The impact of cross-training on team effectiveness.

The authors examined the role of cross-training in developing shared team-interaction mental models, coordination, and performance in a 2-experiment study using computer simulation methodology (for Experiment 1, N=45 teams; for Experiment 2, N=49 teams). Similar findings emerged across the 2 experiments. First, cross-training enhanced the development of shared team-interaction models. Second, coordination mediated the relationship between shared mental models and team performance. However, there was some inconsistency in the findings concerning the depth of cross-training necessary for improving shared mental models. Results are discussed in terms of the impact of different levels of cross-training on team effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Laying the foundation for successful team performance trajectories: The roles of team charters and performance strategies.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 95(4) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2010-13313-007). In the article “Laying the Foundation for Successful Team Performance Trajectories: The Roles of Team Charters and Performance Strategies,” by John E. Mathieu and Tammy L. Rapp (Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 90–103), the “High Chart–Low Strategy” and the “Low Chart–High Strategy” lines were inadvertently reversed in Figure 1. Below is the corrected version of Figure 1.] This study examined the influences of team charters and performance strategies on the performance trajectories of 32 teams of master's of business administration students competing in a business strategy simulation over time. The authors extended existing theory on team development by demonstrating that devoting time to laying a foundation for both teamwork (i.e., team charters) and taskwork (performance strategies) can pay dividends in terms of more effective team performance over time. Using random coefficients growth modeling techniques, they found that teams with high-quality performance strategies outperformed teams with poorer quality strategies. However, a significant interaction between quality of the charters of teams and their performance strategies was found, such that the highest sustained performances were exhibited by teams that were high on both features. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Becoming team players: Team members' mastery of teamwork knowledge as a predictor of team task proficiency and observed teamwork effectiveness.

The authors explored the idea that teams consisting of members who, on average, demonstrate greater mastery of relevant teamwork knowledge will demonstrate greater task proficiency and observed teamwork effectiveness. In particular, the authors posited that team members' mastery of designated teamwork knowledge predicts better team task proficiency and higher observer ratings of effective teamwork, even while controlling for team task proficiency. The authors investigated these hypotheses by developing a structural model and testing it with field data from 92 teams (1,158 team members) in a United States Air Force officer development program focusing on a transportable set of teamwork competencies. The authors obtained proficiency scores on 3 different types of team tasks as well as ratings of effective teamwork from observers. The empirical model supported the authors' hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Mathieu and Rapp (2009).

Reports an error in "Laying the foundation for successful team performance trajectories: The roles of team charters and performance strategies" by John E. Mathieu and Tammy L. Rapp (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2009[Jan], Vol 94[1], 90-103). In the article “Laying the Foundation for Successful Team Performance Trajectories: The Roles of Team Charters and Performance Strategies,” by John E. Mathieu and Tammy L. Rapp (Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 90–103), the “High Chart–Low Strategy” and the “Low Chart–High Strategy” lines were inadvertently reversed in Figure 1. Below is the corrected version of Figure 1. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-00697-021.) This study examined the influences of team charters and performance strategies on the performance trajectories of 32 teams of master's of business administration students competing in a business strategy simulation over time. The authors extended existing theory on team development by demonstrating that devoting time to laying a foundation for both teamwork (i.e., team charters) and taskwork (performance strategies) can pay dividends in terms of more effective team performance over time. Using random coefficients growth modeling techniques, they found that teams with high-quality performance strategies outperformed teams with poorer quality strategies. However, a significant interaction between quality of the charters of teams and their performance strategies was found, such that the highest sustained performances were exhibited by teams that were high on both features. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of collective efficacy in teams: A multilevel and longitudinal perspective.

The authors developed and tested a longitudinal multilevel model of collective efficacy formation. In 50 self-managing student teams, they investigated the effects of individual-level and team-level factors on observed behaviors and the subsequent development of collective efficacy for mastering a complex team task. Self-efficacy for teamwork, task-relevant knowledge, and collective efficacy predicted individual teamwork behaviors (rated by peers). Aggregated measures of teamwork behavior were related to subsequent collective efficacy, which was significantly related to final team performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental efficacy and physical efficacy at the team level: Inputs and outcomes among newly formed action teams.

The authors demarcated mental efficacy and physical efficacy at the team level, and they explored these 2 factors as outcomes of 4 potential inputs and as predictors of 3 outcomes among 110 newly formed action teams in a military setting. Both types of team efficacy benefited from greater team size and an initial experience of enactive mastery, but they were not influenced by teams' female representation or knowledge pool. In terms of predictive contributions, both mental and physical efficacy facilitated internal social cohesion, yet only mental efficacy promoted problem solving and observed teamwork effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deep-level composition variables as predictors of team performance: A meta-analysis.

This study sought to unify the team composition literature by using meta-analytic techniques to estimate the relationships between specified deep-level team composition variables (i.e., personality factors, values, abilities) and team performance. The strength of the team composition variable and team performance relationships was moderated by the study setting (lab or field) and the operationalization of the team composition variable. In lab settings, team minimum and maximum general mental ability and team mean emotional intelligence were related to team performance. Only negligible effects were observed in lab settings for the personality factor and team performance relationships, as well as the value and team performance relationships. In contrast, team minimum agreeableness and team mean conscientiousness, openness to experience, collectivism, and preference for teamwork emerged as strong predictors of team performance in field studies. Results can be used to effectively compose teams in organizations and guide future team composition research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedents of team reward attitude.

The authors tested a model of the antecedents of team reward attitude (TRA), where high TRA reflects a positive attitude toward receiving team-based rewards. Participants were members of 18 intact teams working on complex and inherently interdependent tasks in a high-technology manufacturing organization. The authors found that the most proximal antecedents of TRA were an individual's belief in the value of teamwork (positive) and his or her job performance (negative). Belief in the value of teamwork mediated the relationship between distal antecedents (collectivism, task interdependence, and self-efficacy for teamwork) and TRA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactions of team mental models and monitoring behaviors predict team performance in simulated anesthesia inductions.

In the present study, we investigated how two team mental model properties (similarity vs. accuracy) and two forms of monitoring behavior (team vs. systems) interacted to predict team performance in anesthesia. In particular, we were interested in whether the relationship between monitoring behavior and team performance was moderated by team mental model properties. Thirty-one two-person teams consisting of anesthesia resident and anesthesia nurse were videotaped during a simulated anesthesia induction of general anesthesia. Team mental models were assessed with a newly developed measurement tool based on the concept-mapping technique. Monitoring behavior was coded by two organizational psychologists using a structured observation system. Team performance was rated by two expert anesthetists using a performance-checklist. Moderated multiple regression analysis revealed that team mental model similarity moderated the relationship between team monitoring and performance; a higher level of team monitoring in the absence of a similar team mental model had a negative effect on performance. Furthermore, team mental model similarity and accuracy interacted to predict team performance. Our findings provide new insights on factors influencing the relationship between team processes and team performance in health care. When investigating the effectiveness of a specific team coordination behavior, team cognition has to be taken into account. This represents a necessary and compelling extension of the popular process-outcome relationship on which previous teamwork research in health care has focused. Moreover, the current study adds further external validity to the concept of team mental models by highlighting its usefulness in health care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What makes a good team player? Personality and team effectiveness.

Good team players are often defined in trait terms; that is, they are described as dependable, flexible, or cooperative. Our goal is to examine the relationship between team member personality traits and team effectiveness. However, to understand the effects of personality on team performance requires greater specificity in how personality is described and in how team effectiveness is described. A hierarchical model of team member personality is presented that defines higher-level personality traits and specific facets relevant to team performance. Next, a classification of the core teamwork dimensions underlying effective team performance is presented. Finally, predictions are derived linking team member personality facets to specific teamwork requirements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transactive memory system links work team characteristics and performance.

Teamwork and coordination of expertise among team members with different backgrounds are increasingly recognized as important for team effectiveness. Recently, researchers have examined how team members rely on transactive memory system (TMS; D. M. Wegner, 1987) to share their distributed knowledge and expertise. To establish the ecological validity and generality of TMS research findings, this study sampled 104 work teams from a variety of organizational settings in China and examined the relationships between team characteristics, TMS, and team performance. The results suggest that task interdependence, cooperative goal interdependence, and support for innovation are positively related to work teams' TMS and that TMS is related to team performance; moreover, structural equation analysis indicates that TMS mediates the team characteristics-performance links. Findings have implications both for team leaders to manage their work teams effectively and for team members to improve their team performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A contingency model of conflict and team effectiveness.

The authors develop and test theoretical extensions of the relationships of task conflict, relationship conflict, and 2 dimensions of team effectiveness (performance and team-member satisfaction) among 2 samples of work teams in Taiwan and Indonesia. Findings show that relationship conflict moderates the task conflict–team performance relationship. Specifically, the relationship is curvilinear in the shape of an inverted U when relationship conflict is low, but the relationship is linear and negative when relationship conflict is high. The results for team-member satisfaction are more equivocal, but the findings provide some evidence that relationship conflict exacerbates the negative relationship between task conflict and team-member satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing diversity and enhancing team outcomes: The promise of transformational leadership.

In a sample of 62 research and development (R&D) teams, the authors examined transformational leadership as a moderator of the relationship of age, nationality, and educational background diversity with team outcomes. When levels of transformational leadership were high, nationality and educational diversity were positively related to team leaders' longitudinal ratings of team performance. These relationships were nonsignificant when transformational leadership was low. Age diversity was not related to team performance when transformational leadership was high, and it was negatively related to team performance when transformational leadership was low. Two mediated moderation effects help explain these findings. Transformational leadership moderated the relationship of the 3 examined diversity dimensions with the elaboration of task-relevant information, which in turn was positively associated with team performance. Moreover, transformational leadership moderated the relationship of the 3 diversity types with collective team identification, which in turn was positively related to the elaboration of task-relevant information. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results. Overall, this study suggests that transformational leadership can foster the utilization of the potential, but frequently untapped, benefits entailed by both demographic and informational/cognitive team diversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Harmful help: The costs of backing-up behavior in teams.

Prior research on backing-up behavior has indicated that it is beneficial to teams (C. O. L. H. Porter, 2005; C. O. L. H. Porter et al., 2003). This literature has focused on how backing-up behavior aids backup recipients in tasks in which workload is unevenly distributed among team members. The authors of the present study examined different contexts of workload distribution and found that, in addition to the initial benefits to backup recipients, there are initial and subsequent costs. Backing-up behavior leads backup providers to neglect their own taskwork, especially when workload is evenly distributed. Team members who receive high amounts of backing-up behavior decrease their taskwork in a subsequent task, especially when a team member can observe their workload. These findings indicate that it is important to consider both the benefits and costs of engaging in backing-up behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building team adaptive capacity: The roles of sensegiving and team composition.

The current study draws on motivated information processing in groups theory to propose that leadership functions and composition characteristics provide teams with the epistemic and social motivation needed for collective information processing and strategy adaptation. Three-person teams performed a city management decision-making simulation (N=74 teams; 222 individuals). Teams first managed a simulated city that was newly formed and required growth strategies and were then abruptly switched to a second simulated city that was established and required revitalization strategies. Consistent with hypotheses, external sensegiving and team composition enabled distinct aspects of collective information processing. Sensegiving prompted the emergence of team strategy mental models (i.e., cognitive information processing); psychological collectivism facilitated information sharing (i.e., behavioral information processing); and cognitive ability provided the capacity for both the cognitive and behavioral aspects of collective information processing. In turn, team mental models and information sharing enabled reactive strategy adaptation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental model metrics and team adaptability: A multi-facet multi-method examination.

This paper empirically examines the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of three team mental model measurement approaches. Specifically, this study measures the similarity (MM-similarity) and quality (MM-quality) facets of team strategy-focused mental models using structural networks, priority rankings, and importance ratings. The convergent and divergent relationships among the three mental model metrics are then examined via a multi-facet multi-method matrix. Finally, the relative utility of each metric for understanding the relationships between team mental models, team adaptability, and decision effectiveness are compared. The study was conducted in a laboratory setting, modeling 56 four-person decision-making teams. Results indicate little convergent and extensive discriminant validity across the three mental model metrics. In addition, only mental models measured using the structural networks metric were found to have predictive validity in relation to team adaptation and performance. The quality and similarity of team structural networks were found to have interactive effects in relation to adaptation such that mental model quality was most strongly related to adaptation for teams with low mental model similarity and unrelated to adaptation for teams with high similarity. In turn, adaptation was critical for team decision effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cooperative outcome interdependence, task reflexivity, and team effectiveness: A motivated information processing perspective.

A motivated information processing perspective (C. K. W. De Dreu & P. J. D. Carnevale, 2003; see also V. B. Hinsz, R. S. Tindale, & D. A. Vollrath, 1997) was used to predict that perceived cooperative outcome interdependence interacts with team-level reflexivity to predict information sharing, learning, and team effectiveness. A cross-sectional field study involving management and cross-functional teams (N = 46) performing nonroutine, complex tasks corroborated predictions: The more team members perceived cooperative outcome interdependence, the better they shared information, the more they learned and the more effective they were, especially when task reflexivity was high. When task reflexivity was low, no significant relationship was found between cooperative outcome interdependence and team processes and performance. The author concludes that the motivated information processing perspective is valid outside the confines of the laboratory and can be extended toward teamwork in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)