Title:
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The implementation and evaluation of a cross-faculty collaboration to develop an innovative entrepreneurship training programme for nurses in Thailand
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The demand for nurse entrepreneurial education has steadily increased around the globe in order to
meet the changing health care needs of the public. Many universities in countries such as USA and Australia
have already launched a wide range of nursing entrepreneurial programmes. Although Thai nursing education
has also realised the important role of nurse entrepreneurs to Thai healthcare modernisation, there are no
training courses which are designed to equip nurses with entrepreneurial skills. This action research aimed to
study Nursing and Business faculty collaboration established through an action research project in order to
develop a nurse entrepreneur training programme and to evaluate the effectiveness of the collaboration team
at Assumption University in Thailand. This collaboration team (Ad-hoc Module Development Committee)
consisted of twelve members: three nursing faculty, three business faculty, three business entrepreneurs and
three nursing entrepreneurs. The model of team effectiveness, developed by West et al. (1998), was used to
analyse qualitative and quantitative data in order to evaluate team performance of the AMDC.
The results demonstrated important characteristics in terms of input and process factors, which greatly
contributed to team effectiveness and successful outcomes of the AMDC. Three input characteristics
enhancing the effective collaboration were identified: intrinsic task motivation, the appropriate mix of
cross-faculty team, and the collective culture of the team. Three processes, which were shown to be significant
for delivering high team performance of the AMDC, were positive participatory climate, effective shared
leadership and skilful communication of the team. These input and process characteristics provided a strong
foundation for the AMDC to achieve high performance outcomes with greater benefits of the programme
product than envisioned in the original goal. However, committee selection process, high workload demands
of members, and limited minority influence were identified as potential issues, which could hinder the
development of interdisciplinary course.
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