Team Climate Inventory Research Articles

Assessing team climate by qualitative and quantitative approaches

This study used the team climate inventory (TCI) to create awareness of the multidimensional nature of team climate, to diagnose the climate of teams, and to present specific actions to improve team climate. Management undergraduates from 81, four‐person teams completed the TCI and an open‐ended question at week 3 and week 12 of their team projects. Quantitative results showed positive team climates at both administrations; however, only four of 13 sub‐scales showed small, significant improvements at week 12. Qualitative data analysis revealed 11 themes that enrich our understanding of factors contributing to positive team climate development. The study showed that the TCI is a useful tool in assessing team climate, sensitizing team members to the nature of team climate, and identifying actions to improve team climate in the context of the learning organization.

Measuring person‐team fit: development and validation of the team selection inventory

Further to the development of the team climate inventory (TCI), a multidimensional team‐level measure of team‐working style, this paper reports the development and psychometric validation of the team selection inventory (TSI), an individual‐level version of the TCI for use in selection. The importance of examining selection at both person‐job and person‐team levels of analysis is discussed, the team climate literature briefly reviewed, and the need advocated for methods and measures to evaluate person‐team fit. The TSI was developed by changing the context of the TCI, from asking respondents about the actual climate of their existing work‐team, to what their preferred or ideal team‐working climate would be. Having developed items for the TSI through this change of context, six studies (total n=1,029) were carried out over a two‐year period to establish the underlying psychometric properties of this new measure. This paper reports the results pertaining to TSI factor structure, the newly developed social desirability scale, internal reliability, test‐retest reliability, and construct validity of the TSI compared with the NEO PI‐R and 16PF Version 5. Overall, the findings of these studies revealed acceptable levels of reliability and validity, showing promise for the TSI as an individual‐level measure of team climate preference for selection and development purposes in industrial, work and organizational psychology and human resource management. In conclusion, potential uses for the TSI in team selection and development are discussed.

Leadership and Climate for Innovation in Teams

The use of teamworking is common in many organizations. More or less self-directed teams are organized, often with the aim to achieve continuous improvements at work beyond the daily activities. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relation between leader behaviour and team climate for innovation in teams. The Team Climate Inventory devised by Anderson and West and Ekvall and Arvonen’s leadership questionnaire were used to capture the leadership pattern and the team processes characterizing a team climate for innovation in 14 manufacturing teams (N1/4 98). The results indicate a positive relation between a leadership style that combines employee-and change-orientation and a team climate for innovation as a whole. However, innovative team processes such as participation and clarity of objectives were more associated with team membership than leadership in this setting.

A Review of Instruments Assessing Creative and Innovative Environments Within Organizations

This article provides a review of the available instruments for measuring work environments conducive to creativity and innovation. The following instruments were assessed: KEYS: Assessing the Climate for Creativity, Creative Climate Questionnaire, Situational Outlook Questionnaire, Team Climate Inventory, and Siegel Scale of Support for Innovation. Each instrument was described, including details about the research on the measure's norms, factor structure, reliability, and validity. It was concluded that two of the instruments are of acceptable scientific quality and are well documented in peer-reviewed literature. Too little documentation exists for the other three instruments.

The typology of self‐managed teams based upon team climate: examining stability and change in typologies

Several studies have reported on psychometric and factor‐analytic work related to the team climate inventory (TCI), including its four scales and 13 subscales. This exploratory study reports on the first research to examine team typologies based on team climate scores. The TCI was administered twice to 84 and 63 self‐managed teams of management undergraduates completing graded term projects. Following each TCI administration, a two‐stage clustering procedure (Ward’s and K‐means) was used to determine the number and team composition of clusters. Clusters were then plotted on the multidimensional space (INDSCAL) and a discriminant analysis performed to determine how well cluster membership was predicted using scores from the 13 TCI subscales. At the first TCI administration, three weeks into the term projects, the study obtained three team clusters on a two‐dimensional space. Near the end of the term projects, the study found two team clusters on a two‐dimensional space. Implications are presented for team building, interventions to improve team climate and management training.

Clinical team functioning and IT innovation: a study of the diffusion of a point-of-care online evidence system.

To investigate the association between clinical team functioning and diffusion (awareness, use, and impact) of a 24-hour online evidence retrieval system. To examine the relationships between clinical team characteristics and the adoption of the online evidence system. 18 clinical teams, consisting of 180 clinicians from three Australian hospitals, were identified and studied. Teams were categorized as small (<or= 15 members) or large (> 15). Clinical team functioning was assessed using the Team Climate Inventory (TCI). Awareness, use, and impact of an online evidence retrieval system were measured using a self-administered questionnaire. The relationships between TCI scores and awareness, use, and impact were examined using t-tests and one-way ANOVAs. Chi square analyses were used to examine differences between small and large teams. RESULTS were interpreted within a diffusion of innovations framework. Clinical team functioning was not related to awareness or use of the online evidence retrieval system. However, clinical team functioning was significantly associated with the impact of online evidence in terms of reported experience of improved patient care following system use. Clinicians in small teams (<or= 15 members) had higher levels of system awareness compared to large (> 15) teams. Team functioning had the greatest impact on the fourth stage of innovation diffusion, the effective use of online evidence for clinical care. This supports Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory, to the effect that different types of communication about an innovation are important at different stages in the diffusion process. Members of small teams were more aware of the system than members of large teams. Team functioning is amenable to improvement through interventions. The findings suggest that the role of team climate in the diffusion of information systems is a promising area for future research.

Team self‐assessment: problem solving for small workgroups

The “team self‐assessment” is introduced here as an effective mechanism for front‐line supervisors to develop new procedures and process improvements directed at accomplishing strategic, as well as tactical, organizational objectives. It is shown in a handful of organizational environments to be an effective tool for encouraging employee participation in instigating creative ideas and reengineered process approaches. It can be used to address seemingly intractable process issues and repeated errors and is specifically constructed for employment by small workgroups and employee teams with direct responsibility for day‐to‐day line and staff tasks. The team self‐assessment also is shown to contain a measure of consistency with the theoretical and practical principles of the control self‐assessment, Belbin’sTM team roles, and Anderson and West’s team climate Inventory.

Team Climate Inventory with a merged organization.

The present study examines the team climate for innovation in work teams within a newly merged organization. Four teams working at a regional head office of a Social Insurance organization answered the Team Climate Inventory. The results were compared to those of a study by Agrell and Gustafson of more stable teams. The comparison showed that participative safety and support for innovation were rated lower and that vision was rated higher in the newly merged teams. The 38-item original inventory was used and based on the results, a 1999 proposed shortened version of 14 items by Kivimäki and Elovainio was compared with the original one. Analysis indicated that the short version can be a valid alternative to the original version but that further testing of the short version is needed.

Research note

Innovation has long been an area of interest to social scientists, and particularly to psychologists working in organisational settings. The team climate inventory (TCI) is a facet‐specific measure of team climate for innovation that provides a picture of the level and quality of teamwork in a unit using a series of Likert scales. This paper describes its Italian validation in 585 working group members employed in health‐related and other contexts. The data were evaluated by means of factorial analysis (including an analysis of the internal consistency of the scales) and Pearson’s product moment correlations. The results show the internal consistency of the scales and the satisfactory factorial structure of the inventory, despite some variations in the factorial structure mainly due to cultural differences and the specific nature of Italian organisational systems.

A Confirmatory Factor-Analytic and Psychometric Examination of the Team Climate Inventory

This study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of the 38-item Team Climate Inventory and the 14-item short version using a sample of 72 four-person teams of management undergraduates in a Canadian university. The confirmatory factor analyses supported the five-factor correlated model that questions the validity of the original four-factor model. The confirmatory factor analyses also supported the short version. Team Climate Inventory scale and subscale scores showed no significant differences when the Team Climate Inventory was administered at two times, separated by 9 weeks, during the team projects. The Team Climate Inventory shows promise as a multidimensional measure of the team climate construct in both student and employee teams. Finally, the short version provides a useful measure when administration time is limited.

The impact of outdoor management development (OMD) programmes

This study investigated the impact of an outdoor management development (OMD) programme for teambuilding skills. A total of 26 first line recruitment managers attended and were asked to complete three questionnaires: (pre and post attendance) team climate inventory (TCI); occupational motivation questionnaire (OMQ); and the pressure management indicator (PMI). Of the participants, 12 (control group) were asked to complete the questionnaires one month prior to the course. Three of the four main TCI scales showed no improvement after the course. There was an increase in the post‐group scores for the achievement/development and stimulation scales of the occupational motivation questionnaire. However, the PMI results indicated that as many as 50 per cent of the participants were experiencing high levels of pressure and reported low levels of mental wellbeing pre and post attendance. It was concluded that a greater impact could be achieved if the participants were not over‐pressured and/or not experiencing low levels of mental wellbeing.

It's what you do and the way that you do it: Team task, team size, and innovation-related group processes

This article describes a study of the relationships between team inputs (task type and team size) and team processes in 87 cross industry Portuguese teams, some of which had high and some low requirements to innovate. Team processes were measured using the Team Climate Inventory (TCI), which focuses on clarity of and commitment to team objectives, levels of participation, support for innovation, and quality emphases. Three hypotheses were tested. The first proposed that teams carrying out tasks with a high innovation requirement would have high scores on a measure of team processes. This was supported insofar as such teams reported higher levels of participation and support for innovation. The second hypothesis proposed that large teams would have poorer team processes. This hypothesis was confirmed. The third hypothesis concerned the interaction between size and innovation. The results suggested that large teams operating under a relatively high pressure to innovate have poorer team processes than large teams that do not have a high requirement to innovate.

A short version of the Team Climate Inventory: Development and psychometric properties

A short 14‐item version of the Team Climate Inventory (TCI; Anderson &amp; West, 1994) was developed and tested by using two Finnish samples of social and health care personnel (N = 1494 and N = 771). The results of LISREL and other analyses provided evidence of the four‐factor structure of the short form, as well as of the internal homogeneity, reliability and normality of its scales across the two samples. Compared to the original TCI, an acceptable item coverage and predictive validity of the shortened version was demonstrated.

Analysis of teamwork in an NHS community trust: an empirical study

The following paper describes the results of an empirical investigation into four different types of teamworking within an inner-city National Health Service (NHS) community trust in the UK. The four kinds of team were: (1) single-disciplinary (e.g. district nursing teams, health visiting teams); (2) multidisciplinary (a group of professionals working within a clinic or health centre); (3) management (e.g. planning and development teams); and (4) primary health care (a group of health professionals and support staff arranged around a general practice or set of practices). The present study involved a survey of 259 members of 30 teams. Nineteen of the teams were multidisciplinary clinic or health centre teams. Six of the teams were primary health care teams, two were single-disciplinary teams, and three were NHS management teams. Team members were surveyed during team building workshops with the Team Climate Inventory (TCI: Anderson & West, 1994) which measured team climate on four levels: participative safety; innovation; task orientation; and team vision. A one-way analysis of variance of the data collected from each of the 30 teams found statistically significant differences on two out of the four factors of team functioning. The present study uncovered similar findings to those obtained by West & Poulton (1997). The paper discusses the results in light of the UK government's White Paper on the National Health Service The New NHS: Modern, Dependable (Department of Health, 1997) and offers recommendations for resolving difficulties in primary health care teamwork.

Practice development units: a study of teamwork.

In this report of a study using the Team Climate Inventory (TCI) tool, the researchers explain how the tool can be used in preparation for creating a practice development unit (PDU). The TCI provides a picture of the level and quality of teamwork in a unit using a series of Likert scales. The ward in this study was found to lack the necessary level of teamwork for successful PDU development and the researchers show how this information shaped trust plans. They recommend that units contemplating PDU accreditation should assess their level of teamwork prior to proceeding with bids.

Measuring climate for work group innovation: development and validation of the team climate inventory

This paper reports the development and psychometric validation of a multi-dimensional measure of facet-specific climate for innovation within groups at work: the Team Climate Inventory (TCI). Brief reviews of the organizational climate and work group innovation literatures are presented initially, and the need for measures of facet-specific climate at the level of the proximal work group asserted. The four-factor theory of facet-specific climate for innovation, which was derived from these reviews, is described, and the procedures used to operationalize this model into the original version measure described. Data attesting to underlying factor structure, internal homogeneity, predictive validity and factor replicability across groups of the summarized measure are presented. An initial sample of 155 individuals from 27 hospital management teams provided data for the exploratory factor analysis of this measure. Responses from 121 further groups in four occupations (35 primary health care teams, 42 social services teams, 20 psychiatric teams and 24 oil company teams; total N=971) were used to apply confirmatory factor analysis techniques. This five-factor, 38-item summarized version demonstrates robust psychometric properties, with acceptable levels of reliability and validity. Potential applications of this measure are described and the implication of these findings for the measurement of proximal work group climate are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Measuring climate for work group innovation: development and validation of the team climate inventory

Summary This paper reports the development and psychometric validation of a multi-dimensional measure of facet-specific climate for innovation within groups at work: the Team Climate Inventory (TCI). Brief reviews of the organizational climate and work group innovation literatures are presented initially, and the need for measures of facet-specific climate at the level of the proximal work group asserted. The four-factor theory of facet-specific climate for innovation, which was derived from these reviews, is described, and the procedures used to operationalize this model into the original version measure described. Data attesting to underlying factor structure, internal homogeneity, predictive validity and factor replicability across groups of the summarized measure are presented. An initial sample of 155 individuals from 27 hospital management teams provided data for the exploratory factor analysis of this measure. Responses from 121 further groups in four occupations (35 primary health care teams, 42 social services teams, 20 psychiatric teams and 24 oil company teams; total Na 971) were used to apply confirmatory factor analysis techniques. This five-factor, 38-item summarized version demonstrates robust psychometric properties, with acceptable levels of reliability and validity. Potential applications of this measure are described and the implication of these findings for the measurement of proximal work group climate are discussed. #1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Team Climate Inventory (TCI)—four or five factors? Testing the structure of TCI in samples of low and high complexity jobs

Two alternative versions of the Team Climate Inventory (TCI; Anderson &amp; West, 1994), consisting of either four or five factors, have been introduced by innovation researchers. This study compared the psychometric properties of these two versions by using data obtained from a Finnish sample of 2 265 local government employees. Exploratory factor analysis of the entire sample reproduced both the four‐ and five‐factor versions with good internal consistencies. When a distinction was made between samples with low and high job complexity, significant differences between the four‐ and five‐factor versions emerged. Exploratory factor analysis of the sample with low job complexity suggested that both factor versions obtained clear and interpretable structures. However, only the five‐factor version obtained a clear factor structure in the sample of high job complexity. Further LISREL confirmatory factor analyses of both samples suggested that the five‐factor structure provided significantly better fit to the data than the four‐factor version. In conclusion, the five‐factor version of the TCI, including subscales of vision, participative safety, task orientation, support for innovation and interaction frequency, is preferred to the four‐factor version because it is more structurally intact and less likely to be affected by job complexity.

The team climate inventory: Development of the tci and its applications in teambuilding for innovativeness

This article describes the development and application of a measure of group processes and climate for innovation–the Team Climate Inventory. It focuses on shared objectives or vision; group participation and safety; team support for innovation; and the group's task orientation. Two case studies of diagnostic interventions, employing the Team Climate Inventory, are described.

The Team Climate Inventory (TCI) and group innovation: A psychometric test on a Swedish sample of work groups

The Team Climate Inventory (Anderson &amp; West, 1994) was translated into Swedish and administered to a total of 16 work teams in different types of private enterprises. Independent observers rated each group's production in terms of innovativeness, quantity and quality of production. An item analysis indicated that all items should be retained in the questionnaire and further analyses yielded high overall coefficients for reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .95) and acceptable validity (r = .48). A factor analysis was also successful in extracting the four original factors, together accounting for 54 per cent of the total variance. It is concluded that the Swedish version of the Team Climate Inventory is a useful instrument to measure group climate dimensions that may facilitate work teams' innovative capacity. Differences in general work climate between Sweden and the United Kingdom are discussed.