Abstract
In this study, we analysed the effects of team leadership style and magnitude of change on team behavioural interaction patterns (TBIPs) and performance in teams coping with unexpected task changes. Sixty-seven 3-person teams took part in a computer-based fire-fighting simulation task and were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions resulting from our 2 (leadership style: directive vs. empowering) × 2 (magnitude of change: high vs. low) longitudinal factorial design. Our results showed that empowering-led teams tend to display more TBIPs than directive-led teams. Through discontinuous random coefficient growth modelling, we observed that prechange TBIPs negatively affect teams' transition adaptation. However, postchange TBIPs were beneficial for teams' reacquisition adaptation. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Highlights
More than ever teams are ongoingly facing external and internal crises and changes derived from the unpredictability and dynamism of the context in which they operate (Christian et al, 2017; French et al, 2020)
Such efforts in unpacking the team adaptation process are mainly centred in discerning the cues for team adaptation stemming from the way task changes are understood, how teams coordinate in light of their perceptions, and how the negative and positive team adaptation outcomes occur over time (Rico et al, 2019)
Three participants played a total of nine missions on the Networked Fire Chief (NFC) wildfire simulator (Omodei et al, 2003) with networked computers located in three different cubicles
Summary
More than ever teams are ongoingly facing external and internal crises and changes derived from the unpredictability and dynamism of the context in which they operate (Christian et al, 2017; French et al, 2020). In addition to analysing leadership styles effects on TBIP's, current developments in team adaptation emphasize the need to incorporate change characteristics to fully understand how teams cope with unexpected situations (Christian et al, 2017; Maynard et al, 2015). The initial postchange team performance decline after facing a task change will be higher for teams displaying higher prechange TBIPs. To counteract the transition phase's performance decline, teams shall engage in acquiring new skills and gradually recover their performance (Lang & Bliese, 2009). The negative effect of prechange TBIPs on the initial postchange team performance decline after facing a task change will be higher when the magnitude of change is high. |5 effect of postchange TBIPs on the rate of recovery of postchange team performance after facing a task change will be higher when magnitude of change is low
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