Purpose

The aim of this paper is to enhance understanding of the use of sourcing teams (STs) by organisations in their procurement and supply chain management. The paper achieves this by exploring, within the context of the supply chain directorate of a global aerospace manufacturing company (GAMC), both the relationship between sourcing teamwork effectiveness (TE) and sourcing task-work effectiveness (TA) and the relationship between individual team member knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) and TE.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors develop a theoretical model positing positive links between both KSAs and TE and TE and TA. The model is empirically validated using partial least squares structural equation modelling in a survey of 108 ST members from a GAMC.

Findings

The authors identify that, within GAMC, four of five KSAs drive TE and further discover the direct effects of TE on improved TA. Additionally, the authors observe within GAMC the indirect effects of KSAs on TA cascading through TE.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations include the use of a single firm and self-report measures for data collection. In spite of this, the paper has numerous research implications. Previous research on STs has combined factors related to TE and TA. In this paper, TE and TA were disaggregated, and the relationships between them were explored. The relationships were found to be positive within GAMC, a finding that strengthens the evidence base supporting the use of STs by organisations in their procurement and supply chain management. In addition, the paper also strengthened the evidence base regarding the importance of KSAs to TE, which complements existing research highlighting the importance of team-level factors and individual technical attributes.

Practical implications

The findings from GAMC suggest that executives/managers should take an individual as well as a team-level perspective when developing STs and should consider KSAs as well as technical knowledge when judging individuals’ suitability for inclusion within an ST. There are established KSA tests in the literature that could be used by managers for this task. The findings also inform executives/managers that TE matters for TA and needs attention and investment, especially where sourcing tasks concern high-value areas and/or critical incidents within supply chains.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to explore the relationship between TE and TA. Establishing that this relationship is a positive one provides critically important evidence regarding the efficacy of STs, which are widely used within procurement and supply chain management. It is also a rare study looking at TE from the perspective of individual team member KSAs, with further positive relationships revealed. Both findings enhance what is a very limited literature on a widely used practice within procurement and supply chain management.

中文翻译：

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良好的团队合作精神？团队成员知识、技能和能力对采购团队合作和采购任务工作效率的影响

 目的

本文的目的是加深对组织在采购和供应链管理中使用采购团队 (ST) 的理解。本文通过在全球航空航天制造公司 (GAMC) 的供应链理事会的背景下探讨采购团队合作效率 (TE) 和采购任务工作效率 (TA) 之间的关系以及各个团队之间的关系来实现这一目标成员知识、技能和能力 (KSA) 和 TE。

设计/方法论/途径

作者开发了一个理论模型，假定 KSA 与 TE 以及 TE 与 TA 之间存在正向联系。该模型通过对 GAMC 的 108 名 ST 成员进行的调查，使用偏最小二乘结构方程模型进行了实证验证。

 发现

作者发现，在 GAMC 内，五个 KSA 中有四个驱动 TE，并进一步发现 TE 对改进 TA 的直接影响。此外，作者在 GAMC 内观察到 KSA 对通过 TE 进行 TA 级联的间接影响。

研究局限性/影响

局限性包括使用单一公司和自我报告措施进行数据收集。尽管如此，这篇论文仍具有许多研究意义。之前对ST的研究结合了TE和TA相关的因素。本文对TE和TA进行了分解，并探讨了它们之间的关系。 GAMC 内部发现这种关系是积极的，这一发现加强了支持组织在采购和供应链管理中使用 ST 的证据基础。此外，本文还强化了 KSA 对 TE 重要性的证据基础，这补充了现有研究，强调了团队层面因素和个人技术属性的重要性。

 实际影响

GAMC 的调查结果表明，高管/经理在制定 ST 时应从个人和团队层面的角度考虑，并在判断个人是否适合纳入 ST 时应考虑 KSA 和技术知识。文献中已有成熟的 KSA 测试可供管理者用来完成这项任务。研究结果还告知高管/经理，TE 对 TA 很重要，需要关注和投资，特别是当采购任务涉及供应链内的高价值领域和/或关键事件时。

 原创性/价值

据作者所知，这是第一篇探讨 TE 和 TA 之间关系的论文。确定这种积极的关系为有关 ST 的功效提供了至关重要的证据，ST 广泛应用于采购和供应链管理。这也是一项罕见的研究，从团队成员 KSA 的角度来看待 TE，并揭示了进一步的积极关系。这两项发现丰富了关于采购和供应链管理中广泛使用的实践的非常有限的文献。