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It is a popular assumption that women and racial minorities who are numeric minorities in high-prestige work groups will advocate for a demographically similar other as a potential work group [...]

The role of social exchange relationships with fellow team members and a supervisor in individual creativity in work groups is investigated. Results show that team-member exchange (TMX) quality's impact on self-efficacy and creativity is augmented by TMX differentiation. The mediating role of self-efficacy is examined.

The influence of cultural diversity on work groups through process gains and losses is investigated. Findings suggest that process losses result from cultural diversity because of reduced social integration and task conflict. Implications for managing multicultural work groups are also discussed.

We used social information processing theory to examine the effect of work-family conflict (WFC) at the work group level on individuals' experience of WFC. Consistent with hypotheses, results suggest that WFC at the work group level influences individual WFC over and above the shared work environment and job demands. It was also observed that work group support and demographic dissimilarity moderate this relationship. Moderator analyses suggest that work group social support buffers WFC for individuals but is also associated with a stronger effect of work group WFC on individuals' WFC. Moreover, the work group effect on individuals' WFC was shown to be stronger for individuals who were demographically dissimilar to the work group in terms of sex and number of dependents. The interpretations and implications of these findings are discussed. Keywords: work--family conflict, work groups, social support, similarity, social information processing DOI: 10.1037/a0017885

Major theories of team effectiveness position emergent collective cognitive processes as central drivers of team performance. We meta-analytically cumulated 231 correlations culled from 65 independent studies of team cognition and its relations to teamwork processes, motivational states, and performance outcomes. We examined both broad relationships among cognition, behavior, motivation, and performance, as well as 3 underpinnings of team cognition as potential moderators of these relationships. Findings reveal there is indeed a cognitive foundation to teamwork; team cognition has strong positive relationships to team behavioral process, motivational states, and team performance. Meta-analytic regressions further indicate that team cognition explains significant incremental variance in team performance after the effects of behavioral and motivational dynamics have been controlled. The nature of emergence, form of cognition, and content of cognition moderate relationships among cognition, process, and performance, as do task interdependence and team type. Taken together, these findings not only cumulate extant research on team cognition but also provide a new interpretation of the impact of underlying dimensions of cognition as a way to frame and extend future research. Keywords: team cognition, mental model, transactive memory, shared cognition, meta-analysis DOI: 10.1037/a0017328

Trust between coworkers is critical to the success of organizations and teams. This is especially true for those who are geographically dispersed and who must interact virtually. The authors studied the factors related to the development of trust between pairs of coworkers (dyads) in a new product development team. Some of the members were colocated, and others worked virtually. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, the authors found reciprocal effects for propensity to trust and trust in dyads. They found that propensity has greater influence on trust for virtual dyads and that trust has less influence on organizational citizenship when partners are virtual. Trustworthiness was shown to fully mediate the influence of trusting predisposition on trust. Keywords: trust, OCB, dyadic model, bidirectional effect, actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) DOI: 10.1037/a0017102

Two field studies tested and extended the group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2000, 2003) by examining the model with regard to employee extrarole behavior. Consistent with the group engagement model's predictions, results of these studies indicate that the social identities employees form around their work groups and their organizations are strongly related to whether employees engage in extrarole behaviors. Moreover, the studies demonstrated that social identity explains the impact of other factors that have previously been linked to extrarole behavior. In particular, the findings indicate that social identity mediates the effect of procedural justice judgments and economic outcomes on supervisor ratings of extrarole behavior. Overall, these studies provide compelling indication that social identity is an important determinant of behavior within work organizations and provide strong support for the application of the group engagement model in organizational settings. Keywords: social identity, procedural justice, economic outcomes, extrarole behavior

Large collectives (e.g., organizations, political parties, nations) are seldom unitary players. Rather, they consist of different subgroups that often have conflicting interests. Nonetheless, negotiation research consistently regards negotiating teams, who represent these collectives, as monolithic parties with uniform interests. This article integrates concepts from social psychology, management, political science, and behavioral game theory to explore the effects of subgroup conflict on team negotiation. Specifically, the present research introduced a conflict of interests within negotiating teams and investigated how this internal conflict affects the outcome of the negotiation between teams. An experiment with 80 four-person teams found that conflict between subgroups had a detrimental effect on the performance of negotiating teams. This research also employed a recent model of motivated information processing in groups to investigate possible processes underlying the effect of subgroup conflict on team negotiation. Keywords: team negotiation; fault lines; subgroup conflict; group identification; motivated information processing

The effect of openness to experience, intragroup differences, and the performance of diverse work groups are studied. Teams where reward structures converged with diversity performed more poorly than teams with reward structures cutting across differences between group members.

The moderating effect of the age difference between the team leader and the team members on the relationship between transformational leadership and team performance was studied. This relationship was positive when the leader was older than the team members, but insignificant when the leader's age approximates those of the team members.

Prior research on backing-up behavior has indicated that it is beneficial to teams (C. O. L. H. Porter, 2005; C. O. L. H. Porter et al., 2003). This literature has focused on how backing-up behavior aids backup recipients in tasks in which workload is unevenly distributed among team members. The authors of the present study examined different contexts of workload distribution and found that, in addition to the initial benefits to backup recipients, there are initial and subsequent costs. Backing-up behavior leads backup providers to neglect their own taskwork, especially when workload is evenly distributed. Team members who receive high amounts of backing-up behavior decrease their taskwork in a subsequent task, especially when a team member can observe their workload. These findings indicate that it is important to consider both the benefits and costs of engaging in backing-up behavior. Keywords: team performance, backing-up behavior, helping behavior, workload, dependence

The main objectives in this research were to introduce the concept of team role knowledge and to investigate its potential usefulness for team member selection. In Study 1, the authors developed a situational judgment test, called the Team Role Test. to measure knowledge of 10 roles relevant to the team context. The criterion-related validity of this measure was examined in 2 additional studies. In a sample of academic project teams (N = 93), team role knowledge predicted team member role performance (r = .34). Role knowledge also provided incremental validity beyond mental ability and the Big Five personality factors in the prediction of role performance. The results of Study 2 revealed that the predictive validity of role knowledge generalizes to team members in a work setting (N = 82. r = .30). The implications of the results for selection in team environments are discussed. Keywords: group roles, team leadership, situational judgment test, group processes

A crucial skill for fluent action meshing in human team activity is a learned and calculated selection of anticipatory actions. We believe that the same holds for robotic teammates, if they are to perform in a similarly fluent manner with their human counterparts. In this work, we describe a model for human-robot joint action, and propose an adaptive action selection mechanism for a robotic teammate, which makes anticipatory decisions based on the confidence of their validity and their relative risk. We conduct an analysis of our method, predicting an improvement in task efficiency compared to a purely reactive process. We then present results from a study involving untrained human subjects working with a simulated version of a robot using our system. We show a significant improvement in best-case task efficiency when compared to a group of users working with a reactive agent, as well as a significant difference in the perceived commitment of the robot to the team and its contribution to the team's fluency and success. By way of explanation, we raise a number of fluency metric hypotheses, and evaluate their significance between the two study conditions. Index Terms--Algorithms, anticipatory action selection, fluency, human factors, human-robot interaction, teamwork.

Sometimes group work conditions lead to motivation gains rather than to social loafing. Two theoretical explanations for the Kohler motivation gain effect are identified, one stressing social comparison and a second stressing the indispensability of one's effort to the group. The results of three new experiments are reported. Experiment 1 suggested that both explanations are valid and contribute to the Kohler effect. Prior studies suggested that there might be gender differences in the relative importance of these two explanatory processes. Experiment 2 confirmed this suggestion. In Experiment 3, the gender difference was eliminated by priming women with a goal (viz., competition) presumed to be chronically more important to men. It is argued that the relative importance of these two motivational processes will depend on the immediate and chronic importance attached to more personal (viz., to achieve a favorable social comparison) versus collective (viz., to contribute to one's group) goals. Keywords: groups; performance; motivation gain; indispensability; social comparison

In this article examine the spatial dimensions of the workplace, the arrangement of material resources, and the development of embodied knowledge. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork of anaesthetic practice. I show how the accomplishment of anaesthetic techniques depends on the precise alignment of practitioners' bodies, tools, and the patient's body. By exploring disruptions to customary configurations of teamwork I explore the utility of these arrangements. I show how practitioners actively contrive 'normal appearances' in order to ensure safe and proficient practice, but I suggest that disruptions function as learning opportunities vital to the development of expertise. KEY WORDS embodied knowledge / spatial configurations / teamwork / techniques / tools and devices

CASE DESCRIPTION The primary subject matter of this case concerns the differences between the characteristics of teams and high performance work groups. Secondary issues examined include distinguishing between the two [...]

Challenges are identified, including language barriers and differing perspectives on authority. Management strategies include structural intervention to address member inhibitions, and adaptation to address communication differences.

A study hypothesized that organizational culture moderates the relationship between justice perceptions and leader-member exchange (LMX). In a sample of 516 teachers from 30 high schools in Turkey, results reveal that one dimension of culture from the Organizational Culture Profile, respect for people, strengthened the relationship between interactional justice and LMX and another dimension, team orientation, weakened that relationship.

A study examined the way proportions of individuals in standard and nonstandard work arrangements affected work group members' relationships with supervisors, social relations with coworkers, willingness to assist others, and intentions to leave their organization. Results reveal that the consequences of heterogeneity in employment arrangements were contingent on workers' locations in their firm's mobility system, type of nonstandard arrangements, and the amount and type of contact between standard and nonstandard work.

Advancing transactive memory (TM) theory, this research explores information retrieval between members of 12 preexisting organizational work teams. The teams examined are larger than the ad hoc groups studied in previous TM research. The central components are team members' (a) communication for topic-specific information retrieval, (b) perceptions of their own knowledge levels, and (c) perceptions of each others' knowledge levels. Social network analysis techniques were used to examine the communication ties between members at multiple levels. The emergent communication patterns were compared to theoretically expected patterns. The perceptions of self and others' expertise were used to understand the emergent patterns. The results show emergent communication patterns in these work teams only partially match the theoretical predictions and are highly related to members' perceptions of others' expertise. Self-reported expertise levels were not good indicators of the communication patterns. The results also reveal emergent structures counterintuitive to TM theory. Keywords: information retrieval; organizing; social networks; work teams; transactive memory

Studies are made to bring communities into the study of organizational demographics. Data from the National Organizations Study and an experiment proved that the closer whites lived to blacks and the more interethnic conflict the former perceived in their communities, the more negatively they responded to diverse workplaces.

To investigate the influence of culture and cohesiveness on intragroup conflict and effectiveness, the authors made comparisons among groups of U.S. friends and strangers and among groups of Chinese friends and strangers. Groups consisting of 5 members of the same culture engaged in a decision-making task. Among U.S. participants, task conflict and performance results tended to vary together. U.S. strangers reported little task conflict (disagreements about fact or opinion) and performed relatively poorly, whereas U.S. friends' performances benefited from an uninhibited exchange of individual ideas and opinions. In contrast, Chinese participants reported uniformly high levels of intragroup conflict and experienced relatively low performance. The results suggest that a task conflict advantage, with which group members feel comfortable enough to freely express and exchange opinions and disagree with each other to achieve optimal outcomes, might be culture specific. Key words: collectivism, group cohesiveness, group performance, individualism, intragroup conflict, TO MEET MOUNTING ENVIRONMENTAL demands for improved flexibility, efficiency, and competitive advantage, organizations are increasingly using teams of people to do tasks that previously they would assign to individuals (Boyett [...]

Byline: Dean Tjosvold (1), Kenneth S. Law (2), Haifa F. Sun (3) Keywords: collectivistic; individualistic; cooperation; competition Abstract: Collectivistic and individualistic values are theorized to have far reaching effects on teamwork and organizations. This study proposes that cooperative and competitive goal interdependence mediates the relationship between these values and group interaction and outcomes. Working in State Owned Enterprises in three regions of China, 689 employees in 194 teams indicated their group's values, goal interdependence, constructive controversy, and productivity. Their managers also reported on the extent these teams were productive. Structural equation analysis suggested that collectivistic values may reinforce cooperative goals and an open-minded discussion of views which in turn results in strong relationships and team productivity, as experienced from both the team's and manager's perspectives. Individualistic values, especially the horizontal version, can have contrasting effects through fostering competitive goals and closed-minded discussion. These results, coupled with previous research, suggest that collectivist values, cooperative goals, and constructive controversy provide an important foundation for productive teamwork. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Management, Lingnan University, Hong Kong (2) Department of Management of Organizations, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong (3) Management School, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China Article History: Registration Date: 05/10/2004

The present study extended research on relationships between individual differences and individual-level adaptation (J. A. LePine, J. A. Colquitt, & A. Erez, 2000). This study focused on team-level relationships (N = 73 teams) and demonstrated that after an unforeseen change in the task context, performance was superior for teams with members who had higher cognitive ability, achievement, and openness and who had lower dependability. These relationships were mediated by a measure of role structure adaptation (i.e., the effectiveness with which teams adapted their role structure when faced with an unforeseen change in their task context). Members' individual differences did not explain variance in team performance prior to the unforeseen change in the task context. Overall, results suggest differential relationships for team composition across routine and changing task contexts.

To examine the power of group confidence, the nomological network of group potency (generalized confidence) and group efficacy (task-specific confidence) is detailed. These constructs are embedded in a causal model including both antecedent and consequent variables. Results obtained within a collective cultural context suggest that group cohesion and group norms are antecedents to group confidence, and task performance and satisfaction are consequences. The empirical effects for group potency were robust, but those for group efficacy were surprisingly nonsignificant. This study shows that generalized confidence (group potency) is a stronger predictor of group outcomes than is group efficacy when the group members are unfamiliar with the complex tasks at hand. Implications for future research and group training are noted.

Ridgeway argues that we can increase our understanding of the creation and perpetuation of gender inequality in the workplace by applying micro-level theories of social psychological processes that operate in such settings. We go beyond her arguments to propose that the degree of mixed-sex interaction in the workplace be viewed as a factor that produces differences in gender workplace inequalities. Specifically, we hypothesize that when the collective task-directed behavior in a work group involves face-to-face mixed-sex interaction, gender workplace inequalities will be greater than in settings where such behavior involves women and men working largely independently of each other. This hypothesis is supported strongly by natural-setting data that compare gender workplace inequalities in agricultural research teams, where face-to-face interaction is present, with the same inequalities in agricultural extension settings, where there is little face-to-face interaction.

Research presented concerns the computer-mediated communication styles of small task groups that are female only, male only, and mixed, focusing on how a high level of self-disclosure and personal opinion statements in these groups relates to a 'high communication style' that is linked to greater group development and satisfaction. The benefits of communication training for on-line work groups are addressed.

The authors conducted a cross-cultural longitudinal investigation of the effects of culture (individualism-collectivism dichotomy) on group characteristics (functional heterogeneity, preference for teamwork, group potency, outcome expectation) and on performance of 83 work groups performing 2 decision-making tasks over a 15-week period. The individualists (U.S. students) reported higher levels of functional heterogeneity and group potency and attained higher levels of group performance than did the collectivists (Korean students). In addition, culture and time interacted to influence ratings of group potency and outcome expectation. The difference in ratings of group potency between individualists and collectivists increased over time. Outcome expectation was greater among the collectivists in Time 1 and among the individualists in Time 2. The authors discuss implications for future cross-cultural group research and international management. Key words: collectivism, functional heterogeneity, group potency, individualism, Korean students, outcome expectation, teamwork, U.S. students, work groups, ********** CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCHERS have suggested that the distinction between individualistic and collectivistic cultural values influences work-group composition, processes, and outcomes (e.g., Cox, Lobel, & McLeod, 1991; Earley & Gibson, 1998; [...]

This study presents an analysis of the benefits of two team structures - quality circles and self-managing work groups - for Australian work organizations utilizing the Australian Workplace Industrial relations Survey for 1995. The analysis indicates that firms with team structures have higher labor productivity, a flatter management structure and reduced employee turnover. The presence of team structures in Australian firms indicates a decrease in industry harmony. The findings were inconclusive regarding absenteeism and profitability.

Participant observation of a 6-week Executive Development Course suggests that humor provides a key mechanism for enacting a sense of community for group members. Specifically, the study examines the process through which putdown humor helps foster group identity and cohesion in a temporary group. Putdowns followed a pattern of development that signaled increasing trust and inclusion, and was regulated by implicit rules that incubated the emergent solidarity. The meaning of certain humorous episodes was equivocal, but the act of laughing together glossed over the equivocality so that the sense of community was reaffirmed. Further, social identity dynamics appeared to strongly affect perceptions of the appropriateness of humor. The authors conclude that shared putdown humor and the implicit set of rules regarding its use may facilitate solidarity, and they attempt to reconcile why 'inclusionary putdowns' were found here when 'exclusionary putdowns' are usually reported in the literature.

This study integrates research on minority dissent and individual creativity, as well as team diversity and the quality of group decision making, with research on team participation in decision making. From these lines of research, it was proposed that minority dissent would predict innovation in teams but only when teams have high levels of participation in decision making. This hypothesis was tested in 2 studies, 1 involving a homogeneous sample of self-managed teams and 1 involving a heterogeneous sample of cross-functional teams. Study 1 suggested that a newly developed scale to measure minority dissent has discriminant validity. Both Study 1 and Study 2 showed more innovations under high rather than low levels of minority dissent but only when there was a high degree of participation in team decision making. It is concluded that minority dissent stimulates creativity and divergent thought, which, through participation, manifest as innovation.

Suggestions are presented for maximizing the advantages of a multiethnic and/or multicultural work group. These include avoiding stereotypes, understanding individual personalities, creating a flexible system, promoting communication, and identifying common elements.

Byline: Joel B. Bennett (1), Wayne E. K. Lehman (1), G. Shawn Reynolds (1) Keywords: substance abuse; workplace; training; theory Abstract: This paper describes the empirical and theoretical development of a workplace training program to help reduce/prevent employee alcohol and drug abuse and enhance aspects of the work group environment that support ongoing prevention. The paper (1) examines the changing social context of the workplace (e.g., teamwork, privacy issues) as relevant for prevention, (2) reviews studies that assess risks and protective factors in employee substance abuse (work environment, group processes, and employee attitudes), (3) provides a conceptual model that focuses on work group processes (enabling, neutralization of deviance) as the locus of prevention efforts, (4) describes an enhanced team-oriented training that was derived from previous research and the conceptual model, and (5) describes potential applications of the program. It is suggested that the research and conceptual model may help prevention scientists to assess the organizational context of any workplace prevention strategy. The need for this team-oriented approach may be greater among employees who experience psychosocial risks such as workplace drinking climates, social alienation, and policies that emphasize deterrence (drug testing) over educative prevention. Limitations of the model are also discussed. Author Affiliation: (1) Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas Article History: Registration Date: 10/10/2004