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.     

How team helping influences abusive and empowering leadership: The roles of team affective tone and performance

Leaders' perceptions of their teams are critical sources of contextual social information influencing leadership behaviors. In this paper, we extend affect-as-social-information theory to understand how and why team helping behaviors predict leaders' mistreatment of their teams in the form of abusive supervision and positive leader behavior in the form of empowering leadership, both through leaders' perceptions of team positive affective tone. In addition, based on social information processing, we examine the cue of leaders' perceptions of team task performance as a factor that helps us understand when the relationship between positive affective tone and leadership behaviors may be attenuated. In two text-based scenario studies, a video-based scenario study, and a multisource field study, we found evidence that team helping behavior is antecedent to abusive and empowering leadership behaviors and that this relationship is fully mediated by leaders' perceptions of team positive affective tone. Moreover, our results support team task performance as a factor that decreases the degree to which affective tone is related to abusive supervision. We discuss our findings as a caution to scholars' assumptions about the directionality of leader-team influence, emphasizing the need to acknowledge upward effects in workplace mistreatment research in the leader–team relationship.     

Positive group affective tone and team creativity: Negative group affective tone and team trust as boundary conditions

Drawing on multiple group‐level theories, we explored boundary conditions of the relationship between positive group affective tone (PGAT) and team creativity. We collected data from members and leaders of 68 research and development teams and performed hierarchical linear modeling analyses to test our hypotheses. Consistent with the “group‐centrism” perspective, we found that PGAT was beneficial for team creativity only when team trust was low; when trust was high, PGAT had a negative relationship with team creativity. In accord with the “dual‐tuning” perspective, the positive effect of PGAT on creativity was present only when team trust was low but negative group affective tone was high. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

He thought,she thought: The importance of subjective patterns to understanding team processes

Teams are often described using the mean and variance of their member's characteristics. Recently, research has advanced this paradigm by beginning to explore the importance of patterns of team member perceptions regarding themselves, their teammates, and their teams. We highlight this work and suggest several directions for future research. Copyright © 2016 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.     

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.     

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.     

Measuring team trust: A critical and meta-analytical review

Team trust is gaining attention in research and practice due to its benefits for team performance, yet clarity about the intricacies of its measurement is needed. Therefore, we meta-analyzed 118 studies (N = 7,738) to untangle the role of measurement features by investigating the degree to which they influence the trust–performance relationship. Results showed that the trust–performance relationship is contingent upon time lag and source of measurement. Specifically, cross-sectional and single-source studies produced higher effect sizes than time-lagged and different-source studies. In contrast, the moderating roles of conceptualization–operationalization alignment and referent of trust measures were not supported. Post hoc analyses revealed that affective trust is more strongly related to global, versus specific team outcomes, and that mixed-referent items are particularly effective within intact teams, whereas the trust–performance relationship is constrained when direct consensus items are used within ad hoc teams. Furthermore, we provided a critical review that highlights the importance of composites, multilevel forces, and item content and wording. Finally, we clarified key gaps in the literature, calling for research where needed. This review serves as a bridge between conceptualization and measurement and lays the groundwork for advancing knowledge of team trust.     

Antecedents and consequences of empowering leadership: Leader power distance,leader perception of team capability,and team innovation

The evidence that empowering leadership is an effective form of team leadership brings the question on what the antecedents of empowering leadership are into focus. We propose that empowering leadership is driven by considerations of the normative and situational appropriateness of empowering leadership that are associated with leader power distance value and leader perception of team capability. We propose that leader power distance and perceived team capability interact such that the influence of leader power distance on empowering leadership is stronger with higher perceived team capability. We extend our model to show that by affecting empowering leadership, the interaction of leader power distance and perceived team capability indirectly influences team innovation, an important team outcome associated with empowered teamwork. We tested our model in two multisource surveys in China: Study 1 of 84 technical teams and Study 2 of 83 financial service teams. We discuss how our study contributes to empowering leadership theory by providing a theoretical perspective that lends itself well to identifying other trait and situational antecedents of empowering leadership.     

Individualism–collectivism and team member performance: Another look

This study revisits the commonplace research conclusion that greater team member collectivism, as opposed to individualism, is associated with higher levels of individual‐level performance in teams. Whereas this conclusion is based on the assumption that work in teams consists exclusively of tasks that are shared, typical teamwork also includes tasks that are individualized. Results of a laboratory study of 206 participants performing a mix of individualized and shared tasks in four‐person teams indicate that heterogeneous combinations of individualism and collectivism are associated with higher levels of team member performance, measured as quantity of output, when loose structural interdependence enables individual differences in individualism–collectivism to exert meaningful effects. These results support the modified conclusion that a combination of individualism and collectivism is associated with higher levels of member performance in teams under typical work conditions; that is, conditions in which the tasks of individual members are both individualized and shared. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Empirical analysis of shared leadership promotion and team creativity: An adaptive leadership perspective

Promoting shared leadership in teams and enhancing team creativity is aided by complementarity between leader and team member characteristics. We integrate insights from social learning theory and dominance complementarity perspective with the team leadership and creativity literature to explore the facilitating role of formal participative leadership for enhancing team creativity indirectly by promoting shared leadership. The relationships among formal participative leadership, shared leadership, and team creativity are bounded by team voice behavior and team creative efficacy. To test our theoretical model, we collected multisource and multiwave survey data from 382 members of 73 teams. Results revealed a significant positive relationship of participative leadership with shared leadership in teams, which in turn was positively associated with team creativity. Team voice behavior and team creative efficacy moderated these relationships, respectively, by strengthening the positive relationships. We discuss the theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future directions of our findings.     

Differential treatment within sports teams,leader–member (coach–player) exchange quality,team atmosphere,and team performance

Using the leader–member exchange (LMX) theory as a theoretical framework, the present study focused on the occurrence of differential treatment by leaders on social and task‐related issues within teams. It was investigated whether team members' perceptions of the frequency and degree of social and task‐related differential treatment by the leader were associated with their evaluation of team atmosphere and team performance, in addition to the effects of the quality of their own working relationship with the leader (LMX quality). The context of this study consisted of interdependent sports teams. The participants were 605 players belonging to 69 amateur sports teams playing various team sports such as soccer, hockey, and basketball. Social differential treatment was negatively associated with team atmosphere and unrelated to team performance. In addition, it was found that the two forms of task‐related differential treatment included in this study were unrelated to team atmosphere and were differently associated with team performance. The results are discussed with reference to the existing leadership literature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of affective experience in work motivation: Test of a conceptual model

The purpose of this paper was to contribute to understanding of the crucial role of emotion in work motivation by testing a conceptual model developed by Seo, Barrett, and Bartunek (2004) that predicted the impacts of core affect on three behavioral outcomes of work motivation, generative-defensive orientation, effort, and persistence. We tested the model using an Internet-based investment simulation combined with an experience sampling procedure. Consistent with the predictions of the model, pleasantness was positively related to all three of the predicted indices. For the most part, these effects occurred indirectly via its relationships with expectancy, valence, and progress judgment components. Also as predicted by the model, activation was directly and positively related to effort.     

Teams as boundaries: How intra‐team and inter‐team brokerage influence network changes in knowledge‐seeking networks

What role does an ego's brokerage location—within a team (intra‐team) or outside the team (inter‐team)—play in the evolution of an instrumental knowledge‐seeking network in terms of both proximal (i.e., within the team) and distal (i.e., outside the team) tie formation and tie decay? We address this question by drawing on literature about social networks, brokerage, and teams. We use temporally separated data from 302 students embedded in 97 teams to test our hypotheses about the impacts of intra‐team and inter‐team brokerage on proximal and distal network evolution, specifically on four network changes in knowledge‐seeking networks: proximal tie formation, proximal tie decay, distal tie formation, and distal tie decay. We find that these four changes depend on individual network brokerage location even after controlling for personality and task characteristics. Specifically, inter‐team brokers change their networks both within and outside their teams, whereas intra‐team brokers curtail their network changes. We argue that these opposite effects occur because inter‐team brokers have greater autonomy than intra‐team brokers. This study adds to the ongoing dialog about network evolution in social network literature and to the conversations about brokerage and its location in the context of team‐based work.     

Differential implications of team member promotive and prohibitive voice on innovation performance in research and development project teams: A dialectic perspective

How and when does team member voice facilitate team innovation? Integrating research on member voice and a dialectic perspective of innovation, we advance a model in which team member promotive voice enhances team innovation through team knowledge utilization, whereas team member prohibitive voice enhances team innovation through team reflexivity in a nonlinear fashion. We further propose that the differential effects of team member promotive and prohibitive voice will be stronger at different stages (idea generation vs. idea implementation) of the innovation cycle. Survey data from 78 research and development project teams showed a positive indirect effect between team member promotive voice and team innovation through team knowledge utilization, although this relationship was also mediated through team reflexivity. Moreover, the indirect effect of team member promotive voice on team innovation via team knowledge utilization was stronger for teams in the idea generation stage of team innovation. Results also confirmed a nonlinear indirect relationship between team member prohibitive voice and team innovation via team reflexivity such that the positive effects of team member prohibitive voice tapered off at high levels. Contrary to our expectations, the effects of prohibitive voice held regardless of stage. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

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.     

The role of affective traits and affective states in disputants' motivation and behavior during episodes of organizational conflict

This study investigated the effects of individuals' affective traits (i.e., affect intensity and affect disposition) and affective states (i.e., positive and negative mood) on their motivations and behavior during episodes of organizational conflict. Two hundred and twenty‐three student employees from a variety of jobs and organizations kept daily records, for a three day period, of their conflict experiences at work. The results of hierarchical linear modelling indicated that employees' affective traits and affective states had parallel effects on the conflict management process. Subsequent analyses revealed the source of this parallelism: employees' moods on the day of the conflict fully mediated the effects of their affective disposition on the conflict process variables. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical significance and practical implications. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A theoretical integration of leader emergence and leadership effectiveness: Over,under, and congruent emergence

There is a long and rich history of research on the concept of leader emergence. Much of this research positions leader emergence alongside leadership effectiveness as an epiphenomenal criterion in leadership research. Although this view has enhanced our understanding of factors that influence leader emergence and leadership effectiveness individually, our understanding of the potential alignment or misalignment of these concepts remains opaque. Following from this, we are left with unanswered questions concerning how, why, and under what conditions do the right or wrong leaders emerge or fail to emerge. Theory that develops insights into these questions is needed to advance our understanding of leadership and to cope with challenges of identifying and developing effective leaders and maximizing leadership potential in organizations. By integrating theories of leader emergence and leadership effectiveness—and considering their implications jointly—we provide a conceptual basis for identifying and understanding a more complete range of leader emergence than has been suggested in the literature. Importantly, our theoretical frame explains how our leader emergence types—over-emergence, under-emergence, congruent emergence, and congruent non-emergence—are differentially associated with a common set of factors. In doing so, we illuminate tradeoffs that might accompany different interventions intended to enhance leadership in organizations.     

Driving in mild cognitive impairment: The role of depressive symptoms

Objectives: Previous studies indicate a negative association between depression and driving fitness in the general population. Our goal was to cover a gap in the literature and to explore the link between depressive symptoms and driving behavior in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) through the use of a driving simulator experiment.

Methods: Twenty-four individuals with MCI (mean age = 67.42, SD = 7.13) and 23 cognitively healthy individuals (mean age = 65.13, SD = 7.21) were introduced in the study. A valid driving license and regular car use served as main inclusion criteria. Data collection included a neurological/neuropsychological assessment and a driving simulator evaluation. Depressive symptomatology was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).

Results: Significant interaction effects indicating a greater negative impact of depressive symptoms in drivers with MCI than in cognitively healthy drivers were observed in the case of various driving indexes, namely, average speed, accident risk, side bar hits, headway distance, headway distance variation, and lateral position variation. The associations between depressive symptoms and driving behavior remained significant after controlling for daytime sleepiness and cognition.

Conclusions: Depressive symptoms could be a factor explaining why certain patients with MCI present altered driving skills. Therefore, interventions for treating the depressive symptoms of individuals with MCI could prove to be beneficial regarding their driving performance.