Relationships among team ability composition, team mental models, and team performance

This study examined the relationship between the similarity and accuracy of team mental models and compared the extent to which each predicted team performance. The relationship between team ability composition and team mental models was also investigated. Eighty-three dyadic teams worked on a complex skill task in a 2-week training protocol. Results indicated that although similarity and accuracy of team mental models were significantly related, accuracy was a stronger predictor of team performance. In addition, team ability was more strongly related to the accuracy than to the similarity of team mental models and accuracy partially mediated the relationship between team ability and team performance, but similarity did not.     

团队心智模型相似性与正确性对团队创造力的影响

现代组织越来越依赖团队进行创造与创新活动, 团队创造力成为理论与实践共同关注的热点问题。最新理论指出, 与个体类似, 团队也是信息加工者, 团队决策实质上也是信息搜寻、编码、存储和提取的认知加工过程。从团队认知角度开展研究是团队创造力领域的新方向。鉴于此, 本研究从团队认知的角度出发, 探讨共享心智模型与团队创造力之间的关系。基于80个信息平台运行维护团队的数据, 研究结果表明, 心智模型的相似性与正确性均能影响团队创造力, 但方向正好相反。心智模型相似性负向预测团队创造力, 而心智模型正确性则正向预测团队创造力。两者还共同影响团队创造力, 当成员心智模型正确性高且相似性低时, 团队创造力最高; 而当成员心智模型彼此相似但错误时, 团队创造力最差。本研究首次将团队认知和团队创造力两个研究领域结合起来, 研究结果有望丰富和拓展两个领域研究成果。     

Facet personality and surface-level diversity as team mental model antecedents: implications for implicit coordination

Team mental models (TMMs) have received much attention as important drivers of effective team processes and performance. Less is known about the factors that give rise to these shared cognitive structures. We examined potential antecedents of TMMs, with a specific focus on team composition variables, including various facets of personality and surface-level diversity. Further, we examined implicit coordination as an important outcome of TMMs. Results suggest that team composition in terms of the cooperation facet of agreeableness and racial diversity were significantly related to team-focused TMM similarity. TMM similarity was also positively predictive of implicit coordination, which mediated the relationship between TMM similarity and team performance. Post hoc analyses revealed a significant interaction between the trust facet of agreeableness and racial diversity in predicting TMM similarity. Results are discussed in terms of facilitating the emergence of TMMs and corresponding implications for team-related human resource practices.     

A temporal common ground for learning: The moderating effect of shared mental models on the relation between team learning behaviours and performance improvement

In this longitudinal study, we integrated a team process and a learning curve perspective on team learning and empirically analysed whether team learning processes lead to performance improvement. In addition, we tested whether this relation is moderated by the similarity of team members’ task, team, and temporal mental models. We tested our model on a sample of 67 teams (314 individuals) competing in a management simulation over five consecutive time periods, using random coefficient modelling (RCM). Our findings suggest that team learning behaviours do not have a direct effect on the team learning curve, but temporal and task mental models are crucial for the translation of team learning behaviours into performance improvement. We found that when teams have similar task and temporal mental models, engaging in team learning processes is beneficial, whereas, when teams have dissimilar task and temporal mental models, it is detrimental to performance improvement. We did not find a significant effect for the moderating role of team mental model similarity. Our study emphasizes the importance of integrating different perspectives on team learning and provides support for the role of team cognition as a catalyst for team learning.     

Embracing transformational leadership: team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance

The authors investigated the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and group performance in 218 financial services teams that were branches of a bank in Hong Kong and the United States. Transformational leadership influenced team performance through the mediating effect of team potency. The effect of transformational leadership on team potency was moderated by team power distance and team collectivism, such that higher power distance teams and more collectivistic teams exhibited stronger positive effects of transformational leadership on team potency. The model was supported by data in both Hong Kong and the United States, which suggests a convergence in how teams function in the East and West and highlights the importance of team values.     

The influence of intra‐team conflict on work teams' affective climate: A longitudinal study

We analysed whether relationship conflict mediates the link between task conflict and shared affect at the team level of analysis. Moreover, we tested the hypothesis that the relationship between these two types of intra‐team conflict would be moderated by team members' interaction. The sample was composed of 156 bank branches. Data were gathered at two points in time. Two affect dimensions (tension and enthusiasm) were measured. The results obtained supported our hypotheses. Relationship conflict fully mediated the relationship between task conflict and team affect. Team members' interaction about team issues moderated the relationship between task conflict and relationship conflict, so that when team members' interaction was low, the relationship enhanced, whereas when team members' interaction was high, the relationship weakened.     

The relevance of being “on the same page” to succeed as a project team: A moderated mediation model

Taking a motivational approach, this study deepens the role of team members’ shared understanding of the work to be done in a project team setting. More specifically, the goal of this study is to test a second stage moderated mediation model in which the mediating role of team members’ proactive behavior in the relationship between perceived shared understanding and team performance is moderated by team adaptability. Based on a multisource and multimethod approach, data were collected from 111 teams of undergraduate and graduate students (521 participants) participating in a project management simulation. Results support the hypothesized moderated mediation model. Indeed, the results indicate that the relationship between perceived shared understanding and team performance is mediated by proactive behavior. The results also show that the relationship between proactive behavior and team performance is moderated by team adaptability. Overall, results reveal that the indirect effect of perceived shared understanding on team performance is moderated by team adaptability, such that this indirect effect is stronger when the level of team adaptability is high. In terms of practical implications, the study highlights the importance of fostering the perception of being “on the same page” in order to motivate members to be proactive and to enhance project team performance.     

Fostering team creativity: Perspective taking as key to unlocking diversity's potential

Despite the clear importance of team creativity for organizations, the conditions that foster it are not very well understood. Even though diversity, especially diversity of perspectives and knowledge, is frequently argued to stimulate higher creativity in teams, empirical findings on this relationship remain inconsistent. We have developed a theoretical model in which the effect of a team's diversity on its creativity is moderated by the degree to which team members engage in perspective taking. We propose that perspective taking helps realize the creative benefits of diversity of perspectives by fostering information elaboration. Results of a laboratory experiment support the hypothesized interaction between diversity and perspective taking on team creativity. Diverse teams performed more creatively than homogeneous teams when they engaged in perspective taking, but not when they were not instructed to take their team members' perspectives. Team information elaboration was found to mediate this moderated effect and was associated with a stronger indirect effect than mere information sharing or task conflict. Our results point to perspective taking as an important mechanism to unlock diversity's potential for team creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Shared leadership and team effectiveness: The examination of LMX differentiation and servant leadership on the emergence and consequences of shared leadership

This study examined the effects of leader–member exchange (LMX) differentiation on team-shared leadership and team effectiveness. Drawing on the group engagement model, we suggested that LMX differentiation negatively affects team-shared leadership and team effectiveness (i.e., team performance and team organizational citizenship behavior [OCB]). Servant leadership weakens the negative effects of LMX differentiation on shared leadership. We tested our predictions using data from a sample of 336 salespersons nested in 110 sales teams in China. We found that shared leadership mediated the relationships between LMX differentiation with both team performance and team OCB. In addition, servant leadership moderated the relationship between LMX differentiation and shared leadership and the indirect relationship between LMX differentiation with both team performance and team OCB.     

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.     

Citizenship behavior at the team level of analysis: the effects of team leadership, team commitment, perceived team support, and team size

The authors investigated citizenship behavior at the team level of analysis by examining 71 change management teams, teams that are responsible for implementing organizational change. The authors collected data at an automotive-industry firm in the mid-Atlantic United States using a questionnaire methodology and an examination of company records. Team leader behavior, team commitment, and perceived team support all had large effects on team citizenship behavior, whereas team size had a small-to-negligible effect.     

复杂任务中共享心智模型间的缓冲作用

共享心智模型（SMM）指队员对于团队的共享心理表征。复杂任务下高的一致性难以获得且易造成小集体意识,SMM的作用在于相互间的调节及共享信念对低一致性的调节作用。为了验证这些假设对9名不同行业创业者进行访谈,对访谈材料进行内容分析得到心智模型关键概念,经过概化理论分析后得到了4个SMM：任务、队友、团队协作以及团队精神。使用心智模型问卷在ERP模拟实验中测量31个团队的绩效和SMM一致性。结果发现团队协作模型一致性是预测绩效的有力指标;团队构成不影响各个SMM一致性;任务模型一致性正向缓冲了团队协作模型一致性对绩效的作用;团队精神模型一致性正向缓冲了团队协作模型一致性对绩效的作用。研究提示SMM对冲突的引导及增进团队成员相互理解方面的作用。     

Innovation in multidisciplinary teams: The moderating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between professional heterogeneity and shared mental models

Research on the effectiveness of multidisciplinary teams has been equivocal. In an attempt to understand when a team’s professional heterogeneity (PH) is positively related to innovation (INN), we proposed an integrative model in which shared mental models (SMMs) are theorized as a mechanism to leverage INN in highly multidisciplinary teams. In addition, we claim that transformational leadership (TL), which is usually regarded as a factor contributing to team effectiveness, will attenuate the effect of teams’ PH on team SMM. In a field study of 55 R&D teams in Israel, we found that SMMs mediated the relationship between PH and INN, and that TL moderated the relationship between PH and Team SMM. We discuss the theoretical and practical implication of these findings.     

Team Mental Models,Team Goal Orientations,and Information Elaboration,Predicting Team Creative Performance

This study aimed to enhance understanding of team creativity by investigating the type of team mental models that team members develop during their work on a creative problem solving task. We hypothesized that teams that develop dissimilar team mental models, compared to similar and complementary team mental models, will achieve a higher information elaboration. This effect will be moderated by the development of a high learning-performance team goal orientation. Information elaboration in turn was hypothesized to predict team creative performance. In a 3 (similar/dissimilar/complementary team mental models) × 3 (learning/performance/learning-performance goal orientation) experimental study on a sample of 33 teams (N = 98) we found that teams that developed more dissimilar team mental models and experienced a learning-performance goal orientation intervention engaged in more information elaboration. Information elaboration, in turn, mediated the relationship between the interaction between team mental models and team goal orientations and team creative performance. Implications for research on team mental models and team creativity are discussed.     

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.     

团队异质性的平衡性对团队创造力的影响

团队异质性的平衡性是指团队中异质性属性的相对分布情况, 是一个从不平衡到平衡的连续谱概念。作为对团队构成维度的补充, 本研究探究其如何通过团队信息深化施加影响于团队创造力。通过对浙江理工大学451名学生的团队实验研究, 得出结论认为：团队知识异质性的平衡性能够积极影响团队创造力, 且团队信息深化在这一过程中起中介作用, 性别异质性的平衡性与团队创造力之间的关系不显著。这一研究结果将有助于打开团队构成和团队创造力研究的新局面。     

LEADERSHIP IN ACTION TEAMS: TEAM LEADER AND MEMBERS’ AUTHENTICITY,AUTHENTICITY STRENGTH,AND TEAM OUTCOMES

A field study was conducted with 47 Army action teams spanning 9 weeks to assess the influence of team leader authenticity on team authenticity and team outcomes. Results showed that team leader authenticity at Time 1 predicted teamwork behavior and team productivity at Time 3, with these relationships mediated by team authenticity at Time 2. We further explored the moderating role of authenticity strength in the team authenticity–teamwork behavior relationship. Team authenticity interacted with authenticity strength such that the team authenticity–teamwork behavior relationship was stronger when authenticity strength was higher rather than lower. Implications of these findings for theories of shared leadership, team leadership, and authentic leadership are discussed.     

The bigger they are, the harder they fall: Linking team power, team conflict, and performance

Across two field studies, we investigate the impact of team power on team conflict and performance. Team power is based on the control of resources that enables a team to influence others in the company. We find across both studies that low-power teams outperform high-power teams. In both studies, higher levels of process conflict present in high-power teams explain this effect fully. In our second study, we show that team interpersonal power congruence (i.e., the degree to which team members’ self-views of their individual power within the team align with the perceptions of their other team members) ameliorates the relationship between team power and process conflict, such that when team interpersonal power congruence is high, high-power teams are less likely to experience performance-detracting process conflict.     

Self-compassion protects against the negative effects of low self-esteem: A longitudinal study in a large adolescent sample

Low self-esteem is usually linked to negative outcomes such as poor mental health, but is this always the case? Based on a contextual behavioural model, we reasoned that self-compassion would weaken the link between low self-esteem and low mental health. Self-compassion involves accepting self-doubt, negative self-evaluations and adversity as part of the human condition. In a longitudinal study of 2448 Australian adolescents, we assessed how self-esteem interacted with self-compassion in Grade 9 to predict changes in mental health over the next year. As hypothesized, self-compassion moderated the influence of self-esteem on mental health. Amongst those high in self-compassion, low self-esteem had little effect on mental health, suggesting a potentially potent buffering affect. We discuss the possibility that fostering self-compassion among adolescents can reduce their need for self-esteem in situations that elicit self-doubt.     

The team role test: development and validation of a team role knowledge situational judgment test

The main objectives in this research were to introduce the concept of team role knowledge and to investigate its potential usefulness for team member selection. In Study 1, the authors developed a situational judgment test, called the Team Role Test, to measure knowledge of 10 roles relevant to the team context. The criterion-related validity of this measure was examined in 2 additional studies. In a sample of academic project teams (N = 93), team role knowledge predicted team member role performance (r = .34). Role knowledge also provided incremental validity beyond mental ability and the Big Five personality factors in the prediction of role performance. The results of Study 2 revealed that the predictive validity of role knowledge generalizes to team members in a work setting (N = 82, r = .30). The implications of the results for selection in team environments are discussed.