Team Culture of Community: Cultural Practices for Scientific Team Cohesion and Productivity

Abstract

Within scientific teams, a culture of community (the facilitation of shared values, goals, and an environment where individuals feel valued and want to engage in a team’s work) has implications for members’ learning and participation, and the team’s functioning, cohesion, and productivity. Drawing on 12 focus group interviews conducted over four years with 23 participants, we used an autoethnographic approach to examine how a research team developed a positive culture of community that influences its cohesion and productivity. We present six interconnected cultural practices that can foster a culture of community in settings where team-based learning and collaborations are required.

How a Principal Investigator Supervises a Student Research Group: An Autoethnographic Longitudinal Examination

“…Finally, as a group, we occasionally held gatherings to celebrate individual and collective accomplishments. By incorporating these practices, we aimed to create a culture of community (Burt et al, 2022) where members could find joy in collaborating with each other and in the work itself. Creating a group environment that could provide its members with a sense of belonging and purpose was assumed to influence their persistence in graduate school.…”

“…Burt's work has been supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, a grant from the National Science Foundation-Iowa Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the National Science Foundation's Early CAREER Award. Recent publications include Burt, B. A., Stone Jr., B. D., Perkins, T., Polk, A., Ramirez, C., & Rosado, J.…”

“…PIs are expected to coordinate their group's size, design the group's practices-relative to its size-and supervise the group toward achieving its research goals (Feldman et al, 2013). Scholars assert that the roles of PIs differ based on the size of the research group (e.g., small, medium, and large) (Burt, 2014(Burt, , 2019Burt et al, 2022;Crede & Borrego, 2012). According to Crede and Borrego (2012), in large research groups (more than 20 students), PIs tend to take on managerial roles, oversee group projects with a bird's-eye view, and focus on deliverables and timelines.…”

“…(See recent stories of such occurrences in Flaherty, 2019;Li, 2020;and Webber, 2021. ) In the absence of preparation for group supervision, some PIs may reproduce experiences they had during graduate school-both good and bad, healthy and unhealthy-all in the pursuit of productivity (Burt et al, 2019(Burt et al, , 2022. Despite the important roles that PIs play in the supervision of students, there is no standardized or required training for those holding these roles (Boikhutso et al, 2013).…”

“…In some cases, students may contribute to groundbreaking research that addresses complex problems, under the direction of their primary investigator (PI) (Cunningham et al, 2015). Their PI may create a positive and supportive structure for group members, making the group a safe environment where learning, scholarly identity development, and belonging occur (Burt et al, 2022; Lee & Boud, 2003). In other cases, research groups may promote negative experiences for their members, often at the hands of the group’s supervisor.…”