L5: Teams in the Larger Context

Question 1

Does team-training improve team performance?

Answer 1

This study used meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of team training interventions in improving team outcomes. The research synthesized data from 93 effect sizes (2,650 teams) and found that team training had moderate, positive effects on cognitive, affective, process, and performance outcomes. Additionally, the effectiveness of training varied depending on training content, team membership stability, and team size. These findings suggest that organizations can use team training to enhance team functioning, and training designers can apply these insights to improve their interventions.

Question 2

What are teams?

Answer 2

A distinguishable set of two or more individuals who interact dynamically, adaptively and interdependently, who share common goals or purposes and who have specific roles or functions to perform

Question 3

What is team performance?

Answer 3

an emergent phenomenon
resulting from the goal-directed process whereby members draw from their individual and shared
resources to display taskwork processes, teamwork processes, and integrated team-level processes
to generate products and provide services

Question 4

What is team training?

Answer 4

A set of tools and methods that in combination with required competencies and training objectives form an instructional strategy

Question 5

What are the hypotheses of this research?

Answer 5

Team training is positively related to team outcomes. Team training is positively related to team-level cognitive outcomes, affective outcomes, behavioural processes and performance outcomes, through the same outcomes for both taskwork and teamwork. Team training that includes both will lead to the same outcomes. Team training will be more effective for intact teams than for adhoc ones. Team training will be more beneficial for small and large teams than for medium-sized ones.

Question 6

Membership stability

Answer 6

The length of time team members have worked together

Question 7

Method

Answer 7

The study identified relevant research through four approaches: electronic database searches, targeted journal searches, ancestry method (reviewing references), and soliciting unpublished work from colleagues. From an initial pool of 500 studies, 168 met inclusion criteria. Each study was coded for 20 variables, including team characteristics, training content, and outcome measures. To ensure reliability, multiple coders independently coded 25% of studies, with interrater reliability checks yielding high agreement. The final dataset included only team-level outcomes, with any ambiguities resolved through consensus discussions among authors.

Question 8

What did the results find?

Answer 8

• team training had a moderate positive effect on team functioning and positive effects on each 4 outcomes, but best on process outcomes
• mixed content interventions not found to be superior and little difference between task work and teamwork. But teamwork and mixed content had better effects on process outcome
• team training worked better for intact teams
• team size improves benefits of team training through improved performance, small teams benefitted most in affective and process outcomes
• team performance improved most for large teams, but low effect size for affective outcomes
• team training in business groups had greater effect sizes than studies with medical and aviation teams

Question 9

Implications of team training results?

Answer 9

• importance of team training
• change agents in healthcare should be persuaded to implement team training
• outcomes should be kept in mind when deciding on the type and focus of team training

Question 10

What should future research focus on in teams?

Answer 10

Future research should examine team training in distributed teams, systematic evaluation of interventions, the role of team leaders, timing of training delivery, and the impact of team composition on training effectiveness.

Question 11

Team creativity

Answer 11

The join novelty and usefulness of ideas regarding products, processes and services

Question 12

Why is nationality diversity an important driver of team creativity?

Answer 12

Members of diverse teams are exposed to different ideas, backgrounds and approaches, which lead to divergent and flexible thinking, enabling new pathways of thought and preventing groupthink, but can also sometimes harm team creativity

Question 13

What are the hypotheses of this research?

Answer 13

With high nationality diversity, teams with less positive diversity beliefs will become more creative after attending diversity training-> three way interaction. With high nationality diversity, teams with less positive diversity beliefs will have a positive relationship between attending training and team efficacy. Team efficacy mediates the interactive effect of training condition, diversity beliefs and nationality diversity on team creativity

Question 14

What was the method of this research?

Answer 14

The study involved 192 undergraduate students from 41 nationalities at a German university, randomly assigned to four-person teams. They completed a diversity beliefs questionnaire, watched either a diversity training or control video, and performed a team creativity task. Creativity was assessed through originality, fluency, and quality, rated by independent coders. Team efficacy was measured via a questionnaire. Nationality diversity was quantified using Blau’s index. Results were aggregated at the team level.

Question 15

What did results find?

Answer 15

• Three-way interaction between training condition, diversity beliefs and nationality diversity on team creativity
• Three way interaction between training condition, diversity beliefs and nationality diversity was related to efficacy
• Team efficacy moderated the effect of the interaction on team creativity
• nationally diverse teams with less positive diversity beliefs had higher team efficacy with more creative products, but was detrimental for creativity and no effect on efficacy when there was little nationality diversity

Question 16

Practical implications of this research?

Answer 16

• lack of nationality diversity can be a liability to organizations
• should diversity training be mandatory or voluntary? mandatory can be better for teams with less positive diversity beliefs

Question 17

What are the elements of hybrid?

Answer 17

Unconstrained time and place

Question 18

What are the general perspectives to be able to make hybrid work successful?

Answer 18

1. Jobs and tasks
   * Focus, coordination, cooperation, sustained energy
2. Employee preferences
   * Survey employees
3. Projects and workflows
   * (re)Consider how the work gets done
4. Inclusion and fairness
   * WFH may not be possible or accessible to all

Question 19

What are the different kinds of jobs and tasks in hybrid?

Answer 19

Strategic planner: focus is important and being able to work undisturbed, so place becomes less critical but time enables focus
Team manager: need to communicate feedback with team members, engage in debate, share practices, mentor and coach those on their team
Product innovator: cooperation is important but place is important, innovate is stimulated by face to face contact with colleagues
Marketing manager: productivity in this role needs sustained energy through time and place, such as through being at home

Question 20

How does Fujitsu overcome the isolation aspect of working from home?

Answer 20

By creating an ecosystem of spaces that make up a borderless office, can be hubs, shared offices, satellites-> this allows people to have places to meet in person and virtually

Question 21

How to consider employee preferences?

Answer 21

Using simple diagnostic survey tools to understand preferences, work contexts and key tasks to allow them to learn when employees feel most energized, some companies have developed personas based on this

Question 22

What is important for projects and workflows?

Answer 22

• boosting use of technology to coordinate activities such as to visualize types of work their teams are performing
• hybrid working can be used to reimagine workflows such as removing any redundant team tasks, reassigning tasks or making them automated and developing a new purpose for the place of work

Question 23

How can inclusion and fairness be improved in hybrid work?

Answer 23

• individual managers were allowed to process on an ad hoc basis which led to different degrees of flexibility and freedom-> unfairness
• employees were drawn from different divisions, levels and generations, used diagnostic tools to profile and share capabilities and preferences. then engaged in modules to gain deeper insights into how they can work together and engaged in a hackathon (came up with many ideas and pitched them)
• jams gave employees a chance to talk about hybrid ways of working-> better understanding of issues and priorities
• main issue was unfairness and inequity which can be improved by allowing employees into the design process

Question 24

What are the main suggestions to improve hybrid working?

Answer 24

• identify key jobs and tasks, drivers of productivity and performance along with arrangements
• engage employees in process through surveys, personas and interviews
• eliminate duplication and unproductive elements
• communicate broadly so others understand how hybrid arrangements can enhance productivity
• ask whether hybrid arrangements accentuate values and support culture

Question 25

Boundary spanning

Answer 25

Managing relations with the environment in which groups operate. 4 types emerged in research: scout (importing information and resources needed for group), ambassador (exporting information and resources to outsiders), sentry (controlling incoming information), and guard (controlling resources that others request from the group). Team leaders engaged more in boundary activities, especially ambassadorial ones, which positively impacted performance in uncertain or innovative environments. But, external communication reduced internal communication and cohesion, so excessive focus on external interactions may weaken team cohesion.

Question 26

What is inter-team coordination related to?

Answer 26

positively correlated to keeping to schedule, teamwork quality and project commitment if tasks are interdependent

Question 27

What are types of membership change?

Answer 27

- members who leave - members who enter - members who are replaced - this affects the resources available and impacts potential performance - membership change affects group processes which influence the group's actual performance

Question 28

How can member replacement impact groups?

Answer 28

Member replacement can boost creativity by bringing fresh perspectives, especially when newcomers are highly productive, part of the ingroup (seen as more trustworthy and valuable than outgroup members) or share a superordinate identity with other members or when the group has failed on its task. But, it can also disrupt transactive memory, harming coordination and performance. Teams that lost a member performed worse unless prompted to reflect, showing the need for adaptation.

Question 29

What is social identity theory?

Answer 29

Argues that self-concept consists of a personal identity (what makes an individual unique) and a social identity which is derived from group membership combined with value and significance of that. People strive to have a positive self-view and social identity by favouring the ingroup and derogating outgroups, resulting in intergroup competition. Groups worked harder when team identity is salient-> kohler effect

Question 30

Difference between self and social categorization

Answer 30

Self-categorization as a group member results in more conformity and polarization, while social categorization is seeing yourself and others as members of a group rather than unique individuals

Question 31

Difference between de-categorization and re-categorization

Answer 31

De-categorization: Focusing on individuality rather than group membership. Re-categorization: Focusing on a common ingroup identity or a dual identity.

Question 32

What promotes re-categorization?

Answer 32

- Common fate and positive (not negative) interdependence. - Direct interaction (but not always, most likely when equal status groups with common goals who cooperate and contact is supported by authority, law or custom) - Finding evidence of similarity

Question 33

What is the focus of team training?

Answer 33

Training focuses on developing team members’ knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) as well as team processes and performance. Better decisions, performing better under stress, making fewer errors, new software, new methods

Question 34

What team outcomes does training produce?

Answer 34

Cognitive outcomes: knowledge gains Affective outcomes: For example, trust in others, confidence in others’ abilities Behavioural processes: for example, communication, coordination, self-correction Performance outcomes: for example, an integration of quality, quantity, efficiency

Question 35

What are the benefits of diversity training?

Answer 35

Increases participants' cultural awareness, knowledge and skills. It will benefit an organization by protecting against civil rights violations, will increase inclusion of different identity groups and will promote better teamwork. But this is not always found. Effectiveness depends on individual and contextual characteristics

Question 36

What are the considerations for diversity training effectiveness?

Answer 36

If the team has positive diversity beliefs and if they have or don't have diversity. It will work if there is high team efficacy: is they have shared beliefs about their ability to effectively approach diversity in their team. These considerations should have been taken into account for research

Question 37

What is the difference between diversity training and energy saving training?

Answer 37

Both have: introduction, instruction (knowledge and awareness), observational learning like role models showing effective/ineffective behaviours. These both lead to creativity tasks/measures.

Question 38

What can cause better performance in groups?

Answer 38

When group membership is made salient and intergroup competition then performance was high, but was not the case for no competition, then salience decreased performance. This could also lead to more social categorization

Question 39

What is common to occur during social categorization processes?

Answer 39

Depersonalization so the shift from seeing people as individuals to seeing them as group members, so similarities within groups and differences between groups are accentuated

Question 40

How can intergroup competition influence polarization?

Answer 40

Participants listened to a taped discussion of a mildly pro-nuclear freeze group, believing they would later join it. Intergroup competition (a reward for the best group) led participants to see the group as more extreme, while intragroup competition (a reward for the best individual) made it seem less extreme. Attitudes generally polarized, except when only intragroup competition was present, where attitudes de-polarized as individuals focused on their uniqueness. Social categorization enhances polarization by making groups seem more homogeneous and extreme, reinforcing conformity.

Question 41

What is realistic conflict theory?

Answer 41

Argues that under positive or cooperative interdependence groups need each other to accomplish their goals, and their interests are aligned. Under negative or competitive interdependence groups can only reach their goals at the expense of other groups. Hostilities usually develop under negative interdependence. But there can also be mixed motive situations which has both incentives to cooperate and compete-> but groups tend to be more competitive than individuals in these situations (discontinuity effect)

Question 42

Why can groups be more competitive in mixed-motive situations?

Answer 42

- pursuing self-interest has anti-normative qualities and individuals are reluctant to do so-> but more likely in a group - less likely to feel personally responsible for amoral behaviour - expect that other groups will be competitive and have a fear of being exploited

Question 43

Contact hypothesis

Answer 43

Direct positive contact between people from different groups will reduce prejudice and ingroup bias, is expected in optimal conditions such as when they have equal status, common goals, cooperation and support from authorities. This occurs due to social categorization processes

Question 44

How can ingroup bias be reduced?

Answer 44

- by reducing individuality-> forming accurate impression of individual members which led to de-categorization - forming overarching social categories for both groups (but there can be some resistance, so can create a dual identity instead so both subordinate and superordinate categories

Question 45

What has research found regarding ingroup bias in mergers?

Answer 45

- either pre merger group membership was made salient or post-merger group membership, then were given success or failure feedback - intergroup bias was always low after success feedback

Question 46

What can occur when some groups experience more dominance?

Answer 46

The members of the dominant group will experience continuity of their social identity, so strong identification with both pre-merger and post-merger groups. This is because of having a high status, providing people with a positive social identity and can be threatening to combine with a lower status group as it could be unfavourable-> dissatisfaction and lack of identification by members of the dominated low status group

Question 47

What are different types of merger integration patterns?

Answer 47

- absorb is when the post-merger group closely resembles the acquiring group without features of the acquired group - blend is when both groups are maintained - combine is when the situation resembles neither group but has distinct new features

Question 48

When does membership have negative or positive effects?

Answer 48

Positive effects occur when newcomers bring in valuable resources or more efficient procedures. However, oldtimers need to be motivated to scrutinize newcomers' ideas carefully before they will adopt them.

Question 49

Why are recent developments in ICT important?

Answer 49

they allow geographically dispersed groups to collaborate using electronic media. The advantage is that groups can be composed of members with relevant expertise, independent of geographical location, which contributes to their potential performance.

Question 50

What is media richness?

Answer 50

refers to the degree to which a medium contains cues regarding the meaning of messages and provides immediate feedback so that the interpretation of a message can be checked.

Question 51

What does rich media offer?

Answer 51

conveys meaning not only through language but also offers paralinguistic (such as tone of voice, how loud you talk) and nonverbal (such as gestures) cues

Question 52

What are the disadvantages and advantages of CMC?

Answer 52

advantages, such as parallel access and more equal participation. However, disadvantages such as slower task progress, loss of non-verbal/ paralinguistic cues information overload reduce the effectiveness of CMC. Especially in tasks that require much coordination of group members, such as decision making, CMC is less effective than face-to-face (FTF) communication. This difference is smaller for tasks requiring less coordination (e.g., brainstorming and problem-solving).

Question 53

What are the consequences of anonymity in CMC?

Answer 53

Can lead to less conformity but can increase conformity when group members social identity is salient

Question 54

What is virtuality?

Answer 54

The degree to which team members use technology in working across locational, temporal and relational boundaries for an interdependent task. Consists of: geographical dispersion ( as teams are more dispersed and can be nationally diverse), electronic dependence, structural dynamism (the frequency with which membership roles and relations can change-> variable team boundaries) and national diversity. Virtual teams are less entitative than face-to-face teams, but more possibilities due to less limitations in location-> useful for task when different expertise needed. Shorter lifecycle and more membership change than face-to-face teams

Question 55

What is the I-P-O model for virtual team functioning?

Answer 55

Inputs: team size, KSA's, technology, task, composition, diversity, member characteristics, leadership Team processes: goal setting, communication, participation, conflict, informality, cohesiveness, group identity, trust Outcomes: member satisfaction, time required, decision quality, knowledge management, team creativity, learning Moderators: task type, time, social context, support and coaching, leadership structure and organizational culture

Question 56

Advantages of virtual teams?

Answer 56

- Groups can be composed of expert members, independent of geographical location - Organizations can offer employees more flexible working arrangements, especially for knowledge workers - Can overcome coordination losses in group idea generation and brainstorming (no blocking) - Promotes equal opportunities for participation

Question 57

Why don't groups always benefit from dissent?

Answer 57

- facilitating conditions for expressing dissenting opinions may result in better decision quality, maybe CMC can facilitate that - there is the issue of expression of opinions and the influence of these once expressed

Question 58

What are problems of virtual teams? How can these be solved?

Answer 58

- lack of mutual knowledge (knowledge that communicating parties share in common and know they share) which can facilitate communication and established through experiences. But this is harder to do due to distance and cultural difference, members can fill in missing knowledge based on membership and the situation. - a slower development of trust is also present, which is important to participate in risky activities, but is harder to do due to less interaction. - An inability to monitor and control team members is also an issue for team leaders, has been implemented through performance monitoring systems but leads to stress and dissatisfaction. - more uninhibited behaviours-> more conflicts - inefficiency, lower member satisfaction and sometimes worse team outcomes - greater risk of misinterpretations and misunderstandings, due to difficulty perceiving and influencing through emotions

Question 59

How can management overcome this?

Answer 59

- giving more autonomy such as team empowerment (increased task motivation due to collective, positive assessment of organizational tasks)-> capable of performing task, high autonomy, meaning and importance - depends on interdependence which can be done by setting goals, design teak tasks, work with rewards to increase motivation - also depends on indispensability, self-efficacy and trust

Question 60

Different types of communication?

Answer 60

- synchronous: messages are immediately available to the receiver - asynchronous: not immediately available like letters, voicemail, email etc

Question 61

Why might CMC be more effective than FTF?

Answer 61

1. different software tools can be incorporated 2. participants can enter messages anonymously like reduced evaluation apprehension and reduced conformity 3. people can type messages at the same time, so unequal participation is less of a problem

Question 62

What are the downside of CMC?

Answer 62

1. people typing is slower than speaking which makes CMC less efficient 2. reduced media richness can cause misinterpretations and cues regarding status or expertise can be lost 3. anonymity can lead to social loafing, disinhibited or antisocial behaviour 4. less people may be reading what others are typing resulting in info overload

Question 63

How does performance compare in CMC compared to FTF groups?

Answer 63

Performed equally well in idea-generation tasks and problem-solving, due to less production blocking and little coordination needed especially with larger group sizes. But FTF groups outperformed CMC groups in judgemental tasks due to slower task progress and more group coordination is needed. Higher satisfaction in CMC groups after problem-solving and judgemental tasks. Anonymity was linked to a smaller difference in decision quality but more time needed due to more willingness to disagree with others

Question 64

How can anonymity affect performance?

Answer 64

Anonymity in computer-mediated communication (CMC) affects group processes differently than face-to-face (FTF) interactions. It can reduce evaluation apprehension, encouraging originality, but may also increase critical remarks and reduce normative social influence.

Question 65

Social identity model of deindividuation effects

Answer 65

The Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE) suggests that when group identity is salient, anonymity can enhance conformity to group norms. Research shows that anonymous groups in CMC discussions align more with pre-established norms than identifiable groups. While CMC has advantages, it is generally less efficient than FTF communication, especially for interdependent tasks.

Question 66

What are the issues with video-based media?

Answer 66

- FTF communication is less formal and more spontaneous due to nonverbal cues-> more checking of understanding so reduced flow of conversation - differences between media are small and all media allow for verbal communication to perform equally well in problem-solving and brainstorming tasks, but tasks with conflicts show more differences

Question 67

Media richness theory

Answer 67

Media richness should match the requirements of the task, effectiveness of media depends on equivocality of the task (possibility of different interpretations). This theory has received little support-> no effects of media richness on quality of performance

Question 68

What did Cramton argue were the main issues in virtual teams?

Answer 68

a lack of awareness of local conditions, incomplete communication, and differing judgments of information importance. These gaps can lead to misunderstandings, negative attributions about team members’ dispositions, and decreased trust and effectiveness.

Question 69

How can trust be improved?

Answer 69

an initial face-to-face meeting can accelerate trust-building. Wilson et al. (2006) found that teams starting with in-person meetings built trust faster, though trust still developed over time in fully virtual teams.