| High Performance Teams: Examining Optimal Conflict Profiles |
| | Levine, Sheen S. | U. of Pennsylvania | levine@management.wharton.upenn.edu | (215)-898-1235 |
| | Jehn, Karen A. | U. of Pennsylvania | jehnk@wharton.upenn.edu | (215) 898-0525 |
| | Groups have become important vehicles for productive change, identifying quality solutions to emerging organizational problems. The use of groups as fundamental building blocks of organizations seems to be premised on the assumption that groups can gather together the diversity of information, backgrounds, and values necessary for adaptation in a constantly changing environment to produce effective organizational action. However, this is not always as easy as it sounds - hence our appreciation for the Academy theme. Increased productivity and enhanced morale depends not only on the presence of diverse viewpoints and perspectives about the task, but also on the effective management of the conflict that arises due to these diverse opinions. We investigate the specific aspects of the optimal conflict profile -- the qualities of conflict that lead to constructive behavior in groups and promote the effective management of destructive effects of conflict.
In a qualitative study of organizational teams, Jehn (1997) developed a more elaborate model of conflict types and dimensions. She identified three types of conflict (task, relationship, and process) and four dimensions of conflict that influence group performance (emotionality, acceptability norms, resolution potential, and importance). We test this more elaborate model of group conflict using an organizational decision-making simulation specifically designed to examine optimal conflict profiles of high performing teams.
Results indicate an optimal conflict profile is partially consistent with past research but additional aspects of conflict are necessary to fully delineate the optimal conflict profile of a high performance team. |
| | Keywords: optimal conflict profile; teams; performance |
| The Determinants and Effects of Teamwork Quality in Innovative Projects: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis |
| | Hoegl, Martin | U. of Karlsruhe | martin.hoegl@wiwi.uni-karlsruhe.de | ++49-(721)-608-3431 |
| | Gemuenden, Hans Georg | U. of Karlsruhe | hans.gemuenden@wiwi.uni-karlsruhe.de | ++49-(721)-608-3431 |
| | A great body of conceptual literature promotes teamwork as a crucial success factor for innovative projects. However, little empirical work has been done to systematically assess teamwork and to test its determinants and effects. In this article, the authors develop and test a comprehensive model of teamwork quality (TWQ) by specifying team composition and team leadership as major antecedents and team performance and team members’ preference for future teamwork as important results of TWQ. The model was tested using path analysis (AMOS, Version 3.6) on data from 430 interviews describing 145 software development projects. The empirical results support the conceptual model. The factor TWQ (consisting of the six dimensions communication, coordination, balance of member contributions, mutual support, work norms, and cohesion) explains 42 % of the variance in team performance (consisting of effectiveness and efficiency) and 62 % of the variance in the team members’ potential for future teamwork (consisting of work satisfaction and learning). In turn, 85 % of the variance in TWQ are explained by the two factors team composition (consisting of social skills, project management skills, preference for teamwork, and homogeneity of skill levels) and team leadership (consisting of goal quality, team-goal commitment, feedback, and participative decision making). Important implications for management and research are discussed. |
| | Keywords: Teamwork; Innovation; Software Development |
| The Relative Influence of Vertical Vs. Shared Leadership on the Longitudinal Effectiveness of Change Management Teams |
| | Pearce, Craig L. | U. of North Carolina, Charlotte | clpearce@email.uncc.edu | (704)-547-2087 |
| | This longitudinal study investigated the relative influence of vertical vs. shared leadership on the longitudinal effectiveness of change management teams (CMTs). Vertical leadership stems from an appointed or formal leader of a team, while shared leadership (Yukl, 1998) is a form of distributed leadership stemming from within a team. The sample for this study was 71 change management teams from an automotive firm in the U.S. CMT effectiveness was measured from the viewpoints of managers, customers, and team members. Both vertical and shared leadership were found to independently contribute to CMT effectiveness, although shared leadership was the more important contributor. |
| | Keywords: Change; Leadership; Teams |
| External Activities and Team Effectiveness: A Structural Contingency Framework |
| | Choi, Jin Nam | U. of Michigan | jinnamc@umich.edu | (734)-936-0479 |
| | Researchers on groups have largely ignored teams' external relations due to their strong orientation toward the internal group dynamics. However, with the emergence of new organizational forms such as team-based organizations, external activities have become a critical function of teams for high effectiveness. I define external activities as team activities that are directed toward the team's environment to manage its relationships with external actors, including other units within the same organization and other organizations. Based on the review of existing studies, I propose a structural contingency framework that extends opposing process theory. This theoretical framework leads to several propositions: (1) Team effectiveness is higher when a team achieves internal and external integration to the same degree than when one of them is achieved at the expense of the other. (2) As the environment becomes more uncertain, diversified, and demanding, effective teams conduct more external activities to achieve a higher degree of external integration. (3) As the degree of interdependence increases, effective teams conduct more external activities to achieve a higher degree of external integration. (4) Corresponding to the level of desired external integration that fluctuates by both irregular environmental shifts and regular temporal milestones, effective teams adjust the degree of external activities. This model suggests that the impact of external activities on team effectiveness is moderated by the team's structural properties affecting the level of desired external integration. The proposed theoretical framework also highlights the significance of external activities with regard to organizational learning and overall organizational performance. |
| | Keywords: Team effectiveness; External activities; Contingency theory |