It's All in the Timing: The Benefits of Early Diverse and Later Shared Task Cognitions on Team Performance Trajectories

Abstract

To perform well over time teams must balance competing needs — the need for quality decisions and the need to coordinate action. However, these elements are paradoxically related because the processes that increase one can inhibit the other. The present article examines the role of team developmental phases as moderating the value of cognitive structures on performance trajectories and end-state performance. Using a longitudinal sample of student teams engaged in a business simulation course, we find that diverse cognitions are beneficial early on, in the strategizing phase; but that this effect reverses in the implementation phase, when homogeneous cognitions become more useful. In addition, we explore the implications of having certain patterns of cognition across phases. We discuss the practical takeaways of our research in terms of what is important for long-term performance.