Intact Teams Research Articles

The MIntAct project—IntAct as a common curation platform for 11 molecular interaction databases

IntAct (freely available at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/intact) is an open-source, open data molecular interaction database populated by data either curated from the literature or from direct data depositions. IntAct has developed a sophisticated web-based curation tool, capable of supporting both IMEx- and MIMIx-level curation. This tool is now utilized by multiple additional curation teams, all of whom annotate data directly into the IntAct database. Members of the IntAct team supply appropriate levels of training, perform quality control on entries and take responsibility for long-term data maintenance. Recently, the MINT and IntAct databases decided to merge their separate efforts to make optimal use of limited developer resources and maximize the curation output. All data manually curated by the MINT curators have been moved into the IntAct database at EMBL-EBI and are merged with the existing IntAct dataset. Both IntAct and MINT are active contributors to the IMEx consortium (http://www.imexconsortium.org).

The Safety in Unsafe Teams: A Multilevel Approach to Psychological Safety

Starting with the premise that sub-team psychological safety microclimates are important to team behavior and invisible to current team-level psychological safety concepts and measures, we introduce a multilevel view of psychological safety within work teams. We develop a theory of how whole-team and sub-team psychological safety influence team functioning and development. Using social network models of theoretical teams, we illustrate the presence and influence of distinct psychological safety microclimates within a team, including incongruities between sub- and whole-team safety climates. For example psychologically safe sub-teams can be hidden within unsafe teams, and these sub-teams may be responsible for significant aspects of team learning and performance. We propose that theorizing and measuring multiple levels of psychological safety in work teams, including pockets of (un)safety that contradict intact team dynamics complements Edmondson's intact team psychological safety concept and measures. Ena...

The impact of diversity and identification on affective linkages in work teams

To examine the role of team diversity in facilitating the sharing of affect within teams, we studied intact teams in different organizations in Germany and in Israel using a repeated- measures desi...

Measuring Patterns in Team Interaction Sequences Using a Discrete Recurrence Approach

Recurrence-based measures of communication determinism and pattern information are described and validated using previously collected team interaction data. Team coordination dynamics has revealed that"mixing" team membership can lead to flexible interaction processes, but keeping a team "intact" can lead to rigid interaction processes. We hypothesized that communication of intact teams would have greater determinism and higher pattern information compared to that of mixed teams. Determinism and pattern information were measured from three-person Uninhabited Air Vehicle team communication sequences over a series of 40-minute missions. Because team members communicated using push-to-talk buttons, communication sequences were automatically generated during each mission. The Composition x Mission determinism effect was significant. Intact teams' determinism increased over missions, whereas mixed teams' determinism did not change. Intact teams had significantly higher maximum pattern information than mixed teams. Results from these new communication analysis methods converge with content-based methods and support our hypotheses. Because they are not content based, and because they are automatic and fast, these new methods may be amenable to real-time communication pattern analysis.

Changes in team cognition after a retention interval: The benefits of mixing it up.

This paper examines the retention of team cognition with changes in team membership. Hypotheses are developed from shared cognition and interactive team cognition theories. We report a study of the effects of Short (3-6 weeks) versus Long (10-13 weeks) retention intervals and change (Mixed) versus no change (Intact) in team membership during the interval on shared knowledge, team process, and team performance. The study context was a three-person Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) simulator. The long retention interval resulted in significantly lower team process scores and, except for the Short-Intact condition, all teams suffered a drop in performance after the break. However, those teams recovered prebreak levels of performance after one UAV mission. The counterintuitive result was that team mixing resulted in significant knowledge and process gains. An exploratory communication analysis indicated that Mixed team communication is longer in duration than Intact team communication, and Long-interval teams communicated more frequently than Short-interval teams. Unlike the Long-interval communication frequency effect, the Mixed team communication duration effect lasted throughout the experiment, suggesting greater interaction experience for Mixed teams. An exploratory mediation analysis indicated that the shared cognition Input-Process-Output framework was a good fit for the Intact team data, but not for the Mixed team data. We conclude that there are team-learning benefits of team mixing and that the interactive team cognition theory accounts better for those benefits than shared cognition theory.

Playing Favorites: The Influence of Leaders' Inner Circle on Group Processes and Performance

Leaders frequently form stronger relationships with certain subordinates moreso than others, creating an inner circle of close friendships and an outer circle of more distant relationships. Three studies examine the effects of inner-circle membership on group dynamics and interpersonal influence in hierarchical teams. Study 1 finds that, compared to outer-circle members, inner-circle members feel safer and participate in the group discussion more, and leaders recognize them as making a greater contribution and allocate a larger bonus to them. Consequently, inner-circle members influence the groups' decisions more, and team decision quality improves when inner-circle members possess expert knowledge. Study 2 finds that leaders attended to and recalled suggestions from their inner circle more regardless of argument strength, suggesting heuristic information processing. Study 3 replicates these findings using intact teams in a large governmental agency. Implications for leadership and group decision making are discussed.

A qualitative analysis of charismatic leadership in creative teams: The case of television directors

Leadership continues to play an important role in team effectiveness [Burke, C.S., Stagl, K.C., Klein, C., Goodwin, G.F., Salas, E., & Halpin, S.M. (2006). What type of leadership behaviors is functional in teams? A meta-analysis. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(3), 288–307.]. A special type of team, television show production, utilizes an intact team of highly specialized and creative members. Charismatic leadership theory provides a useful lens from which to study how television directors facilitate the team's work and creativity. In this study we used two types of qualitative software to analyze interview transcripts from 21 television directors. Semi-structured interview protocol resulted in transcripts coded for the six factors of charismatic leadership [Conger, J.A., & Kanungo, R.N. (1988). Behavioral dimensions of charismatic leadership. In. J.A. Conger and R.N. Kanungo (Eds.), Charismatic Leadership (pp. 78–97). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Inc.], and aspects of leader distance [Antonakis, J., & Atwater, L. (2002). Leader distance: A review and a proposed theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 13, 673–704.; Shamir, B. (1995). Social distance and charisma: Theoretical notes and an exploratory study. The Leadership Quarterly, 6, 19–47.], shared leadership [Pearce, C.L., & Conger, J.A. (Eds.) (2003). Shared leadership: Reframing the hows and whys of leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.], and leadership self-schema [Gardner, W.L. & Avolio, B.J. (1998). The charismatic relationship: A dramaturgical perspective. Academy of Management Review, 23(1), 32–58.; Murphy, S.E. (2001). Leader self-regulation: The role of self-efficacy and “multiple intelligences”. In R. Riggio, S. Murphy, & F. Pirozzolo, (Eds.) Multiple intelligences and leadership, (pp. 163–186). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.; Wofford, J.C., & Goodwin, V.L. (1994). A cognitive interpretation of transactional and transformational leadership theories. Leadership Quarterly, 5, 161–186.]. In addition, a computerized content analysis program DICTION was used to identify factors of charismatic speech content such as optimism and reference to collectives following the protocol used by Bligh, Kohles, & Meindl [Bligh, M.C., Kohles, J.C., Meindl, J.R. (2004b). Charisma under crisis: Presidential leadership, rhetoric, and media responses before and after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The Leadership Quarterly, 15, 211–239.]. Results of the present study revealed that charismatic leadership can be important in explaining the leadership role of television directors in teams. Directors showed vision, sensitivity to member's needs, and other charismatic behaviors. Moreover, some charismatic leader behavior differed by leader distance from followers. Leadership self-schema appeared to be an important prerequisite for shared leadership.

Testing Three Team Training Strategies in Intact Teams

This article describes the results of a meta-analytic integration of the relative contributions of three different components of team training to the efficacy of team training interventions. The three specific components of team training that have received empirical scrutiny in the past are cross-training, team coordination and adaptation training, and guided team self-correction training. The results of this effort show a significant, small-to-moderate tendency for team training to lead to an increase in team performance. This basic beneficial effect of team training was clearly moderated by the degree to which specific components of team training were involved in team training interventions. The results of two different analytic strategies converge to suggest that, at this time, the most potent contribution to effective team training appears to include a focus on coordination and adaptation. This suggests that the optimal team training intervention appears to be requiring that team members learn how to alter their coordination strategies and to reduce the amount of communication necessary for successful team performance.

Fitting In: The Effects of Relational Demography and Person-Culture Fit on Group Process and Performance

The authors integrate two complementary streams of research on “fit” that document positive impacts of similarity and negative effects of dissimilarity. Fit with an organization's culture typically focuses on similarity in values whereas relational demography examines similarity in demographic attributes. Although both streams emphasize fit and draw on similar underlying theories, little research investigates both simultaneously. In a field study with intact teams, both cultural and demographic fit had independent effects on subsequent performance; however, “deeper” value fit effects were stronger than “surface” demographic fit. Analyses by demographic group suggest that person-group fit has the greatest impact for individuals whose demographic background puts them at risk for poorer outcomes, particularly for socioeconomic status.

I need you, you need me: a model of initiated task interdependence

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to address two gaps in the existing literature. The first is why some team members have peers depend on them for material, information, and support (referred to as initiated task interdependence) more so than do others, ceteris paribus. The second is the appropriateness of initiated interdependence given a team's composition.Design/methodology/approachIn an ex post facto field study, task interdependence in 267 members of 18 intact teams were examined. The teams worked on complex and inherently interdependent tasks in a high‐technology manufacturing organization.FindingsWhether team members perceived initiated task interdependence was explained by the degree to which members themselves depend on their peers (received interdependence), team members' belief in the value of teamwork, and team members' self‐efficacy for teamwork. As predicted, both collectivism and past job performance were associated with self‐efficacy for teamwork. The relationship between initiated interdependence and individual effectiveness was moderated by the team's collectivist orientation, such that team members were considered relatively effective by their peers when they were high in initiated task interdependence and when their team was composed of collectivists; or when they were low in initiated interdependence and when their team was composed of individualists.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough a one‐factor test suggests that common method bias is not an overriding concern in interpreting our findings, the possibility of common method bias inflating the associates tested cannot be rules out. Also, we cannot say with certainty that exogenous variables “caused” changes in endogenous variables.Practical implicationsStudy findings suggest ways to resolve a lack of task interdependence and the importance of team composition when considering peer performance ratings.Originality/valueThis paper offers a significant contribution to the literature on task interdependence and person‐group fit.

The Effects of Relational Demography and Person-Culture Fit on Group Process and Performance

The authors integrate two complementary streams of research on “fit” that document positive impacts of similarity and negative effects of dissimilarity. Fit with an organization’s culture typically focuses on similarity in values whereas relational demography examines similarity in demographic attributes. Although both streams emphasize fit and draw on similar underlying theories, little research investigates both simultaneously. In a field study with intact teams, both cultural and demographic fit had independent effects on subsequent performance; however, “deeper” value fit effects were stronger than “surface” demographic fit. Analyses by demographic group suggest that person-group fit has the greatest impact for individuals whose demographic background puts them at risk for poorer outcomes, particularly for socioeconomic status.

A multilevel investigation of the relationship between role ambiguity and role efficacy in sport

Abstract Objective To examine the relationship between role ambiguity and role efficacy within the context of sport teams from a multilevel perspective. Methods Secondary school rugby and field hockey players ( n =277) comprising 33 intact teams completed the Role Ambiguity Scale [Group Dyn. Theor. Res. Pract. 6 (2002) 229] at the beginning of a competitive season. One month later measures of role efficacy were also obtained. Multilevel models were examined in relation to the sport-specific contexts of offence and defence. Results and conclusions Role ambiguity accounted for 20.70% of the total variance in role efficacy on offence and 22.45% on defence. For both offensive and defensive models, role ambiguity was able to explain individual- and group-level variances in role efficacy. However, in both cases, the majority of variance was captured at the individual level. Results highlight the explanatory value of examining nested data using multilevel frameworks when examining cognition, affect, and behaviour in interdependent environments such as sport teams. Findings are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms through which role ambiguity and role efficacy might be related.

Pathways to informal leadership: The moderating role of gender on the relationship of individual differences and team member network centrality to informal leadership emergence

Despite extensive research on leadership, very little is known about the emergence of informal leaders in teams that have worked together over an extended period of time within “real” organizational contexts. These teams are increasingly composed of both men and women, making gender a potentially critical variable in the dynamics of informal leadership emergence. This study examines how gender moderates the relationship between individual characteristics and informal leadership emergence in the context of intact manufacturing teams. Whereas a high level of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and team member network centrality predicted informal leadership more for men than for women, a high level of general mental ability predicted informal leadership more for women than for men. The implications for gender and informal leadership in intact teams are discussed.

Achievement goal perspectives, perceptions of the motivational climate, and sportspersonship: individual and team effects

Abstract Objectives : Utilizing an interactionist approach, this study examined the main and interactive effects of the perceived motivational climate and goal perspectives on sportspersonship. Additionally, the perceived motivational climate was explored as a team level variable and multilevel modeling was used to investigate individual and group level effects. Method : 202 female club volleyball players from 25 intact teams completed the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire—2 ( Newton, Duda, & Yin, 2000: Journal of Sports Sciences , 18 , 275–290 ), the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire ( Duda, 1989: Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11 , 318–335 ), and the Multidimensional Sportspersonship Orientation Scale ( Vallerand, Briere, Blanchard, & Provencher, 1997: Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 19 , 197–206 ). Results : Two sportspersonship dimensions emerged for the female athletes, i.e. respect for the game and respect for the opponent. Task orientation was found to positively predict respect for opponents. A significant three-way interaction between task orientation, ego orientation and the task-involving climate emerged for respect for the game suggesting that the relationship between task and ego orientations and the degree of respect for the game was dependent upon the strength of the task-involving climate. At the team level, within-group interrater agreement indicated that shared perceptions of the motivational climate were apparent among the team. Hierarchical linear modeling procedures revealed that individual task orientation and team level perceptions of a task-involving climate positively predicted respect for the game. Conclusion : Discussion focuses on the impact of the motivational climate on athletic moral conduct at the individual and team level and the importance of promoting a task-involving climate with the aim to enhance aspects of sportspersonship in youth sport.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN WORK TEAMS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SELF‐EFFICACY AND GROUP IDENTIFICATION

The current study focused on intra‐group conflict by attempting to elucidate individual and situational factors underlying choices along two dimensions of conflict management patterns: engagement versus avoidance and constructive versus destructive. In the study, the role of two types of self‐efficacy (global and social) among group members was investigated, as was the sense of group identification in team dispute resolution preferences modes. Sixty‐seven members of volunteer community service communes in the Israeli Scouting youth movement, 48 females and 19 males, representing 13 intact teams, participated in the study. Self‐report structured questionnaires (previously used and adapted for this study) served as research instruments. Both global self‐efficacy and group identification independently predicted the conflict engagement‐destructive pattern of domination. Social self‐efficacy served as the sole predictor of the preference to manage intra‐team conflict by means of integrating—the engagement‐constructive mode. In contrast, the choice of compromising was also fostered by the joint contribution of social self‐efficacy and group‐identification, beyond the direct effect of social self‐efficacy. The study corroborates the assumption that conflict management patterns within an intact team are related to dispositional variables on the individual level, i.e., global and social self‐efficacy, and to the team‐related variable of group identification.

CONSEQUENCES OF FEELING DISSIMILAR FROM OTHERS IN A WORK TEAM

This study extended the current literature on group diversity by examining the moderating influence of perceived group openness to diversity on the relationships between perceived individual visible, informational, and value dissimilarity; individual task and relationship conflict; and work group involvement. A survey was administered to 129 public service employees who worked in intact teams. Results revealed that value dissimilarity had a positive association with task and relationship conflict and a negative association with work group involvement. Perceived group openness to diversity moderated the associations between visible and informational dissimilarity and work group involvement, and between value dissimilarity and task conflict. These results highlight the importance of managing differences by introducing norms promoting diversity and the involvement of all team members.

Problem-Solving Team Behaviors

This is among the first studies to develop a typology of performance-relevant team member behaviors from actual observations of intact teams (N = 94) completing a variety of problem-solving tasks. Through a critical incident analysis, behavioral observation scales (BOS) were developed using confirmatory factor analysis. The correlation between BOS and team performance was significant. The typology supports and adds to previous typologies of teamwork behavior. Subsequent cross-validation of the BOS involving 176 team members provided further support for the BOS developed. Next, we used our data to psychometrically evaluate Stevens and Campion’s hierarchical factor structure. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis provided support for Stevens and Campion’s model.

Understanding team innovation: The role of team processes and structures.

The present study focused on innovation of teams, examining the contributions of team interaction processes (exchanging information, learning, motivating, and negotiating) and structures (functional heterogeneity and frequency of meetings) to innovation. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (a) team structures will be positively related to team innovation, (b) team heterogeneity will be positively related to team interaction processes, (c) team interaction processes will be positively related to team innovation, and (d) team interaction processes will mediate the relationship between team heterogeneity and team innovation. Results from a sample of 48 intact teams in elementary and secondary schools supported the main hypotheses. These results imply that the development of mutual interaction processes is a crucial mechanism for translating team heterogeneity into innovation.

Belaboring the not-so-obvious: consensus, commitment, and strategy implementation speed and success

One of the accepted beliefs among strategic management researchers is that strategic decision consensus among decision-makers facilitates decision implementation speed and implementation success. Despite this belief, there has been little empirical research directly examining these relationships. Using hierarchical regression, this study examines the effects of strategic decision consensus and commitment on decision implementation speed and success. Results from a sample of 68 intact strategic decision-making teams in Southeastern United States hospitals support the normatively accepted ideal that decision consensus helps build decision commitment, which in turn positively affects implementation success. Contrary to our expectations, however, decision commitment serves to slow implementation speed. The implications of these results for consensus and implementation research are discussed.

Measuring internal customer satisfaction

Identifies two empirically derived measures of internal customer support used to assess team effectiveness from the perspective of the team’s internal customers. The measures, personal service and technical competence, are based on analysis of the responses of 465 individuals representing 150 internal customer teams. When compared, the expected (self) ratings of the members of internal intact work teams were more positive than those ratings actually attributed to them by their internal customers. The findings reveal members of work teams tend to over estimate the effectiveness of their team’s performance when compared with the ratings the same teams receive from their internal customers. The measurement of internal customer satisfaction is a tool that can be a useful aid for managers of service quality and their work teams to help them more accurately measure the effectiveness of their units.