Breaking Silos: A Field Experiment on Relational Conflict Management in Cross-Functional Teams

In this paper we investigate how effective conflict management in conflict asymmetry situations impacts the quality of cross-functional management teams’ performance. During a 5-day business simulation, we explore the consequences of the relational conflicts and conflict asymmetry experienced by team members. We use two different measures of conflict asymmetry: the traditional group conflict asymmetry measurement of Jehn (Adm Sci Q 40:256–282, 1995) and a social networks method. We find that when some team members evoke more conflict than others, this affects the evolution of team dynamics (and ultimately the performance of the team) even more than high levels of conflict altogether; however, group emotional awareness can mitigate this negative effect and improve the team performance through the appropriate use of conflict management strategies. Since group emotional awareness can be fostered and trained within teams, this is of practical value to improve the performance of cross-functional management teams.     

Managing Co-occurring Conflicts in Teams

This study extends prior research on conflict in teams by showing that a team’s chances of appropriately managing one type of conflict depends on what other types of conflicts are co-occurring. We interviewed 44 managers from different industries who had recently participated in a negotiating team, asking about within-team conflicts and how those conflicts were managed. The data showed that task conflict increased the likelihood that teams managed co-occurring procedural conflicts appropriately, but that procedural conflicts decreased the likelihood that teams managed co-occurring task conflicts appropriately. These results explain why some teams fail to realize the theorized benefits of task conflict and why procedural conflict does not always have a deleterious impact on team performance: The co-occurrence of these different types of conflict can alter what strategy a team uses to manage conflicts.     

Diversity in Demographic Characteristics,Abilities and Personality Traits: Do Faultlines Affect Team Functioning?

This study examines the impact of faultlines within teams on cohesion and conflicts. Faultlines concern the attributes of several team members simultaneously and mirror the structure of diversity within a team. The strength of a faultline indicates the level of similarity within potential subgroups and its width the extent of dissimilarity between them. The faultlines addressed in this study are based upon the demographic characteristics, abilities and personality traits of team members. We also address the interaction of team autonomy on the effects of faultlines. Data for this study were collected by means of questionnaires administered to 99 teams of undergraduate students. The results indicate that demographic faultlines directly impair the functioning of a team. Team autonomy conditioned both the relationship between the strength of the ability faultline and team cohesion and the relationship between the depth of the personality faultline and intra-team conflict. In other words, these faultlines are more detrimental to team functioning when team autonomy is high. Ability faultlines seem to emphasize similarities within subgroups, while personality faultlines accentuate dissimilarities between subgroups.     

Cross-functional interface and disruption in CRM projects: Is marketing from Venus and information systems from Mars?

Because of the inherently cross-functional nature of customer relationship management, the use of cross-functional teams in CRM project implementations is virtually mandatory to achieve critical marketing and sales objectives. This study examines the effects of functional membership as well as team and individual performance evaluations on project members' perceptions of disruption and cooperation during CRM project implementations. The results show that IS project members are more likely to perceive internal volatility and manifest interfunctional conflict and less likely to perceive interfunctional cooperation than project members from either sales/marketing or general management. We also find that team performance evaluations are negatively associated with disruption and positively associated with cooperation, while individual evaluations are negatively associated with internal volatility.     

The Effects of Cultural Diversity in Virtual Teams Versus Face-to-Face Teams

Diversity in the national background and culture of team members is common in virtual teams. An experimental study, with short term teams, was undertaken to examine the effect of cultural diversity on team effectiveness and to examine if this effect changes depending if the team worked face-to-face (F2F) or virtually. Heterogeneous teams were created that had greater diversity than homogeneous teams of individualism/collectivism values, different languages spoken, country of birth, and nationality. The teams worked on a desert survival task either F2F or virtually (via audioconference and electronic chat tools). The overall results indicated that heterogeneous teams were less satisfied and cohesive and had more conflict than the homogeneous teams, although there were no statistical differences in team performance levels. However, examining just the heterogeneous teams found that the performance of the virtual heterogeneous teams was superior to that of the F2F heterogeneous teams. The results support Carte and Chidambaram's (2004) theory that the reductive capabilities of collaborative technologies are beneficial for newly-formed diverse teams.     

Go small or go home: Operational exposure to violent conflicts and foreign subsidiary exit

This study aims to open the black box of heterogeneous responses to violent conflicts by focusing on subsidiaries’ operational exposure to violent conflict and their decisions to exit host countries. Drawing on real options theory, we propose a viable approach multinational enterprises can take when they encounter violent conflicts in their operating locations. Our analysis of 3,479 foreign subsidiaries operating in 11 countries over 26 years suggests that the exit decision of any given subsidiary located in a conflict-affected country depends on its operational scope. However, this effect depends on the characteristics of the operations the subsidiary undertakes, specifically, whether the subsidiary conducts natural resource-seeking operations and the degree of operational overlap with the same-parent affiliates.     

Team deep-level diversity,relationship conflict,and team members' affective reactions: A cross-level investigation

Drawing from recent advances in the study of deep-level diversity in work teams and the similarity–attraction paradigm, this study examines the ways in which diversity in personality characteristics and preference for teamwork among team members influences the relationship between relationship conflict and subsequent team member affective reactions. Using a longitudinal, multilevel sample of 53 teams (260 respondents), results reveal that similarity or homogeneity in agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability weakens the negative influence of relationship conflict on team member affective reactions, while heterogeneity in extraversion and preference for teamwork also weakens these relationships. A discussion of theoretical and practical implications follows.     

Teams developing business ideas: how member characteristics and conflict affect member-rated team effectiveness

Team researchers have found that the diversity to effectiveness ratings are mediated by team conflict. Using a sample of 73 teams developing their business ideas, I found direct effects of diversity and conflict on member-rated team effectiveness. Here, I explain how the circumstances under which these teams operate can lead to these findings. For these teams, task conflict was found to relate negatively to member-rated team effectiveness. This finding contrasts with research on organizational teams, where task conflict usually relates positively to team effectiveness ratings. I also found that both diversity and average member experience influence member-rated effectiveness. These findings imply that diversity, conflict, and ratings of team effectiveness may differ for teams developing business ideas as compared to organizational teams. Thus, findings from organizational team research should be applied with caution to teams developing business ideas and possibly to new venture teams in general.     

Goals,Conflict, Politics,and Performance of Cross-Functional Sourcing Teams—Results from a Social Team Experiment

Strategic sourcing is carried out in cross-functional teams to account for the complexity and multidimensionality of modern procurement decisions. However, such teams not only enable the integration of distinct interdependent skill sets and viewpoints, they are also characterized by functional goal misalignment. We focus on the resulting behavioral challenges, namely conflict and politics, and their effects on team satisfaction and rationality, which ultimately leads to observed outcomes. We test our hypotheses in a structural equation model based on data gathered from 468 participants in a social team experiment. We find a mediated effect of goal misalignment on political behavior via two types of team conflict. Political behavior, in turn, obstructs rational team sourcing decisions and reduces team members’ satisfaction with the process. Our study indicates that behavioral challenges in the framework of Organizational Buying Behavior not only co-occur but affect each other via mediation. Hence, managers need to closely monitor the escalation chains’ origin, task conflict, which constitutes a necessary condition for further emotional dissent and political biasing. We contribute to the understanding of the challenges in cross-functional sourcing teams, thereby providing advice to executives in their pursuit to rationalize and improve sourcing team decisions and their outcomes.     

高管团队内情感冲突、企业家精神与公司成长性绩效关系的实证研究

根据对企业高层管理者访谈和163份有效问卷,重点分析高管团队内情感冲突、高管团队企业家精神和公司成长性绩效间的关系。实证研究发现:高管团队内情感冲突和公司成长性绩效显著负相关,高管团队内情感冲突与高管团队企业家精神显著负相关,高管团队企业家精神与公司成长性绩效显著正相关。并且,高管团队企业家精神在高管团队情感冲突对公司成长性绩效的影响过程中起着中介作用。     

Joint Venture Formation and Internationalization: A Japanese MNEs' Perspective

This article examines relationships among top-management-team composition, group processes, and the effects of those processes on cohesion for international joint venture teams in Thailand. For culturally diverse teams, demographic elements (member age, length of team tenure, level of education, functional expertise) and cultural characteristics (country of education, nationality, affiliation with a parent organization, primary language spoken) define heterogeneity. Overall, demographic heterogeneity had a significant influence on openness among team members and on cohesion when mediated by openness. Cultural heterogeneity had a significant influence on openness and cohesion among team members, with loyalty and openness having a significant influence on cohesion.     

Ethnic-immigrants in founding teams: Effects on prospector strategy and performance in new Internet ventures

We investigated differences in strategy and performance between new Internet ventures with ethnic-immigrant members in the founding team and a matched set of Internet ventures with non-ethnic-non-immigrant team members. Results showed that new ventures with an ethnic-immigrant presence in the founding teams tended to pursue a more aggressive prospector strategy than those with non-ethnic-non-immigrant founding team members. Still, performance of the two groups of ventures was comparable. However, the positive effects of ethnic-immigrant presence on founding teams depended on team size and average age of the founding team members.     

Headquarters parenting advantage in Chinese MNEs: The moderating role of top managers’ political and International experience

This study explores the relevance of top management teams’ experience to support the headquarters parenting advantage in the context of Chinese multinationals. Specifically, it studies how the political and international experience of headquarters’ top management teams moderates the relationship between headquarters involvement in knowledge transfer processes – a key aspect of value creation in the parenting advantage logic – and the extent of reverse knowledge transfer from subsidiaries. Based on the data from two complementary surveys of senior managers in 99 Chinese multinationals and managers in their 177 subsidiaries, our analysis indicates a contrasting effect of top managers’ experience as their political experience weakens, but their international experience strengthens the positive effect of headquarters involvement in reverse knowledge transfer. This study contributes to the parenting advantage logic, by introducing the relevance of different top managers’ experiences, and to our understanding of top management teams in the context of both reverse knowledge transfer and Chinese multinationals, particularly by showing the important implications of top management teams’ experience for Chinese enterprises’ international strategies.     

CEO Entrepreneurial Leadership and Performance Outcomes of Top Management Teams in Entrepreneurial Ventures: The Mediating Effects of Psychological Safety

This study examines whether the exhibition of entrepreneurial leadership by CEOs within entrepreneurial ventures fosters higher levels of top management team performance and job performance of team members, and whether psychological safety explains such effects. Utilizing four waves of multisource, multilevel data from 262 team members across 56 top management teams, we find that the exercise of entrepreneurial leadership by the CEO leads to higher levels of performance at the team and individual levels, and that psychological safety mediates such relationships.     

The Effects of Team Flexibility and Emotional Intelligence on Software Development Performance

As both business and technological environments change at an increasing rate, flexibility and emotional intelligence have become critical issues for project management. Even though previous research has examined the relationship between team flexibility and team performance and that between the emotional intelligence of teams and team outputs, there remains a gap in literature in respect to a holistic model. Accordingly in this paper, we examine the relationships among software team flexibility, emotional intelligence, and software project outputs (market success, speed to market, and the functionality of the new software product) using survey data from 86 software development projects. The results reveal positive a relationship between the diversity dimension of software project team flexibility and emotional intelligence. The first dimension of software team flexibility, team autonomy, positively affected market success, speed to market, and software functionality, whereas the second dimension, team diversity, positively affected only speed to market and software functionality. The emotional recognition of team members for both themselves and their teammates appears to be another important factor affecting the speed to market and functionality of the new software products. Managerial and theoretical implications of the study are discussed.     

The barriers to effective global talent management: The example of corporate élites in MNEs

This paper focuses on talent management failure by multinational enterprises (MNEs). It examines barriers to corporate advancement of talents located in subsidiaries and more specifically on promotion of talent already employed by the MNE to be part of the upper echelon management team at its centre. Drawing on agency and bounded rationality theories, we discuss the underlying causes of talent management failure in MNEs. At the subsidiary level, we draw on agency theory to delineate self-serving mechanisms displayed by subsidiary managers that might hinder effective talent management systems throughout the MNE. At the headquarter level, we use bounded rationality to explain how decision-making processes, and information top management teams use to make decisions about talent management results in overlooking talents at subsidiary level.     

团队成员视角下个体地位获得事件对同事行为的影响：基于事件系统理论和社会比较理论

文章旨在全面揭示个体地位获得事件对团队成员认知和行为的影响路径，以及在何种条件下个体地位获得事件将促进团队成员的积极行为表现，进而为管理策略的提出提供理论依据。通过对来自28个团队的293名员工进行问卷调查，并运用结构方程模型进行数据分析，结果表明：个体地位获得事件通过团队成员资源收益/威胁感知的中介作用分别对团队成员人际帮助行为和人际回避行为产生正向影响，团队合作氛围负向调节个体地位获得事件与资源威胁感知的关系，并对个体地位获得事件与团队成员人际帮助行为的关系具有显著的有调节中介作用。研究结果不仅进一步拓展了个体地位获得事件对员工行为的影响研究，而且揭示了个体地位获得事件对员工行为的影响机制和边界条件。     

Macrocognition in Collaboration: Analyzing Processes of Team Knowledge Building with CoPrA

Sophisticated collaboration software allows teams that are dispersed in space and time to work together. Nevertheless, to reach their common goals, distributed teams—and the professional facilitators who support them by intervention techniques—are faced with the communication challenges arising from dispersed settings, including task coordination and effective information exchange. When distributed teams use collaboration software, however, traces of their collaboration are left behind. These traces provide an underused source of data which can be analyzed and be used to inform the design of interventions aimed at improving collaboration in distributed teams. This paper investigates the untapped potential for understanding collaboration, and in particular, the macro-cognitive processes of team knowledge building. These processes rely on information shared and knowledge structures developed by team members which are also referred to as team cognition. We performed a qualitative content analysis applying the COllaboration PRocess Analysis technique, CoPrA, and a framework for measuring team knowledge building. Communication data was collected from 18 participants assigned to six distributed teams. While working collaboratively on a problem-solving task teams were supported with synchronous collaboration software. The results show that by using a cognitive perspective on teams, all the hypothesized processes of team knowledge building could be identified in collaboration traces. Moreover, our analysis shows that CoPrA enables us to identify key characteristics of (1) team behavior, e.g., whether teams are rather solution-oriented or problem minded, show consensus-oriented behavior, withhold evaluative arguments, discuss ideas in breadth and/or depth, or spend much effort on coordination as well as (2) behavior of team members, e.g., who show non-participation, are willing to share or predominantly guide coordination. Future research could adopt this approach to improve our understanding of the dynamics of collaboration patterns and its effects on team performance to inform collaboration facilitation in distributed settings.     

The Effects of Personal and Group Level Factors on the Outcomes of Simulated Auditor and Client Teams

The way that auditor and client teams develop team resources that they can later use in negotiating with their counterparts is a critical but unexplored issue in auditing research. This study examines several important issues that may affect the development of these team resources. Specifically, it uses interacting groups to evaluate the dynamic interplay between personal and perceived group level factors in determining individual team members' satisfaction with the team's solution, and the development of perceptions of team atmosphere.First, a model of the intra-person and intra-team decision processes is introduced. This model posits that individuals' personalities and hierarchical levels influence their choice of conflict style, the development of their perceptions of the team's atmosphere, and ultimately their satisfaction with the solution reached by the team. Conflict style also is posited to affect perceptions of the team's atmosphere and solution satisfaction. We then test the model using structural equation modeling. We also examine the development of consensus within the teams. Students working on their MBA and MS in Business and Accounting at two AACSB-accredited universities participated in this study. The results provide dramatic evidence of the influence of the factors of interest on the resources that each team brings to the ultimate negotiation with its counterpart team.