Why and When Team Reflexivity Contributes to Team Performance: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Hilary Schloemer,Niannian Dong,Yuying Lin,Mengxi Yang,Zheng Zhu,Wansi Chen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03044

Abstract

Team reflexivity has gained popularity as a phenomenon of interest in team research, but mixed theorizing around the relationship between team reflexivity and team performance indicates that the relationship is not fully understood. In an effort to improve our understanding and explain why and when team reflexivity will be conducive to team performance, we examine the role of team diversity as a possible boundary condition and of team decision quality as an explanatory mechanism. Using survey data from 82 teams with 82 leaders and 194 team members, we find that team decision quality is a partial mediator of the relationship between team reflexivity and team performance and that team diversity strengthens this mediating relationship. We also find that team diversity moderates the relationship between team reflexivity and decision quality. Taken together, these findings suggest that reflexivity is most effective in conditions of informational richness, such as when teams have high diversity, as the reflective process allows team members to capitalize on their varied perspectives to improve the quality of their decisions and, thus, their performance.

Highlights

As teamwork has become an indelible part of the modern workplace, much effort has been made to examine the processes and conditions that support team performance
This conscious and critical reflection has been generally regarded as a positive contributor to team performance, as it allows for learning, informational exchange, and intentional, incremental improvement; there is an inherent cost in time and energy for this reflective process, as well as the potential for conflict resulting from the critique (Moreland and McMinn, 2010)
We proposed a theoretical model at the team level, and team reflexivity and team decision quality were rated by every team member based using the consensus-based approach (Chan, 1998)

Summary

Introduction

As teamwork has become an indelible part of the modern workplace, much effort has been made to examine the processes and conditions that support team performance. One stream of research has focused on team reflexivity, the extent to which team members collectively reflect upon the team’s objectives, strategies, and processes, and adapt them to complex and unpredictable circumstances as needed (West, 1996), as a contributor to team performance This conscious and critical reflection has been generally regarded as a positive contributor to team performance, as it allows for learning, informational exchange, and intentional, incremental improvement; there is an inherent cost in time and energy for this reflective process, as well as the potential for conflict resulting from the critique (Moreland and McMinn, 2010). This cost may, at times, mitigate the performance benefits of team reflexivity (Schippers et al, 2013).

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