Guanxi networks and members' effectiveness in Chinese work teams: Mediating effects of trust networks

The present study examined 33 teams with a total of 206 team members (excluding team leaders) to explore the effects of intrateam guanxi and trust networks on individual effectiveness in Taiwan. Guanxi networks included non-job, departmental and past team networks, while trust networks included affective and cognitive trust networks. Results showed that: (i) guanxi networks could better explain members' effectiveness compared with relational demography, and different guanxi networks had different effects; (ii) the more central an individual's position was in the cognitive trust network, the higher the individual's effectiveness; (iii) the past team guanxi network of a team member displayed a positive effect on the centrality of cognitive trust network, while non-job and departmental guanxi networks showed negative effects; and (iv) the effects of members' guanxi networks on individual effectiveness were mediated by the centrality of trust networks.     

Teaming up with temps: the impact of temporary workers on team social networks and effectiveness

Temporary workers offer immediate benefits to the bottom line; yet, it is unclear how incorporating temporary workers into teams affects how they function. We apply social identity theory to propose that temporary workers significantly reduce individual- and team-level networks and team effectiveness but that commitment to the leader and intergroup competition can help temporary and permanent employees work together more effectively. Using a sample of employees nested in teams (Study 1, n = 312), we found that status differences affected member interactions resulting in sparser advice and friendship networks for temporary workers compared to their permanent counterparts. At the team level (Study 2, n = 58), these team member differences or contract diversity impacted team functioning through advice networks, such that, teams with greater contract diversity had sparser networks and were less effective. Further, commitment to the leader was found to moderate the negative impact of contract diversity on advice and friendship network density. With the increasing use of temporary worker and the prevalent use of teams, these findings have broader implications for HR functions and present possible avenues to mitigate the negative consequences of temporary workers.     

Advice networks in teams: the role of transformational leadership and members' core self-evaluations

This article examines the team-level factors promoting advice exchange networks in teams. Drawing upon theory and research on transformational leadership, team diversity, and social networks, we hypothesized that transformational leadership positively influences advice network density in teams and that advice network density serves as a mediating mechanism linking transformational leadership to team performance. We further hypothesized a 3-way interaction in which members' mean core self-evaluation (CSE) and diversity in CSE jointly moderate the transformational leadership-advice network density relationship, such that the relationship is positive and stronger for teams with low diversity in CSE and high mean CSE. In addition, we expected that advice network centralization attenuates the positive influence of network density on team performance. Results based on multisource data from 79 business unit management teams showed support for these hypotheses. The results highlight the pivotal role played by transformational leadership and team members' CSEs in enhancing team social networks and, ultimately, team effectiveness.     

Centrality and charisma: comparing how leader networks and attributions affect team performance

When leaders interact in teams with their subordinates, they build social capital that can have positive effects on team performance. Does this social capital affect team performance because subordinates come to see the leader as charismatic? We answered this question by examining 2 models. First, we tested the charisma-to-centrality model according to which the leader's charisma facilitates the occupation of a central position in the informal advice network. From this central position, the leader positively influences team performance. Second, we examined the centrality-to-charisma model according to which charisma is attributed to those leaders who are socially active in terms of giving and receiving advice. Attributed charisma facilitates increased team performance. We tested these 2 models in 2 different studies. In the first study, based on time-separated, multisource data emanating from members of 56 work teams, we found support for the centrality-to-charisma model. Formal leaders who were central within team advice networks were seen as charismatic by subordinates, and this charisma was associated with high team performance. To clarify how leader network centrality affected the emergence of charismatic leadership, we designed Study 2 in which, for 79 student teams, we measured leader networking activity and leader charisma at 2 different points in time and related these variables to team performance measured at a third point in time. On the basis of this temporally separated data set, we again found support for the centrality-to-charisma model.     

A multiplex view of leadership structure in management teams

In the hope of complementing the structural perspective in upper echelon research and advancing a fine-grained understanding of dyadic leadership influence in management teams, the current study combines two types of intrateam structures—leadership network and friendship network—to create a multidimensional conceptualization of leadership structure in management teams. Specifically, we propose that management teams with a denser singular leadership network (i.e., a network consisting of many leadership ties that are not coupled with friendship ties) should have lower management team cohesion, which subsequently renders worse business unit performance. To contrast, management teams with a denser multiplex network (i.e., a network consisting of many leadership ties that are coupled with friendship ties) should have higher management team cohesion, which subsequently renders better business unit performance. Guided by structural contingency perspective, we further propose that management team task interdependence will strengthen team cohesion's positive impact on business unit performance. To test the hypothesized model, we collected team-level social network data and multiple-wave survey data from 697 managers nested in 148 hotels (i.e., 148 management teams) owned by a large hospitality company. We also obtained objective performance data for each hotel (i.e., occupancy percentage rate and revenue per available room per day) as the criterion measure. The data supported our hypotheses. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

网络协作过程中团队成员信任机制的实验研究

本文采用情景模拟实验的方法,以大学生为研究对象,通过模拟现实环境中虚拟团队的工作方式,考察了虚拟团队协作过程中个体信任六个因子（风险、利益、实用价值、影响力、兴趣以及努力程度）的发展。实验历时两个月,共进行三次问卷调查,收集了不同阶段各个团队个体信任六个因子变化发展的数据。本研究运用蜘蛛图和平衡秤模型分析了积极团队和消极团队个体信任发展的差异。研究结果表明,在虚拟团队发展的早期,个人利益和兴趣是影响个体信任的主要因子,随着团队任务的进展,实用价值成为后期主要的影响因素之一;在虚拟团队发展早期,成员间可能会发生较为激烈的人际和任务冲突,并对兴趣和努力等因子产生消极的影响;相对于消极团队,积极团队更专注于团队任务,成员更乐于参与团队协作并提高自身的影响力。     

领导集权度与团队成员交换：任务互依性与团队绩效压力的调节作用

从情感互动视角出发,通过三个时间节点对72个团队的问卷调查,探讨了领导集权度对团队成员交换（TMX）及团队绩效的作用机制和边界条件。结果表明：任务互依性和团队绩效压力调节了领导集权度与TMX间的关系,即任务互依性或团队绩效压力越高,领导集权度与TMX之间的负向关系越弱,反之则越强。进一步分析显示,任务互依性和团队绩效压力调节了TMX在领导集权度和团队绩效间关系的中介作用,表现为被调节的中介作用模型。     

Leader Network Centrality and Team Performance: Team Size as Moderator and Collaboration as Mediator

The social network perspective provides a valuable lens to understand the effectiveness of team leaders. In understanding leadership impact in team networks, an important question concerns the structural influence of leader centrality in advice-giving networks on team performance. Taking the inconsistent evidence for the positive relationship of network centrality and leadership effectiveness as a starting point, we suggest that the positive impact of leader centrality in advice-giving networks is contingent on team needs for leadership to meet communication and coordination challenges, which we argue are larger in larger teams. Developing our analysis, we examine the mediating role of member collaboration in the relationship of leader network centrality and team performance as moderated by team size. Based on a multi-source dataset of 542 employees and 71 team leaders, we found that leader centrality in advice-giving networks related positively to team performance in larger teams but negatively in smaller teams. Results supported the mediated moderation model via member collaboration in smaller teams, but not in larger teams.

     

Trust within teams: The relation with performance effectiveness

The acknowledgement that trust is important for the functioning of organizations has increased the demand for research showing how this importance is reflected on the behaviour of its members. In this article we focus on trust within teams and explore the relation with performance effectiveness. A model was tested relating trust with perceived task performance, team satisfaction, relationship commitment, and stress. In this model trust is presented as a multi-component variable with distinct but related dimensions. These include propensity to trust, perceived trustworthiness, cooperative and monitoring behaviours. Data from 112 teams collected in three social care institutions in The Netherlands were analysed with structural equation modelling to test the model. The results are supportive of the multi-component structure of trust and confirmed the importance of trust for the functioning of teams in organizations. The results suggest that trust is positively related with perceived task performance, team satisfaction, and relationship commitment, and negatively related with stress. In addition, perceived task performance was positively related with team satisfaction.     

差异化变革型领导对知识分享与团队创造力的影响:社会网络机制的解释

差异化变革型领导是团队领导领域的最新议题,现有的研究局限于探讨其社会心理方面的作用机制。本文从社会网络机制出发解释差异化变革型领导对团队知识分享及团队创造力的影响。基于65家企业的225个工作团队样本的结构方程模型分析表明,团队一致性变革型领导正向影响团队交流网络密度从而提高团队知识分享;个体差异性变革型领导正向影响团队成员交流网络密度差异性从而降低团队知识分享;团队知识分享正向影响团队创造力。本文的证据表明,在中国情境下,差异性团队领导行为不利于创造稠密的团队交流网络,以及团队知识分享,从而不利于提升团队创造力水平。     

When Trust in the Leader Matters: The Moderated-Mediation Model of Team Performance and Trust

This study contributes to the sport and team literature by exploring the conditions in which trust in a leader translates into trust in a team and subsequent team performance. Findings from 709 athletes on 74 basketball teams demonstrated that trust in the coach represents a critical antecedent of team trust, especially when the team's past performance has been poor. We also found a combined effect of the level and consensus in trust on team performance. Practical implications suggest that a coach needs to ensure that every player, rather than just some or even the majority of individual team members, trusts him or her and the team.     

The effects of embedding social identities on perceived leadership outcomes and the intentional mobilization of group members

According to Identity Leadership, effective leaders make the group matter by embedding social identities in material reality. Across two studies, we explored the potential importance of embedding social identities on group members' perceptions of leader trust, influence, conflict and intentional mobilization. In Study 1, 74 competitive varsity athletes read a vignette describing a coach who was either embedding or not embedding social identities. Participants presented with a coach who was embedding social identities reported significantly greater leader trust, leader influence and intentional mobilization, and significantly lower leader conflict. In Study 2, four football teams each comprising six athletes were assigned to one of two quasi-experimental conditions where a coach either: (1) spent two weeks embedding social identities before spending two weeks not embedding them; or (2) spent two weeks not embedding social identities before spending two weeks embedding them. When a leader stopped embedding social identities after embedding them for two weeks, group members' trust in their leader significantly reduced. When a leader started embedding social identities after not embedding them for two weeks, group members' perceptions of leader trust, leader influence and intentional mobilization significantly increased. Taken together, findings provide preliminary evidence that embedding social identities is beneficial for leader outcomes and intentional mobilization compared to a non-embedding leadership approach.     

Measuring trust in teams: Development and validation of a multifaceted measure of formative and reflective indicators of team trust

This article describes the development and validation of a multidimensional instrument designed to measure trust within teams. Trust is conceptualized as a latent variable resulting from distinct but related (formative) indicators, i.e., propensity to trust and perceived trustworthiness, which lead to (reflective) indicators, i.e., behaviours cooperation and monitoring between team members. The instrument was tested in two different samples. The first sample included 98 hospital professionals (14 teams) and provided data for the exploratory factor analysis of this instrument (Study 1). The second sample included responses from 112 teams (395 individuals) from three social-care institutions and was used to apply confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2). Data attesting to the underlying factor structure, internal homogeneity, construct validity, and consensual power of agreement within teams and discriminant power across teams of the instrument are presented. The final 21-item, four-factor version of this measure demonstrates good psychometric properties, with acceptable levels of reliability and validity. We conclude that the scales form a parsimonious, valid, and efficient instrument to assess trust in teams. Potential applications of this measure in research and practice are described and the implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

The role of leader relationship quality in the development of employee fit perceptions

Despite being a subject of scholarly inquiry for nearly a century, some components of person–environment fit remain enigmatic. This research seeks to explore the relational factors that are associated with employee identity and how this lens can provide explanatory factors that link leader–employee relationships to employee performance. Across a two‐study, multi‐rater constructive replication design, our results support the tenets of the identity theory that suggests the quality of the leader–employee relationships informs employees of their person–organization (PO) and person–job (PJ) fit, leading to higher performance. Across both the studies, high‐quality leader–employee relations (conceptualized as LMX and trust in leader) were related to higher levels of PO and PJ fit. Our results also indicate that PO and PJ fit uniquely drive higher levels of performance as rated by multiple constituents, helping delineate the impact of PO and PJ fit on work outcomes. Specifically, in Study One (N = 111), PJ fit mediated the relationship between LMX and leader‐rated performance, whereas in Study Two (N = 94), PO fit mediated the relationship between trust in leader and peer‐rated performance. This work provides preliminary support that leaders, through their relationships, can help shape employee fit perceptions and ultimately impact performance. Such knowledge can inform organizations and leaders, and emphasizes the formative role that leaders play in the organizational lives of their employees.     

Cognition-based and affect-based trust as mediators of leader behavior influences on team performance

We develop a model in which cognitive and affective trust in the leader mediate the relationship between leader behavior and team psychological states that, in turn, drive team performance. The model is tested on a sample of 191 financial services teams in Hong Kong and the U.S. Servant leadership influenced team performance through affect-based trust and team psychological safety. Transformational leadership influenced team performance indirectly through cognition-based trust. Cognition-based trust directly influenced team potency and indirectly (through affect-based trust) influenced team psychological safety. The effects of leader behavior on team performance were fully mediated through the trust in leader variables and the team psychological states. Servant leadership explained an additional 10% of the variance in team performance beyond the effect of transformational leadership. We discuss implications of these results for research on the relationship between leader behavior and team performance, and for efforts to enhance leader development by combining knowledge from different leadership theories.     

A motivated information processing perspective on the antecedents of empowering leadership

Empowering leadership is an important influence on team effectiveness. This makes the question of what the antecedents of team empowering leadership are an important issue to consider. To address this question, we propose a motivated information processing perspective that holds that engaging in empowering leadership is based on social information processing, and that there are individual differences in how elaborate that information processing is. We argue that a key consideration in shifting control from the leader to the team is the extent to which empowering leadership is driven by leaders’ consideration of their trust in the team (i.e., an instance of social information processing), and that leader need for closure (a trait capturing the disposition to carefully consider decisions and actions) moderates the relationship between leader trust in team and empowering leadership. A survey of N = 156 work teams supported these hypotheses.     

The dynamics of team coordination: A social network analysis as a window to shared awareness

Shared awareness was studied in one novice and one expert basketball team during real games. Teams were considered dynamic social networks with team members as nodes and members’ awareness of other members during ongoing performance as relations. Networks, and changes to them across games, were analysed at different levels of organization using social network analysis to identify patterns of awareness within the teams. The results showed that one team member in each team often heeded, or was heeded by, his teammates, indicating his leadership role in coordinating the team. Also, expert team members had a low level of awareness of their teammates, which may be explained by implicit coordination processes. Finally, there was less variability in intra-team relations in the expert (vs. novice) team, which may be explained by the enhanced ability of the expert team to achieve and maintain an optimal level of awareness during the game. At a practical level, teams might be alerted during performance when their network of connections approaches connectedness thresholds that predict coordination breakdowns, affording online regulation of team processes. Future studies should explore the generalizability of these early findings using larger samples.     

Team Creativity in Web Site Design: An Empirical Test of a Systemic Model

A cross sectional study of 60 student teams examined the impact of team diversity, team interaction processes (planning/organizing) and intrateam conflict on team creativity in a Web site design task. An input–process–output model was used as a theoretical background and it was predicted that team diversity has an indirect impact on team creativity, mediated by planning/organizing and intrateam conflict, as well as a direct impact, with team variety being beneficial for team creativity, and team disparity being detrimental for team creativity. The results support the overall path model and show that the impact of team diversity on team creativity in Web site design is mediated by the team processes and intrateam conflict.     

The differential effect of team members' trust on team performance: The mediation role of team cohesion

This study examines team performance as affected by various trusting relationships: trust between team members and the team's trust in their direct manager and in top management. Data for the study were collected from a survey of 690 professional elite athletes (belonging to 59 different sports clubs) playing in the regular, top professional Spanish leagues. The model was tested at the team level. Findings reveal that team member trust with respect to the different foci has both a direct and indirect effect on team performance, and that team player trust and cohesion play a mediating role. This study illustrates the dynamic relationship within teams, and, as such, trust among teammates mediates the relationship between trust in the coach as well as team cohesion in determining team performance. The implications for managing teams in other contexts are also evaluated.     

Structuring for team success: The interactive effects of network structure and cultural diversity on team potency and performance

This longitudinal study used data from 91 self-managed teams (456 individuals, 60 nationalities) to examine the interactive effects of a team’s task (“workflow”) network structure and its cultural diversity (as indexed by nationality) on the team’s “potency” (i.e., the team’s confidence in its ability to perform) and its performance (as rated by expert judges). We found that whereas the emergence of dense task networks enhanced team potency it was the emergence of (moderately) centralized task networks that facilitated team performance. These varied structural effects, moreover, were themselves contingent on team composition: the more culturally diverse a team, the more pronounced were the positive effects of network density on team potency and the higher the level of network centralization required for optimal team performance. The success of a team appears to hinge on the interplay between network structure and team composition.