Teams leading teams: Examining the role of leadership in multi-team systems

A major challenge of modern teams lies in the coordination of the efforts not just of individuals within a team, but also of teams whose efforts are ultimately entwined with those of other teams. Despite this fact, much of the research on work teams fails to consider the external dependencies that exist in organizational teams and instead focuses on internal or within team processes. Multi-Team Systems Theory is used as a theoretical framework for understanding teams-of-teams organizational forms (Multi-Team Systems; MTS's); and leadership teams are proposed as one remedy that enable MTS members to dedicate needed resources to intra-team activities while ensuring effective synchronization of between-team activities. Two functions of leader teams were identified: strategy development and coordination facilitation; and a model was developed delineating the effects of the two leader roles on multi-team cognitions, processes, and performance.^ Three hundred eighty-four undergraduate psychology and business students participated in a laboratory simulation that modeled an MTS; each MTS was comprised of three, two-member teams each performing distinct but interdependent components of an F-22 battle simulation task. Two roles of leader teams supported in the literature were manipulated through training in a 2 (strategy training vs. control) x 2 (coordination training vs. control) design. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and mediated regression analysis were used to test the study's hypotheses. ^ Results indicate that both training manipulations produced differences in the effectiveness of the intended form of leader behavior. The enhanced leader strategy training resulted in more accurate (but not more similar) MTS mental models, better inter-team coordination, and higher levels of multi-team (but not component team) performance. Moreover, mental model accuracy fully mediated the relationship between leader strategy and inter-team coordination; and inter-team coordination fully mediated the effect of leader strategy on multi-team performance. Leader coordination training led to better inter-team coordination, but not to higher levels of either team or multi-team performance. Mediated Input-Process-Output (I-P-O) relationships were not supported with leader coordination; rather, leader coordination facilitation and inter-team coordination uniquely contributed to component team and multi-team level performance. The implications of these findings and future research directions are also discussed. ^

The role of attitudes, subjective norms, attributions, and individualism-collectivism in managers' responses to bribery in organizations: The case of Ecuador

The goal of this study was twofold: (1) to introduce a model explaining how attitudes, subjective norms, internal and external attributions about bribery affect the way managers' deal with bribery in organizations, and (2) to clarify the role of the individualism-collectivism cultural dimension in managers' attributions of employees' behavior related to bribery. Twenty-six internal and external attributions related to bribery were identified through a series of structural interviews with 65 subject matter experts, and then evaluated by three hundred fifty-four (n = 354) Ecuadorian managers. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that attitudes and external attributions significantly predicted managers' intentions to discipline employees' who accepted a bribe, and that those with a collectivist orientation were more likely to make external attributions of bribery. Implications for the eradication of bribery in organizations are discussed. ^

The attribution of motives to organizational citizenship behaviors: The influence of personality, gender and ethnicity

A major area of research in the realm of Industrial/Organizational Psychology is the exploration of specific job performance behaviors such as organizational citizenship behaviors (GCBs). However, there is a dearth of research examining how peers react to OCBs and the performers of such behaviors. Bolino noted that determining how people attribute motives to these OCBs is an important yet unanswered question in industrial/organizational psychology. The present study attempted to provide insight on what observer (or rater) traits affect the motives attributed to organizational citizenship behaviors. In particular, the effects of personality traits such as the Big Five personality factors, self-monitoring, individualism-collectivism, negative affectivity and identity factors such as cultural mistrust, ethnic orientation, and perceived similarity were examined. A within-subjects survey design was used to collect data on six hypothetical organizational citizenship behaviors from a sample of 369 participants. The gender and ethnicity of the individuals performing the hypothetical organizational citizenship behaviors were manipulated (i.e., male or female; African-American, Hispanic, or White). ^ Results indicated that both similarity (t(368) = 5.13; p .01) and personality factors (R2 = .06 for genuine motives and R2 = .05 for self-serving motives) had an effect on which motive (genuine or self-serving) was attributed to organizational citizenship behaviors. Support was found for an interaction between similarity and the observer's personality trait of conscientiousness when attributing genuine motives to organizational citizenship behaviors. Finally, specific organizational citizenship behaviors such as altruism were linked to genuine motives while OCBs like conscientiousness, sportsmanship, and civic virtue were associated with self-serving motives. ^

Self-other rating discrepancy and personality antecedents

This study explored individual difference factors to help explain the discrepancy that has been found to exist between self and other ratings in prior research. Particularly, personality characteristics of the self-rater were researched in the current study as a potential antecedent for self-other rating agreement. Self, peer, and supervisor ratings were provided for global performance as well as five competencies specific to the organization being examined. Four rating tendency categories, over-raters, under-raters, in-agreement (good), and in-agreement (poor), established in research by Atwater and Yammarino were used as the basis of the current research. The sample for rating comparisons within the current study consisted of 283 self and supervisor dyads and 275 for self and peer dyads from a large financial organization. Measures included a custom multi-rater performance instrument and the personality survey instrument, ASSESS, which measures 20 specific personality characteristics. MANCOVAs were then performed on this data to examine if specific personality characteristics significantly distinguished the four rating tendency groups. Examination of all personality dimensions and overall performance uncovered significant findings among rating groups for self-supervisor rating comparisons but not for self-peer rating comparisons. Examination of specific personality dimensions for self-supervisory ratings group comparisons and overall performance showed Detail Interest to be an important characteristic among the hypothesized variables. For self-supervisor rating comparisons and specific competencies, support was found for the hypothesized personality dimension of Fact-based Thinking which distinguished the four rating groups for the competency, Builds Relationships. For both self-supervisor and self-peer rating comparisons, the competencies, Builds Relationships and Leads in a Learning Environment, were found to have significant relationship with several personality characteristics, however, these relationships were not consistent with the hypotheses in the current study. Several unhypothesized personality dimensions were also found to distinguish rating groups for both self-supervisor and self-peer comparisons on overall performance and various competencies. Results of the current study hold implications for the training and development session that occur after a 360-degree evaluation process. Particularly, it is suggested that feedback sessions may be designed according to particular rating tendencies to maximize the interpretation, acceptance and use of evaluation information. ^

Individual differences influencing context effects in responding to items assessing conscientiousness in a personality test

Context effects in a personality scale were examined by determining if conscientiousness scale (C) scores were significantly different when administered alone vs. part of a Five Factor Model inventory (Big5). The effectiveness of individual difference variables (IDVs) as predictors of the context effect was also examined. The experiment compared subjects who completed the full Big5 once and the C alone once (Big5/C or C/Big5) to subjects who complete either the Big5 inventory twice (Big5/Big5) or the C twice (C/C). No significant differences were found. When Big5/C and C/Big5 groups were combined, IDVs were tested, and only the field dependence variable (R2 = .06) was found to significantly predict the context effect. However, the small R2 minimized concerns of context effects in Big5 inventories. ^

Development of a personality profile of a firefighter

This study investigated the differences in personality, consistent with the vocational theory of personality as proposed by Holland (1997), for a modern day firefighter. This study also investigates the relationships between personality characteristics and job duties performed by firefighters and firefighter-paramedics. Archival data from employees (N = 98) of a Southeastern Florida fire department who completed the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), Hogan Development Survey (HDS) and Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI), as well as a self-report questionnaire on variety proneness (boredom), job satisfaction, and affective well-being data were analyzed. The scores of the firefighters on the HPI, HDS, and MVPI were used as predictive data, and criterion data used in this study were self-report satisfaction data on job involvement, variety proneness (boredom), and affective well-being. In addition, criterion data on performance were obtained from the employment histories of the participants, and were correlated with the personality scale scores to determine if personality is predictive of aspects of performance. ^ Participants in this study varied with respect to the type of firefighter duties required from them on their jobs. The participants were categorized into three duty classifications: Group 1 (G1) are the firefighters hired before 1990 and are only certified as firefighters; Group 2 (G2) are the firefighters hired before 1990 who became paramedics at some point after employment and after fire college training; and Group 3 (G3) are the firefighters hired after 1990 who were trained as paramedics in the fire college and who were aware of the paramedic requirement at time of application or were already trained as paramedics at the time of application. From the research reviewed and presented in this paper, hypotheses were generated about differences between the personality types of firefighter groups G1 and G2 versus G3, in accordance with Holland's theories. In addition, it was hypothesized that personality will predict outcomes of satisfaction and performance. ^ Results found that job satisfaction was not found to be statistically different among the groups. However, the groups differed significantly on 5 of the predictive instrument scales, and personality was found to be a predictor of limited performance data. ^

The influence of gender and ethnic diversity on team effectiveness

Organizations are becoming increasingly diverse as a growing number of women and ethnic minorities enter the workforce. Understanding the influence of diversity is particularly important for organizations that rely on team-based work structures, where individuals must engage in face-to-face interactions more frequently than in other organizational settings. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of gender and ethnic diversity on team member interactions when performing a highly interdependent task that is both cognitively and behaviorally challenging. Participants were composed of 264 undergraduate students who enrolled in psychology courses at Florida International University and formed 66, 4-person teams. Teams participated in a low fidelity F-22 flight simulation consisting of two aircraft that had to interact in order to be successful. A 2 x 2 design was utilized in which the gender and ethnicity composition of each team was manipulated to form four experimental conditions (same gender/same ethnicity, same gender/mixed ethnicity, mixed gender/same ethnicity, mixed gender/mixed ethnicity). Both ethnic and gender homogeneity in teams resulted in increased interpersonal cohesion. Moreover, coordination fully mediated the relationship between interpersonal cohesion and team performance. Higher levels of interpersonal cohesion enhanced coordination between team members, which ultimately improved performance. Implications of these findings are discussed, as are limitations of the study and suggestions for future research. ^

Team Primacy Concept-based employee evaluation and job performance

This qualitative case study explored how employees learn from Team Primacy Concept (TPC)-based employee evaluation and how they apply the knowledge in their job performance. Kolb's experiential learning model (1974) served as a conceptual framework for the study to reveal the process of how employees learn from TPC evaluation, namely, how they experience, reflect, conceptualize and act on performance feedback. TPC based evaluation is a form of multirater evaluation that consists of three components: self-feedback, supervisor's feedback, and peer feedback. The distinctive characteristic of TPC based evaluation is the team evaluation component during which the employee's professional performance is discussed by one's peers in a face-to-face team setting, while other forms of multirater evaluation are usually conducted in a confidential and anonymous manner.^ Case study formed the methodological framework. The case was the Southeastern Virginia (SEVA) region of the Institute for Family Centered Services, and the participants were eight employees of the SEVA region. Findings showed that the evaluation process was anxiety producing for employees, especially the process of peer evaluation in a team setting. Preparation was found to be an important phase of TPC evaluation. Overall, the positive feedback delivered in a team setting made team members feel acknowledged. The study participants felt that honesty in providing feedback and openness to hearing challenges were significant prerequisites to the TPC evaluation process. Further, in the planning phase, employees strove to develop goals for themselves that were meaningful. Also, the catalyst for feedback implementation appeared to stem from one's accountability to self and to the client or community. Generally, the participants identified a number of performance improvement goals that they attained during their employment with IFCS, which were supported by their developmental plans.^ In conclusion, the study identified the process by which employees learned from TPC-based employee evaluation and the ways in which they used the knowledge to improve their job performance. Specifically, the study examined how participants felt and what they thought about TPC-based feedback, in what ways they reflected and made meaning of the feedback, and how they used the feedback to improve their job performance.^

Adaptation in knowledge-based teams: An examination of team composition, leader sensegiving, and cognitive, behavioral, and motivational mechanisms

Organizations are increasingly relying on teams to do the work that has traditionally been done by individuals. At the same time, the environments in which these organizations and teams operate have been becoming progressively more complex and uncertain. These trends raise important questions about the factors that enable teams to adapt. In response to these questions, the current study sought to identify the cognitive, behavioral, and motivational processes and emergent states that promote a team's adaptation to unforeseen changes and novel events, and the team compositional characteristics and leadership processes that enabled these processes and emergent states. Two hundred twenty two undergraduate students from a large Southeastern University composed 74 3-person teams, and participated in a computerized decision-making simulation where each team formed the governing body (i.e., Mayor's cabinet) for two separate simulated cities, and made strategic decisions about city operations. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three roles, distributing expertise and creating mutual interdependence. External team leader sensegiving was manipulated through video recorded communications from an external team leader. Results indicate that team cognitive ability, achievement striving, and psychological collectivism, as well as external team leader sensegiving, were all related to the similarity and quality of team members' strategy-focused mental models (cognitive emergent states), and to the amount of information sharing among members (behavioral process). In turn, teams with more similar and higher quality mental models, and who shared greater levels of information, were found to have a greater ability to react and adapt to environmental changes, and to have greater levels of decision-making effectiveness. Results indicate a pattern of relationships consistent with hypotheses, and have important implications for organizations and knowledge-based teams charged with management responsibilities. Organizations should staff teams with the compositional characteristics that enable the development of similar and high quality mental models, and that promote information sharing among teammates. Similarly, organizations which train and develop leaders to engage in sensegiving behaviors enable team adaptability and promote enhanced decision-making effectiveness when faced with unforeseen changes and novel situations.

The impact of bandwidth in structured interviewing and criterion stability in predicting and assessing manager performance across transition and maintenance stages

The current study examined the role of three important components in the use of structured employment interviewing in performance prediction: construct bandwidth, observed communication skill, and the stability/dynamicity of performance criteria over time. A matched sample of 242 hospitality managers was derived from a field data set provided by a large hospitality management organization. Interview data and two years of performance appraisal data were provided. Bandwidth analysis demonstrated only minimal differences in prediction between matched predictor-criterion pairs compared with predictor to overall aggregate ratings (unmatched). The communication skill analysis revealed that this interviewer rated observation significantly predicted a number of the individual performance dimensions as well as overall performance over time. Of the five interview items, the strongest overall predictor of performance was interviewer rated communication skill. The stability/dynamicity analyses demonstrated the performance criteria to be generally stable over the two year period examined, which provides support for the long held notion that performance criteria is stabile over time. However, there were two exceptions. The interview dimension customer service orientation had shifting relationships over time with four of the criteria over the two year period. The performance criteria employee development also demonstrated some instability in its relationships with predictors. Thus, some evidence of dynamicity in performance criteria was revealed. Interestingly, both of the most noteworthy findings in the study involved items that were rated differently than the others in the study. The rated interview item communication skill and the rated performance criteria client satisfaction were ratings that involved a more direct level of observation. Additional analyses also revealed evidence of a general factor of performance. These two themes are more fully covered in the discussion.

Emotional intelligence and leadership in organizations: A meta-analytic test of process mechanisms

The present study—employing psychometric meta-analysis of 92 independent studies with sample sizes ranging from 26 to 322 leaders—examined the relationship between EI and leadership effectiveness. Overall, the results supported a linkage between leader EI and effectiveness that was moderate in nature (ρ = .25). In addition, the positive manifold of the effect sizes presented in this study, ranging from .10 to .44, indicate that emotional intelligence has meaningful relations with myriad leadership outcomes including effectiveness, transformational leadership, LMX, follower job satisfaction, and others. Furthermore, this paper examined potential process mechanisms that may account for the EI-leadership effectiveness relationship and showed that both transformational leadership and LMX partially mediate this relationship. However, while the predictive validities of EI were moderate in nature, path analysis and hierarchical regression suggests that EI contributes less than or equal to 1% of explained variance in leadership effectiveness once personality and intelligence are accounted for. ^

Assessing the influence of organizational personality, applicants' need motivation, expectancy beliefs, and person-organization fit on applicant attraction

This research explored the thesis that organizational personality is related to applicants’ attraction to an organization through a process which involves need motivation, expectancy beliefs, and applicants’ perceptions of person-organization fit. Organizational personality may be defined as a collection of trait-like characteristics that individuals use to describe organizational practices, policies, values, and culture. Specifically, this research investigated the hypothesis that organizational personality information is useful to applicants because it helps individuals to determine their perceptions of fit. A sample of students (N = 198) and working adults (N = 198) participated in an online experiment. Findings indicated that individuals’ beliefs about the instrumentality of desirable work related outcomes are essential to determining their perceptions of fit and organizational attraction. Additionally, organizational personality perceptions interacted with need motivation to affect perceptions of fit and organizational attraction. For instance, perceptions of fit mediated the influence of the interaction between need for achievement and perceptions of innovativeness on organizational attraction. The interaction of need motivation and perceptions of organizational personality helped individuals to better determine their perceptions of fit and subsequent attraction toward organizations.^

Ageism in the workplace: Examining the influence of age conceptualization on the advancement opportunities of older workers

This study examined variables that may influence managers' perceptions of the need for and benefits of training and promoting older workers. Age conceptualization, worker gender, tender-mindedness, openness to values, and emotional intelligence were predicted to affect the relationship between worker age and the probability and perceived benefits of training and promoting older workers. Approximately 500 working professionals read one of four training and promotion vignettes and provided training probability ratings, training benefits ratings, promotion probability ratings, and promotion benefits ratings in order to test twenty-four hypotheses. Results provided evidence that both worker age and the way in which age was conceptualized affected the extent to which workers were recommended for training as well as the perceived benefits of training workers. It was also found that worker age and the way in which age was conceptualized affected the extent to which workers were recommended for promotions and the perceived benefits of doing so. Of the individual characteristics studied, openness to values was found to act as a moderator of the relationship between age conceptualization and the extent to which older workers were recommended for a promotion and the relationship between age conceptualization and the perceived benefits of promoting older workers. Findings from this study suggest that organizations that wish to protect older workers from discrimination should make decision-makers aware of the influence of age conceptualizations on the salience of older worker stereotypes. By being cognizant of individual raters' levels of the personality characteristics examined in this study, organizations can create decision-making teams that are not only representative in terms of demographic characteristics (i.e. race, gender, age, etc.) but also diverse in terms of personality composition. Additionally, organizations that wish to decrease discrimination against older workers should take care to create guidelines and procedures for training and promotion decisions that systematically reduce the opportunities for older worker stereotypes to influence outcomes. ^

Relative importance of false positives in the selection process

This study investigated the role of contextual factors in personnel selection. Specifically, I explored if specific job factors such as the wage, training, available applicant pool and security concerns around a job, influenced personnel decisions. Additionally, I explored if the individual differences of decision makers played a role in how the previously mentioned job factors affected their decisions. A policy-capturing methodology was employed to determine the weight participants place on the job factors when selecting candidates for different jobs. Regression and correlational analyses were computed with the beta weights obtained from individual regression analyses. The results obtained from the two samples (student and general population) revealed that specific job characteristics did indeed influence personnel decisions. Participants were more concerned with making mistakes and thus less likely to accept candidates when selecting candidates for jobs having high salary and/or high training requirements.

Time orientation in organizations: Polychronicity and multitasking

This dissertation consists of four studies examining two constructs related to time orientation in organizations: polychronicity and multitasking. The first study investigates the internal structure of polychronicity and its external correlates in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 732). Results converge to support a one-factor model and finds measures of polychronicity to be significantly related to extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience. The second study quantitatively reviews the existing research examining the relationship between polychronicity and the Big Five factors of personality. Results reveal a significant relationship between extraversion and openness to experience across studies. Studies three and four examine the usefulness of multitasking ability in the prediction of work related criteria using two organizational samples (N = 175 and 119, respectively). Multitasking ability demonstrated predictive validity, however the incremental validity over that of traditional predictors (i.e., cognitive ability and the Big Five factors of personality) was minimal. The relationships between multitasking ability, polychronicity, and other individual differences were also investigated. Polychronicity and multitasking ability proved to be distinct constructs demonstrating differential relationships with cognitive ability, personality, and performance. Results provided support for multitasking performance as a mediator in the relationship between multitasking ability and overall job performance. Additionally, polychronicity moderated the relationship between multitasking ability and both ratings of multitasking performance and overall job performance in Study four. Clarification of the factor structure of polychronicity and its correlates will facilitate future research in the time orientation literature. Results from two organizational samples point to work related measures of multitasking ability as a worthwhile tool for predicting the performance of job applicants.