo, M. (2005). Engaging students in group-based co-operative learning- A Malaysian perspective. Educational Technology & Society, 8, 220-232.
13. Ngai, E. W. T. (2007). Learning in introductory e-commerce: A project-based teamwork approach. Computers & Education, 48, 17-29.
14. Okamoto, H. (2012). Challenges of HRM looking from the job satisfaction perspective of full-time employees in medium-sized enterprise: From a survey of full-time employees in Tokyo and environs. The journal of business management, 29, 68-80. (In Japanese, translated by the author of this article)
15. Peugh, J. L. (2010). A practical guide to multilevel modelling. Journal of School Psychology, 48, 85-112.
16. Rychen, D. S. & Salganik, L. H. (Eds.) (2003). Key competencies for a successful life and well-functioning society. Gottingen, Germany: Hogrefe & Huber.
17. Takeshita, H., Okuaki, S., Nakamura, M, & Yamaguchi, H. (2015). Exploring the teamwork measure for manufacturing-project based learning. Proceedings of the 14th IFToMM World Congress, 223-228.
18. Walters, R. C. & Sirotiak, T. S. (2011). Assessing the effect of project based learning on leadership abilities and communication skills. 47th ASC Annual International Conference Proceedings, the Associated Schools of Construction, Winsor, CO. < http://ascpro0.ascweb.org/archives/cd/2011/paper/CERT301002011.pdf> (Aug. 02, 2016)
19. Winterton, J., Delamare-Le Deist, F., & Stringfellow, E. (2006). Typology of knowledge, skills and competencies: clarification of the concept and prototype. Cedefop Reference series; 64, Luxembourg: Office for official publications of the European communities.