Shared leadership development and team performance: A new look at the dynamics of shared leadership

The present study offers new theoretical insights into the dynamics of shared leadership. Integrating arguments from shared leadership and team development theory, we examine how shared leadership changes over the course of a project team's life cycle and how this pattern of change relates to team performance. Guided by shared leadership theory and project team literature, we also explore team‐level factors, which may alter the pattern of shared leadership development. In particular, we propose that in project teams shared leadership develops in a nonuniform way, approximating an inverted U‐shaped pattern, increasing early in the team's life cycle, peaking around the midpoint, and then decreasing in the later phase. In turn, this development pattern relates positively to team performance. We also extend theory by explaining how specific team characteristics influence the pattern of shared leadership development. Using a three‐study approach, we empirically examine the hypothesized relationships and conclude with a general discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.     

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.     

Processes and outcomes of team learning

The objective of this study was to make a contribution to the question how team learning can be studied. A model of the constituting activities of the team learning process was articulated, and it was explored whether the learning activities relate to learning outcomes. The sample consists of 29 teams of business students who were assigned to fulfill an assignment for a company. We asked them to fill out a questionnaire at the start and at the end of this project. The teams' performance was rated. The relationships between the learning activities reported, the diversity in attitude towards the task, the amount of team learning, and the team's performance were explored. The propositions were partly supported by the data. Central conclusions are that a higher diversity in attitude towards the task is related to a higher experienced amount of learning and that in projects of short duration it is especially storing and retrieving that leads to higher team performance.     

Harnessing members' positive mood for team-directed learning behaviour and team innovation: The moderating role of perceived team feedback

This study examines the role of individual team members' positive mood and perceived team feedback for their team-directed learning behaviour. Results obtained in a sample of 186 members from 27 work teams showed that positive mood was positively associated with team-directed learning behaviour if individual members perceived that the feedback they received was based on the performance of the team as a whole, but not if they perceived such team feedback to be lacking. Moreover, teams were found to be more innovative to the extent that their members, on average, engaged in team-directed learning behaviour to a greater extent. These results offer new insights into the micro-foundations of team learning. Our findings explicate why the contributions of individual members to their team's learning may differ and suggest that, if managed effectively, members' positive mood may be an important resource in facilitating team learning.     

The paradox of power sharing: Participative charismatic leaders have subordinates with more instead of less need for leadership

Although charismatic and participative leaders have been noted for their positive effects on criteria such as performance, job satisfaction, and commitment, few studies have looked at the relations with subordinates' leadership needs. In this study, the relations between charismatic and participative leadership, team outcomes, and a team's need for leadership were investigated. The sample consisted of South Pacific CEOs and their top-level management teams from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands. Results showed that charismatic leadership was related to both group-level need for leadership and positive team outcomes. However, team outcomes did not mediate the relations between leadership and a team's need for leadership. Additionally, a moderator effect was found between participative leadership and charismatic leadership in explaining a team's need for leadership, implying that teams of subordinates with participative charismatic leaders need more instead of less leadership from their CEOs.     

Changes in team cognition after a retention interval: the benefits of mixing it up

This paper examines the retention of team cognition with changes in team membership. Hypotheses are developed from shared cognition and interactive team cognition theories. We report a study of the effects of Short (3-6 weeks) versus Long (10-13 weeks) retention intervals and change (Mixed) versus no change (Intact) in team membership during the interval on shared knowledge, team process, and team performance. The study context was a three-person Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) simulator. The long retention interval resulted in significantly lower team process scores and, except for the Short-Intact condition, all teams suffered a drop in performance after the break. However, those teams recovered prebreak levels of performance after one UAV mission. The counterintuitive result was that team mixing resulted in significant knowledge and process gains. An exploratory communication analysis indicated that Mixed team communication is longer in duration than Intact team communication, and Long-interval teams communicated more frequently than Short-interval teams. Unlike the Long-interval communication frequency effect, the Mixed team communication duration effect lasted throughout the experiment, suggesting greater interaction experience for Mixed teams. An exploratory mediation analysis indicated that the shared cognition Input-Process-Output framework was a good fit for the Intact team data, but not for the Mixed team data. We conclude that there are team-learning benefits of team mixing and that the interactive team cognition theory accounts better for those benefits than shared cognition theory.     

Collective‐efficacy as a mediator of the relationship of leaders' personality traits and team performance: A cross‐level analysis

The relationship between a leader's personality and his team's performance has been established in organisational research, but the underlying process and mechanism responsible for this effect have not been fully explored. Both the traditional multiple linear regression and the multilevel structural equation model approaches were used in this study to test a proposed mediating model of subordinates' perception of collective efficacy between leader personality and team performance. The results show that the team leader's extraversion and conscientiousness personality traits were related positively to both the team‐average (individual) perception of collective efficacy and team performance, and the collective efficacy mediated the relationship of the leader's personality traits and team performance. This study also discusses how Chinese cultural elements play a role in such a mediating model.     

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.     

Cutthroat cooperation: The effects of team role decisions on adaptation to alternative reward structures

Structural Adaptation Theory proposes that it is more difficult for teams to change from competitive to cooperative reward conditions than it is for them to change in the opposite direction, and this has been labeled the cutthroat cooperation effect [Johnson, M. D., Hollenbeck, J. R., Ilgen, D. R., Humphrey, S. E., Meyer, C. J., & Jundt, D. K. (2006). Cutthroat cooperation: Asymmetrical adaptation of team reward structures. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 103–120]. The current study investigated whether team role discussion can neutralize this effect and promote successful adaptation from competitive to cooperative reward structures. Consistent with our predictions, in a study that involved 75 four-person teams performing a complex task under cooperative reward conditions, we found that teams with a history of competitive rewards performed worse than teams with a history of cooperative rewards in a control condition. However, this effect was neutralized when teams allocated their roles in a team role discussion. This neutralization effect was driven by behavioral coordination and unmet expectations regarding conflict.     

Can I leave my hat on? A cross-level study of multiple team membership role separation

This article conceptualizes role separation in multiple team membership (MTM) (i.e., the extent to which a multiteamer's role within a focal team is different from his/her role in another team) as a key predictor of individual and team outcomes. Existing literature on MTM focuses primarily on the total number of concurrent teams that an individual contributes to, and thus largely ignores the potential diversity that may characterize MTM. In Study 1, we develop and validate a measure of MTM role separation that reflects differences in (a) expected work results; (b) team collaboration; (c) leader expectations; and (d) client and/or customer characteristics. In Study 2, we use field data to examine the cross-level implications of MTM role separation. As expected, we find that MTM role separation is positively related to a multiteamer's role ambiguity within a focal team and, by extension, harms the performance of the entire focal team. This indirect relationship is not observed when a focal team's teamwork quality (TWQ) is high. We discuss how these findings advance our understanding of the multifaceted and multi-level nature of MTM and help multiteamers, team leaders, and organizations deal with MTM's challenges.     

Harnessing the power of ‘us’: A randomized wait-list controlled trial of the 5R shared leadership development program (5RS) in basketball teams

High-quality leadership has been established as a key factor driving a team's competitive advantage. Besides the role of the coach, recent research has emphasized the importance of leadership provided by athletes within a team (i.e., athlete leaders). To unlock the potential benefits of athlete leadership, the development of leaders is therefore essential. The 5R Shared Leadership Program (5R^S) aims to identify promising leaders within a team, on different athlete leadership roles, both on and off the field. After the appointment of the leaders, their identity leadership skills to build and strengthen a sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’ are further developed. The design of the present research consisted of a randomized wait-list controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a train-the-trainer approach to develop shared leadership within teams (i.e., 5R^S). We tracked 16 competitive basketball teams throughout a competitive season. While eight teams (four female and four male teams) received 5R^S during the first half of the season (i.e., experimental condition), the other eight teams received 5R^S during the second half of the season (i.e., wait-list control condition). Our findings highlight 5R^S's capacity to develop athlete leaders' ability to create a shared sense of ‘us’, build a stronger team identification, enhance the available social support in the team, help players to remain motivated and confident in their team's abilities, and nurture players' health. Moreover, 5R^S appeared to achieve this impact by using a train-the-trainer approach, regardless of whether the intervention was delivered during the first or second half of the season, and with generally consistent findings amongst male and female teams. The present study both advances the current field on in-group leadership development, and provides practitioners with guidance on how and when to apply 5R^S with the aim of improving team functioning and athletes' health.     

Inside the leader relationship: constructive controversy for team effectiveness in China

Research is needed to understand the dynamics by which high‐quality leader relationships have their productive effects on followers. This study proposes that these leader relationships do not simply induce compliance but encourage employees and managers to discuss their diverse views open‐mindedly and constructively. Team leaders indicated leader–member relationship with employees who rated their constructive controversy and their team's effectiveness and feelings of respect, support, and reduced stress. Structural equation analysis suggested that leader–member relationship affects employee team productivity and emotions through constructive controversy. The study's findings and previous research were interpreted as suggesting that high‐quality leader relationships coupled with constructive controversy provide a foundation for effective team leadership in China.     

Age differences between leader and followers as a moderator of the relationship between transformational leadership and team performance

In a field study of 49 R&D teams in the pharmaceutical industry, the age difference between the team leader and the team members was examined as a moderator of the relationship between transformational leadership and team supervisors' longitudinal ratings of team performance. Data collected from 285 team members and 21 team supervisors showed that this relationship was positive when the leader was older than the other team members, but non‐significant when the leader's age was closer to the mean age of the team members. This finding broadens the still fragmentary knowledge of the conditions under which transformational leadership is likely to have more or less positive effects on team performance.     

The effects of low levels of fatigue on face recognition among individuals and team members

The ability to identify particular faces among a crowd or line up is important in various contexts. However, little is known about how fatigue due to sleep deficit affects performance nor about the moderating role of team membership. UK Army Reservists (n = 182) indicated whether line ups of four faces included either of two target faces. They did this while either alone or in a team and while fatigued or alert. Among individuals, fatigue led to a greater bias toward identifying targets as absent. Fatigued team members experienced bias toward absent responses but to a lesser extent than did fatigued individuals. This did not translate into improved performance; fatigued teams had an equal proportion of hits but more false alarms than fatigued individuals.     

Team capability beliefs over time: Distinguishing between team potency,team outcome efficacy,and team process efficacy

Teams that have positive beliefs about their capability tend to perform more effectively. However, relatively little is known about the nature and change of different types of team capability beliefs. Team potency and team efficacy are two approaches to understanding team capability beliefs, but few studies have considered these beliefs simultaneously. We investigate their distinctiveness and relative predictive power. Additionally, we propose two types of team efficacy: team outcome efficacy and team process efficacy. In two longitudinal samples of executive MBA study teams (sample 1, N=213 individuals in 41 teams; sample 2, N=360 individuals in 89 teams), we showed that team potency, team outcome efficacy, and team process efficacy are factorially distinct and measure invariant at four time points over 7 months (except for high levels of team outcome efficacy for which factorial invariance emerged). We also show differential predictive validity. Team outcome efficacy was the strongest predictor of objective team performance, whereas team process efficacy was the best predictor of citizenship behaviours. Team potency predicted both outcomes, albeit more weakly. Collectively, the findings show the value of a more fine‐grained approach to teams' capability beliefs, including a new validated measure of team process efficacy.     

Members Matter in Team Training: Multilevel and Longitudinal Relationships Between Goal Orientation,Self‐Regulation,and Team Outcomes

Longitudinal data from 338 individuals across 64 teams in a simulation‐based team‐training context were used to examine the effects of dispositional goal orientation on self‐regulated learning (self‐efficacy and metacognition). Team goal orientation compositions, as reflected by average goal orientations of team members, were examined for moderating effects on these individual‐level relationships. Finally, individual‐level self‐regulation was investigated for its influence on multiple team‐level outcomes across time. Results showed generally positive effects of learning goal orientation and negative effects of avoid performance and prove performance goal orientations on rates of self‐regulation during team training. However, several of these individual‐level relationships were moderated by team goal orientation composition. The importance of self‐regulation in teams was displayed by results showing the average level of self‐regulation among a team's members over time was positively associated with team efficacy, team cooperation quality, and team decision making.     

The curvilinear effect of benevolent leadership on team performance: The mediating role of team action processes and the moderating role of team commitment

Leaders are encouraged to show benevolence to followers in paternalistic cultures. Yet, there remains debate about whether the influence of increasingly benevolent leadership on follower outcomes is linearly favorable. Grounded in the too‐much‐of‐a‐good‐thing effect and resource allocation theory, we developed and tested a model considering a potential curvilinear relationship between benevolent leadership and team performance while also examining the mediating role of team action processes. We further reasoned that this curvilinear indirect effect would be moderated by team commitment, which could neutralize the diminishing performance returns resulting from excessive benevolent leadership. To test these ideas, we carried out two studies. In the first study, multisource and time‐lagged data collected from 381 employees working in 104 research and development teams showed that benevolent leadership exhibited an inverted U‐shaped relationship with team performance, but this curvilinear relationship disappeared in teams with high team commitment. In the second study, we replicated and extended our results using a sample of 417 employees from 101 hotel management teams of a large hotel chain. Specifically, we found an inverted U‐shaped relationship between benevolent leadership and team action processes, which mediated the inverted U‐shaped relationship between benevolent leadership and team performance. Moreover, this indirect curvilinear effect only held in teams with low team commitment. We discuss the implications of our findings for both theory and practice.     

Agile innovation: The role of team climate in rapid research and development

The impact of team climate on speed of research and development (R&D) project completion was studied in a sample of 33 R&D teams. West's model of team climate for innovation was measured and analysed in relation to project performance ratings, and also in relation to project leaders' estimates of project progress over a 9‐month period. Three of the four climate scales (namely participative safety, support for innovation, and task orientation) were significantly correlated with project performance rated by managers and customers, and two scales (namely support for innovation and vision) correlated with project leaders' ratings of project innovation. Additionally, results of hierarchical linear modelling showed that the climate scales participative safety and task orientation each predicted the rate at which projects moved towards completion. Teams with more positive initial ratings of these climate factors progressed significantly faster towards project completion over subsequent months than teams with poorer climate ratings. The results extend previous research that has linked team climate with levels of team innovation and performance, by showing that climate also predicts rate or speed of innovation.     

Getting groups to develop good strategies: Effects of reflexivity interventions on team process,team performance,and shared mental models

This study examines the effect of guided reflection on team processes and performance, based on West’s (1996, 2000) concept of reflexivity. Communicating via e-mail, 49 hierarchically structured teams (one commander and two specialists) performed seven 15 min shifts of a simulated team-based military air-surveillance task (TAST) in two meetings, a week apart. At the beginning of the second meeting, teams were assigned either to a reflexivity (individual or group) or to a control condition. Results show that reflexivity enhanced performance, the link between reflexivity and team performance being mediated by communication and implementation of strategies as well as by similarity of mental models. Contrary to expectations, individual reflexivity was superior to group reflexivity. Additional analyses suggested that group reflexivity decreased the commanders’ active behavior and increased discussion of strategies that were too general to be helpful. Results point to the usefulness of reflexivity as a generic intervention but underscore the importance of focusing on strategies that are task-specific.     

Role ambiguity,role conflict,team conflict,cohesion and collective efficacy in sport teams: A multilevel analysis

ObjectivesThis study examines how perceptions of role ambiguity, role conflict, team conflict, and cohesion can predict collective efficacy in sports teams.DesignWe adopted a longitudinal perspective, taking measures at the beginning, the middle, and the end of a sport season.MethodsThe participants were professional female and male football players, who participated in the First and Second Divisions in Spain. They completed a multi-section questionnaire assessing role ambiguity, role conflict, cohesion and collective efficacy.ResultsMultilevel modelling analysis showed that perceptions of team conflict and cohesion, at the interpersonal and interteam levels, can predict changes in collective efficacy. However, individual perceptions of role ambiguity and role conflict were not relevant in establishing a team's confidence.ConclusionsThese results suggest interesting practical applications for coaches and sports psychologists in the professional sphere.