When can culturally diverse teams be more creative? The role of leaders' benevolent paternalism

The current research examines the conditions under which cross‐cultural teams can realize their creative potential—a consequence of their cultural diversity. We propose that in more culturally diverse teams, team members are less open when communicating with each other, which impairs the team's ability to elaborate on the information contributed by different members, ultimately limiting team creativity. We further theorize that leaders' benevolent paternalism, a leadership style that is particularly prevalent in East Asian contexts, can reduce the negative consequence of intercultural diversity on intercultural communication openness. On the basis of multiwave, multisource data from 48 culturally diverse teams in China, we found that perceived intercultural diversity is negatively related to intercultural communication openness, which, in turn, is positively related to information elaboration, and ultimately, team creativity. Leader benevolent paternalism attenuates the negative relationship between intercultural diversity and intercultural communication openness. These findings enrich the literature on intercultural diversity by calling attention to communication‐related obstacles.     

The emergence of team helping norms: Foundations within members' attributes and behavior

This research examined the antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior helping norms in teams, specifically with regard to how members' personality, values, beliefs, and helping behavior predict the emergence of helping norms in newly formed project teams. We drew from theory on emergent phenomena and team composition research to propose and test a compilation model of how helping norms are influenced by having at least one member with particularly low (minimum) or high (maximum) levels of attributes that may influence helping‐norm development (i.e., conscientiousness, agreeableness, other‐oriented values, personal helping beliefs). We further examined the extent to which members' helping behaviors, as rated by peers, predicted helping norms and whether these behaviors mediated the relationship between individual attributes and helping norms. The results of a longitudinal study of 47 student project teams revealed that teams' minimums on agreeableness, other‐oriented values, and personal helping beliefs had direct relationships with helping‐norm emergence, and the effects of agreeableness were mediated through mean helping behavior. By contrast, teams' maximums on these attributes showed no relationships with helping norms, and only a team maximum on agreeableness was associated with teams' mean helping behavior. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Professional diversity,identity salience and team innovation: The moderating role of openmindedness norms

The impact of diverse composition in teams is neither straightforward nor direct, and evidence suggests that diversity can be either conducive or detrimental to team innovation. Professionally diverse healthcare teams are increasingly used to develop innovative clinical approaches and solve complex healthcare problems; however, there is evidence that collaboration across professional boundaries creates conflict and is frequently unsuccessful. Healthcare organizations consequently face a dilemma. If they embrace professional diversity in teams, they risk interprofessional hostility, but if they choose homogeneous teams, they diminish their teams' capacity to innovate. We respond to this quandary by utilizing social identity theory to better understand the mechanisms through which professional diversity can enhance team innovation. In particular, we argue that professional identity salience operates as a mediator capable of explaining both positive and negative outcomes of professional diversity, contingent on the moderating effect of openmindedness norms. Analysis of survey data from 70 healthcare teams supports our model and indicates that professional salience can both enhance and undermine team innovation, depending on the extent of team openmindedness. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Team creativity/innovation in culturally diverse teams: A meta‐analysis

This meta‐analysis investigates the direction and strength of the relationship between diversity in culturally diverse teams and team creativity/innovation. We distinguish the effects of two diversity levels (i.e., surface level vs. deep level) in culturally diverse teams and examine the moderators suggested by the socio‐technical systems framework (i.e., team virtuality and task characteristics in terms of task interdependence, complexity, and intellectiveness). Surface‐level diversity in culturally diverse teams is not related to team creativity/innovation, whereas deep‐level diversity in culturally diverse teams is positively related to team creativity/innovation. Moreover, surface‐level diversity in culturally diverse teams and team creativity/innovation are negatively related for simple tasks but unrelated for complex tasks. Deep‐level diversity in culturally diverse teams and team creativity/innovation is positively related for collocated teams and interdependent tasks but unrelated for noncollocated teams and independent tasks. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.     

When is female leadership an advantage? Coordination requirements,team cohesion,and team interaction norms

This study seeks to understand to what extent and in what contexts women leaders may be advantageous for teams. More specifically, this study examines how team leader gender relates to team cohesion, cooperative learning, and participative communication. Furthermore, the study argues that advantages derived from female leadership may be contingent on teams' coordination requirements. I propose that as teams' coordination requirements increase (i.e., with functional diversity, size, and geographic dispersion), teams with women leaders report more cohesion and more cooperative and participative interaction norms than those with men leaders. I aggregated survey responses from the members of 82 teams in 29 organizations at the team level. Findings from hierarchical linear modeling analyses suggest that female leadership is more positively associated with cohesion on larger and more functionally diverse teams and more positively associated with cooperative learning and participative communication on larger and geographically dispersed teams. These results call for more research on boundary conditions on the relationship between leader gender and team outcomes, on the role of relational leadership on complex and diverse teams and, ultimately, on the potential mediating role of cohesion and team interaction norms on the relationship between leader gender and team performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influencing diversity beliefs through a personal testimonial,promotion-focused approach

Although researchers have highlighted the importance of diversity beliefs (i.e., team members' perceived value of diversity) for the elaboration of information in teams, little attention has been paid to whether and how diversity beliefs can be shaped. Drawing on theory and research on team diversity beliefs, we propose that diversity beliefs are more effectively influenced by interventions using a promotion (compared with a prevention) focus toward diversity and personal testimonial (compared with factual) knowledge. Results from an experiment conducted with 175 teams revealed that both a promotion focus and personal testimonial knowledge independently contributed to more positive diversity beliefs and consequently increased team elaboration of task-relevant information as well as integration of different perspectives. Our results reveal key factors that can influence diversity beliefs and underscore the pivotal role of diversity beliefs in improving the extent to which team members elaborate information and integrate diverse perspectives.     

Human capital diversity in the creation of social capital for team creativity

We highlight the social aspects of team creativity by proposing that team creativity is influenced by two types of team social capital: bridging and bonding social capital. Going beyond the structural perspective, we posit that team‐level human capital diversity is one of the potential antecedents of social capital for team creativity. We suggest that network structures are formed by teammates' interactions, which are largely the result of differences in their individual characteristics. The results of an empirical study using 36 teams of MBA students showed that the interaction of team‐bridging social capital with team‐bonding social capital was positively and significantly related to team creativity. Knowledge variety and knowledge disparity had a joint effect on team‐bridging social capital, and knowledge separation was negatively related to team‐bonding social capital. Moreover, team social capital mediated the effects of knowledge diversity on team creativity. Our study has several important implications for team creativity, social networks, and diversity research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multilevel investigation of predictors and outcomes of shared leadership

For modern organizations, shared leadership becomes increasingly important. Knowledge on shared leadership may be limited, as past research often relies on cross-sectional data or student samples, and most studies neglect the multilevel nature of shared leadership. Our research model includes transformational leadership, trust, and organizational support as predictors of shared leadership. Furthermore, we analyze the influence of shared leadership on team performance and team creativity. In total, 160 teams with 697 employees participated in our field study. Data collection took place at three time points. To test our hypotheses, we used multilevel modeling with a Bayesian estimator. We found relationships of transformational leadership and trust with shared leadership at the team level and of transformational leadership, trust, and organizational support with shared leadership at the individual level. Furthermore, shared leadership fully mediated the effect of the three input factors on team performance and team creativity. This study contributes to the understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of shared leadership. Furthermore, the dynamic development of team processes based on an input–mediator–output model is explored. On the basis of the results, organizations can increase shared leadership behavior by focusing on transformational leadership and trust building.     

Time perspective balance and team adaptation in dynamic task contexts

The concept of time perspective balance has attracted increased attention from scholars in the past decade, reflected in published evidence suggesting positive outcomes ranging from enhanced mood to life satisfaction for those individuals possessing balance among their past, present, and future time perspectives, and assumedly able to shift their time perspective to match situational demands. In this paper, we consider the notion of time perspective balance in an organizational setting within which much consequential adaptation often occurs—the team environment—and explore different configurations of time perspective balance in teams facing dynamic task contexts. Drawing from work on situational awareness, we first consider the mechanism by which time perspective balance likely influences individual adaptation in dynamic task-focused situations. Next, we postulate what types of team configurations—ones with more balanced time perspective uniformity or ones with more time perspective variety—might be more appropriate in dynamic contexts given key team conditions. We illustrate our analysis with examples from healthcare team settings and offer ideas for future research.     

To reflect or not to reflect: Prior team performance as a boundary condition of the effects of reflexivity on learning and final team performance

A small but growing body of literature adds to our understanding of the role of team reflexivity (i.e., reflecting upon team functioning) in predicting team performance. Although many studies conclude that reflexivity is an asset for teams, the contingencies of team reflexivity have received far less research attention. In this respect, we argue that team reflexivity may be especially helpful for teams with relatively low performance. Teams that are reflexive tend to learn from previous mistakes, errors, and group processes, which in turn will improve the performance of the team. We propose that this relationship will most likely positively affect learning and final team performance under conditions of relatively poor prior performance. When a team is doing relatively well, the relationship between reflexivity and final team performance will be less clear, as reflexivity and learning is less needed. In a longitudinal study (N = 73 teams), we found support for this idea. As predicted, results indicated that this interaction between team reflexivity and initial team performance on future performance was mediated by team learning. We outline how these findings are important for our understanding of the contingencies of team reflexivity and team performance dynamics. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Women executives and off-the-job misconduct by high-profile employees: A study of National Football League team organizations

The risk of off-the-job misconduct by high-profile employees is a serious concern of top management in professional sport organizations, media and entertainment companies, and public-facing entities in the government and education sectors. Yet there is little research on how to prevent or mitigate this form of misconduct in organizations. Utilizing upper echelons theory and the literature on demographic composition, we examine the relationship between the gender composition of executives of team organizations in a men's professional sport league and subsequent misconduct by players on those teams. Specifically, we employed multilevel and logistic regression analyses to unique data on U.S. National Football League team organizations, and we found that firms with a critical mass of women executives experienced fewer player arrests. No support was found for executive power as a moderator of this relationship. We discuss the implications of our findings for the demographic composition literature. We also offer guidance for preventing and managing off-the-job misconduct by high-profile employees.     

Putting first things first: Outcome and process focus in knowledge work teams

This paper presents a new perspective on the management of outcomes and processes in a knowledge team's work. Knowledge teams frequently face complex, open‐ended tasks for which the a priori specification of goals and work processes is not possible. Such teams must define these work elements themselves; emphasizing one over the other can lead a team to become either outcome‐or process‐focused, with implications for the level at which they identify their activities and the flexibility with which they conduct work. A survey study of student teams and a field study of organizational teams test the effects of outcome versus process focus on performance. Consistent with prior findings, the first study demonstrates that outcome focus is positively related to performance on complex, open‐ended tasks and that team members' level of action identification mediates the effects of outcome and process focus on performance. Action research conducted as part of the second study demonstrates the importance of early events in a team's life cycle and the challenge for managers who hope to influence their teams to have a greater degree of focus on outcomes over process. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organizational citizenship behavior in work groups: A team cultural perspective

Although researchers have often found positive relationships between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and performance rating, very few studies have scrutinized the team contexts in which such relationships exist. This study examines how OCB influences job performance ratings within different team cultures, as measured by team collectivism and individualism. On the basis of multilevel data collected from 81 teams working at a multinational bank in Hong Kong, team collectivism and individualism were found to moderate the OCB–performance rating relationship such that OCB targeting individuals improved rated performance in highly collectivistic teams only, whereas only organizational OCB produced a significant improvement in highly individualistic teams. The implications of these findings and directions for future research directions are discussed here. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employees' self‐efficacy and perception of individual learning in teams: The cross‐level moderating role of team‐learning behavior

Despite the importance of employee learning for organizational effectiveness, scholars have yet to identify the factors that influence employees' perception of individual learning. This paper identified employees' self‐efficacy as a potential antecedent to their perception of individual learning in the context of teamwork. We also hypothesized that team‐learning behavior had a moderating effect on the relationship between employees' self‐efficacy and their perception of individual learning. We conducted a study of 236 teams working in a retail firm, comprising 236 team supervisors and 1397 employees, and analyzed the data using hierarchical linear modeling. This study revealed that employees' individual‐level self‐efficacy was positively associated with their perception of individual learning in teams. Additionally, team‐learning behaviors moderated the positive relationship between employees' self‐efficacy and the perception of individual learning. This study has theoretical and practical implications for a more nuanced understanding of the perception of individual learning in the context of teamwork. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collectivistic orientation in teams: an individual and group-level analysis

With the increasing use of work teams in U.S. industry, understanding team members' collectivistic orientation toward group goals and activities is critical for developing cooperative and productive teams. Using the research on expectancy theory, self-efficacy, locus of control, and individualism–collectivism, collectivism is examined as both an individual difference variable and a group composition variable. One hundred and forty-eight individuals (comprising 33 groups) working on a complex and interdependent task comprised the research sample. Results indicated that individual difference variables of self-efficacy for teamwork, need for social approval, and positive past experience working in teams were related to self-report collectivism. Additionally, team collectivistic orientation was examined as a group composition variable and found to be related to cooperative team behaviors. In turn, these cooperative team behaviors acted as a mediator of the relationship between team collectivistic orientation and team performance. Results are discussed in terms of theory building and applied research. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of positive affectivity in team effectiveness during crises

Organizational efforts to improve team effectiveness in crisis situations primarily have focused on team training initiatives and, to a lesser degree, on staffing teams with respect to members' ability, experience, and functional backgrounds. Largely neglected in these efforts is the emotional component of crises and, correspondingly, the notion of staffing teams with consideration for their affective makeup. To address this void, we examined the impact of team member dispositional positive affect (PA) on team crisis effectiveness and the role of felt negative emotion in transmitting that influence. A study of 21 nuclear power plant crews engaged in crisis training simulations revealed that homogeneity in PA, but not mean‐level PA, was associated with greater team effectiveness. Mediation analysis suggested that homogeneity in PA leads to greater team effectiveness by reducing the amount of negative emotions that team members experience during crises. Furthermore, homogeneity in PA compensated for lower mean‐level PA in predicting effectiveness. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for understanding and further exploring the importance of affective factors and especially team affective composition in team crisis performance. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical examination of personal learning within the context of teams

Using a sample of 588 employees in 59 work teams, we tested a model that situates personal learning within the context of teams, viewing it as a joint function of teams' leadership climate (i.e., transformational leadership) and task characteristics (i.e., task routineness and task interdependence). Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that the positive relationships between transformational leadership climate and the two dimensions of personal learning (relational job learning and personal skill development) were moderated by the nature of the teams' tasks. Specifically, transformational leadership climate was more strongly associated with personal learning for members of teams working on tasks that were less routine, rather than more routine. However, no significant moderation was found for leadership climate and task interdependence. Our findings underscore the importance of taking into account the contextual conditions within which leadership influence occurs while also demonstrating the potential role that leaders can play in promoting employees' personal learning. Overall, our study bolsters theories that conceptualize adult learning as a transaction between people and their social environments and points to a practical need to match leadership styles with team task characteristics to unleash transformational leadership effects. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antecedents and consequences of collective psychological ownership: The validation of a conceptual model

We investigate team member feelings of collective psychological ownership (CPO) over teamwork products, the psychological paths that lead to it, and its impact on team workers' evaluations of team effectiveness, turnover intentions, and intentions to champion teamwork products. We focus on the teamwork product as an important target of ownership feelings, building on theories of self-extension, psychological ownership, and team emergent states. In Study 1, we validate measures for three ownership activating experiences (OAE) that have been proposed as paths to CPO (control over, intimate knowledge regarding, and investment in the teamwork product) using two samples of individual team workers (n = 210 and n = 140). In Study 2 (n = 183) and Study 3 (n = 200), we use surveys and a multiwave design to show that team workers' feelings of CPO mediate the relationship between investment in and intimate knowledge regarding the product and team effectiveness evaluations, team turnover intentions, and intentions to champion the work product. In Study 4 (n = 48 teams), CPO was predicted by the ownership activating experiences, at the team level. This research additionally highlights the benefits to organizations of creating conditions for the emergence of employee feelings of shared ownership over teamwork products.     

The impact of team familiarity and team leader experience on team coordination errors: A panel analysis of professional basketball teams

To explore the dynamics involved in team coordination, we examine the impact of team familiarity and team leader experience on team coordination errors (TCEs). We argue that team familiarity has a U‐shaped effect on TCEs. We study the moderating effects of team leader prior experience and team leader team‐specific experience on the association between team familiarity and TCEs. We use panel data on teams from the National Basketball Association to test the hypotheses. Our findings support the U‐shaped relationship between team familiarity and TCEs and the moderating effect of team leader team‐specific experience on this relationship. The paper advances research on errors in organizations by analyzing the antecedents of TCEs, so far an underexplored empirical phenomenon. Moreover, it contributes to research on coordination in teams by empirically examining the interplay between formal and informal coordination mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

We're all in this together…except for you: The effects of workload,performance feedback,and racial distance on helping behavior in teams

We draw from social categorization theory and the actor–observer hypothesis to extend previous research regarding receiving high levels of help from team members. Specifically, we explore how a team member's performance feedback on how they handled a disproportionately heavy share of the team's workload and how their racial distance from the rest of their teammates affect the amount of helping that person receives from their teammates. Results from a laboratory study in which 79 teams worked on a computerized, decision‐making task demonstrated a three‐way interaction between workload, performance feedback, and the racial distance between the feedback recipient and the rest of their teammates. Racially distant negative feedback recipients who had a disproportionately heavy share of their team's workload received less help from teammates than their racially similar counterparts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.