Team Effectiveness 1997-2007 Review (Mathieu, 2008) PDF

Paper Summary: Team Effectiveness 1997-2007: A Review of Recent Advancements and a Glimpse Into the Future (Mathieu, 2008) Abstract - authors review papers that were conducted over the past decade enorm body of research on team work topics: working in teams in different contexts and different type...

Paper Summary: Team Effectiveness 1997-2007: A Review of Recent Advancements and a Glimpse Into the Future (Mathieu, 2008) Abstract - authors review papers that were conducted over the past decade enorm body of research on team work topics: working in teams in different contexts and different types of teams input-process-outcome model → input-mediators-outcome model Introduction Defining Teams - Definition advanced by Kozlowski and Bell (2003: 334): collectives who exist to perform organizationally relevant tasks, share one or more common goals, interact socially, exhibit task interdependencies, maintain and manage boundaries, and are embedded in an organizational context that sets boundaries, constrains the team, and influencesexchanges with other units in the broader entity → some form of interdependence, teams in organizations! (not social groups) - teams differ based on different aspects, e.g. based upon how long they are together as a unit and the fluidity of the team’s membership - different teams face different demands, but focus rather on the underlying substantieves themes than different types of teams Team Effectiveness Framework and its adaption • • • has been modified and extended the input-part is actually a multilevel-model (the three elements are nested into each other, the outer layers influence the inner ones [as well as a bit the reverse]) criticism: many of the mediational factors between inputs and outputs are not processes (e.g. differentiation between internal processes and group traits), instead it can be cognitive/motivational/affective states → IMO (Input-Mediator-Output) • • another ciriticism: temporal dynamic missing (e.g. developmental models [teams mature], feedback loops on episodic cycle) effectiveness has become more complex Team Outcomes (Cohen and Bailey) o three categories: performance, attitudes, behaviors o Performance: e.g. Organizational-level performance (important for topmanagement teams) o the difference between behaviors and outcomes: ▪ Behaviors: actions that are relevant for to achieving goals, ▪ outcomes: consequences resulting from the performance behaviors o role-based performance: whether teams are competent with regard to their task, team, organizational role o Member’s affect also of growing importance: team, job and organizational satisfaction, team & organizational commitment, atmosphere, how much individuals wish to stay members of a team → researchers need to start to more clearly define performance Mediator-Team Outcome relationships - Two categories: processes and emergent states (and those that represent a blending of both) In General: differentiation between o taskwork: functions that individuals must perform to accomplish the team’s task o teamwork: interaction between team members Processes Three dimensions: 1.Transition processes: - team members focus on activities such as mission analysis, planning, goal specification, and formulating strategies planing is positively related to performance! → setting the stage 2. Action processes: - members concentrate on task accomplishments, monitoring progress and systems, coordinating team members, as well as monitoring and backing up their fellow team members. 3. Interpersonal processes: - includes conflict management, motivation and confidence building, and affect management Emergent states - cognitive, motivational, and affective states of teams that are dynamic in nature and vary as function of team context, inputs, processes, and outcomes (Marks and Colleagues) e.g. team confidence, empowerment, team climate, cohesion, trust, and collective cognition (e.g., shared mental models, strategic con-sensus) Team confidence: - team efficacy (a sharedbelief in a group’s collective capability to organize and execute courses of action required toproduce given levels of goal attainment) and potency (collective belief regarding the team’s ability to be successful) → efficacy relates to the team’s belief that it can be successful on a specifictask whereas potencyrefers to a team’s more general sense of its capabilities in relation to various tasks and different contexts → theorized to have a positive impact on performance Team Empowerment: - Structural empowerment: the impact that the actual practice of delegating authority and responsibility can have on performance Psychological empowerment: a team’s collective belief that they have the authority to control their proximal work environment and are responsible for their team’s functioning Team Climate: - the set of norms, attitudes, and expectations that individuals perceive to operate in a specific social context affects attitudes and behaviors Safety Climate: the more, the lower the accident rates and errors Service Climate: assessment of the organization’s concern for customer well-being Justice Climate: distinct group-level cognition about how awork group as a whole is treated Cohesion: - commitment of team members to the team’s overall task or to each other Other: Trust and Collective Cognition Shared Mental Models (SMMs): - an organized understanding or mental representation of knowledge that is shared by team members teams hold multiple mental models simultaneously shared understanding among team members about how they will interact with one another Strategic Consensus: - the shared understanding of strategic priorities among managers at the top, middle, and/or operating levels of the organization Blended Mediators Team learning: - ongoing process of reflection and action, through whichteams acquire, share, combine, and apply knowledge reflects an active set of team processes, and yet team learning is also referred to as knowledge being embedded within the team Behavioral Integration: - has three major elements: (a) quantity and quality (richness, timeliness, accuracy) of information exchange, (b) collaborative behavior, and (c) joint decision making → BI exists when these three elements take place Transactive memory systems (TMS) - collection of knowl-edge possessed by each team member and a collective awareness of who knows what → benefit teams throughenhanced communication and coordination Team-Composition-Inputs → focuses on the attributes of team members and the impact of the combination of such attributes on processes, emergent states, and ultimately outcomes - - divided into composition and compilation processes: o composition processes as relatively simple combina- tion rules, such as averaging lower level units to represent a higher level construct o compilation describes a situation where the higher level construct is something different than a mere descriptive statistic of lower level entities different approaches of indexing team composition: mean values (average of member attributes), Diversity (influence of heterogneity of team members, diversity as being beneficial) faultlines = the lines tat split a group into subgroups also important: position and status issues → the “highest” individual can have a significant influence also important: network features (e.g. social connections) Team-Level-Inputs - variables that influence mediators and outcomes Interdependance: - the extent to which team members cooperate and work interactively to complete tasks (characterizes team), which is dependent on the individual’s skills → which effect interdependance has can depend on task type → both an input factor and a moderator Technology/Viruality: - higher performing VTs (virtual teams) displayed significantly more leadership behaviors Team Training - systematic, planned intervention aimed at facilitating the development of job-related KSAs individual vs. intact-team training: Most researchers agree that training designed to develop task-relevant skills should be directed at individual team members and alternatively, training teamwork skills, or those focused on the behaviors and attitudes necessary for effective team functioning, are believed to be best delivered to intact teams rather than to individual members Delivery System - instead of face-to-face training, there are alternative training delivery methods, such as self-administered CD, multimedia instruction, and Web-based training → flexibility, low cost Team leadership - influence of a leader who is responsible for, and has authority for, the team’s performance → influences team as a whole the actions of an external team leader can make or break their success either person-focused (i.e., behaviors focused on developing team members or maintaining socioemotional aspects of the team) or task-focused (i.e., those dealing with task accomplishment) Coaching - direct interaction with a team intended to help members make coordinated and taskappropriate use of their collective resources in accomplishing the team’s work” (e.g. identifying team problems, process consultation, cueing and rewarding selfmanagement, and problem-solving consultation) Shared leadership: - emergent team property resulting from leadership functions being distributed across multiple team members rather than arising from a single, formal leader Team structure: - serves as a bridge between organization-level strategy decisions and staffing decisions functional departmentalization occurs when individuals within a team are organized according to the similarity of the tasks they will perform Divisional team departmentalization organizes individuals within the team based on the geographic area served and/or the specific type of product for which they are responsible Organizational Contextual Inputs - contexts can be distinguished in terms of features of the embedding organizational system, as well as features of the larger environment outside of the organization - environmental contextual variables: sources of influence that emanate from outside of the organization yet influence team functioning - both micro- and macro-contexts influence team functioning Organizational Contexts: - organizational factors such as recognitions and rewards and training systems have both direct and indirect effects on group effectiveness Openness climate: related positively with team empowerment and outcomes Multiteam systems coordination: organizational teams are coupled to one another and to the organization as a whole, but their boundaries are distinct enough to give them a separate identity → teams work collaboratively on collective goals (teams benefit from effectice MTS coordination) Environmental context: - TMT-environment interface: positive relationships between TMT educational, functional, and tenure heterogeneity and performance in relatively complex vs. simple environments cultural influence: U.S. student teams reported greater functional heterogeneity, potency, and performance as compared to Korean student teams, and these differences grew larger over time Conclusion - - Cohen and Bailey (1997) identified five key areas that future research should explore: (a) group cognition, affect, and mood, (b) group potency and collective self-efficacy, (c) virtual and global teams, (d) environmental (institutional) factors, and (e) time this was done extensively in research, some with more, some with less attention IPO Model and its adaption have served the field well - However, the IPO/IMOI frameworks were most suitable for situations where a given set of members operate within a clearly defined boundary for a set period of time and produce some quantifiable output or service. Modern-day organizational designs call into - question such arrangements and, therefore, the applicability of the predominant research frameworks in the future, we should embrace the complexity of teams and organizations (right now, some models are more and ideal than a common design, but its difficult to measure the complexity) Rather than viewing these complex features of organizational teams as confounds or design problems to overcome, we submit that they are important variances to assess, model, and understand