Stimulating teachers’ team performance through team-oriented HR practices: the roles of affective team commitment and information processing

Abstract

Teams of teachers are increasingly held accountable for the quality of education and educational reforms in vocational education and training institutions. However, historically teachers have not been required to engage in deep-level collaboration, thus team-oriented HR practices are being used to promote teamworking in the sector. This paper examines the relationship between team-oriented HR practices and team performance in terms of innovation and efficiency via teachers’ affective team commitment and engagement in information processing. To examine these associations, a team-oriented HRM research instrument was developed and validated based on the ability-motivation-opportunity model (N = 970, 130 teams) and hypothesised associations were examined using multilevel structural equation modelling (N = 704, 70 teams). The results show positive relationships between the team-oriented HR practices of recruitment, team development, team evaluation and teamwork facilitation, and team innovation. Additionally, all practices except team development were positively related to team efficiency. The relationships between team-oriented HR practices and these team performance indicators were often partially or fully mediated by affective team commitment and information processing. Because affective team commitment and information processing sometimes only partially mediated the links between team-oriented HR practices and team performance, other underlying mechanisms await identification.     

Motivation: How to increase project team performance

Stimulating team member performance requires a project manager to harness many different interpersonal skills. The level of enthusiasm applied toward project efforts has a direct impact on the project results. Because motivation can inspire, encourage, and stimulate individuals to achieve common goals through teamwork, it is in the project manager's best interest to drive toward project success through the creation and maintenance of a motivating environment for all members of the team.     

Development and performance of self-managing work teams: a theoretical and empirical examination

Several theories have been developed that prescribe the team development of self-managing work teams (SMWTs). Some of these have led to models with successive linear developmental phases. However, both the theory and the empirical data show little support for these models. Based on an extensive review of team development literature, we propose, instead of linear phases, describing team development in three general team processes. These processes, internal relations, task management, and external relations and improvement, were empirically explored in a longitudinal field-study of more than 150 blue-collar and white-collar SMWTs in a Volvo plant in Sweden. The three processes were found to be consistent over time and appeared to relate to one-year-later objective SMWT performance measures for product quality, the incidence of sick-leave and long-term sick-leave. Based on these findings, a result-oriented team development approach is proposed, in which the achieved results determine the processes followed to develop SMWTs further. Also, managers and HR practitioners are encouraged to monitor the three ongoing team processes and to relate these to the desired team performance. Such an analysis should be the starting point of a dialogue between manager and team to improve the functioning and performance of SMWTs.     

The influence of cultural context on the relationship between gender diversity and team performance: a meta-analysis

The impact of gender diversity on team performance has become a central topic in the field of human resource management for researchers and practitioners alike. Extant research provides conflicting evidence on the relationship between gender diversity and team performance. To resolve these contradictory findings, we meta-analyze the relationship between gender diversity and two performance outcomes, namely task performance and contextual performance. Grounded in categorization-elaboration model, we simultaneously consider the positive and negative aspects of gender diversity. We further examine the effect of cultural context as a moderator on the relationship between gender diversity and team performance. Based on 71 independent samples from 68 studies published between 1996 and 2013, we find a significant negative relationship ( ? 0.10) between gender diversity and contextual performance. Additionally, we find that the cultural dimensions gender egalitarianism and collectivism have significant moderating influences on the relationship between gender diversity and task performance.     

Inspirational leadership,positive mood,and team innovation: A moderated mediation investigation into the pivotal role of professional salience

Multidisciplinary teams are increasingly advocated for in healthcare policy consequent to their capacity to develop innovative solutions to seemingly intractable service and care challenges. Recent arguments that inspirational leadership styles may foster innovation in multidisciplinary teams point to their potential value in this effort. However, inconsistency in the capacity of such leaders to engender innovation highlights the need to understand the mechanisms and boundary conditions that determine when such leadership generates positive effects. We argue that follower positive mood acts to mediate the path between inspirational leadership and innovation and may account for its variable effects. By increasing positive team mood, inspirational leaders can potentially bring about more flexible thinking and enhance innovation but can also increase reliance on less effortful information processing, undermining innovative potential. In an effort to address the dilemma posed by these contrasting effects, we propose that professional salience acts as an important boundary condition of this relationship such that only when profession is salient do inspirational leaders enhance multidisciplinary team innovation through positive mood. An analysis of survey data from 60 UK‐based multidisciplinary healthcare teams, investigating the inspirational leadership of practice‐based innovation, supports our moderated mediation model. Finally, the implications for HRM are considered, specifically for leader development and work team design.     

Linking capacities of high‐quality relationships to team learning and performance in service organizations

This study examines the impact of intrateam and external high‐quality relationships (HQRs) on learning processes and performance. Data collected from 178 teams in the service sector indicate that (a) intrateam HQRs (i.e., between team members and between team members and their manager) are related to psychological safety, which in turn facilitates learning processes; (b) external HQRs are associated directly with team learning; and (c) team learning is positively associated with enhanced team performance. The findings highlight the importance of both internal and external HQRs to facilitate learning and enhance performance in service organizations. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

National diversity and team performance: the moderating role of interactional justice climate

In this team-level study, we present and test a model in which two aspects of interactional justice climate, its level and its strength, interact to moderate the effects of national diversity on team performance. Connecting the literatures on team diversity and (interactional) justice climate, we hypothesize that a high level of interactional justice exhibited by the line manager promotes the performance of nationally diverse teams, but only when team members share this perception (i.e. when the climate is strong). Using time-lagged performance measurement, we conducted a multisource field study using data from 272 employees clustered in 45 teams who worked for a local subsidiary of a multinational enterprise. The findings confirm our hypothesis and have implications for the diversity and justice literatures, while advancing knowledge that promotes the effective management of increasingly diverse workforces in this era of globalization.     

Teamwork: a case study on development and performance

The most popular model of team development in Dutch socio-technical literature is a linear approach, which states that teams develop in four successive phases. A method for defining the particular phase a team is in was developed a number of years ago and was recently used in a large-scale survey at Volvo's cab manufacturing plant in Umeå (northern Sweden). Thirty-seven semi-autonomous teams were studied at this plant during a seven-month period. This paper examines the development of the teams and addresses the effects of team development on overall team performance. The aspect of team development was correlated to both performance in terms of quality of working life (QWL) and business performance (BP), which is an empirically unexplored field within team literature. The linear phase approach of team development could not be proved. Nevertheless, teams were found to develop in four important areas, with each aspect significantly affecting team performance.     

The effect of researchers' interdisciplinary characteristics on team innovation performance: evidence from university R&D teams in China

This study examines the effect of researchers' characteristics on the performance of R&D teams. Based on the multi-perspective of organization behavior and knowledge management, the authors adopt the framework of ‘Input-Process-Output’ regarding the process of the R&D team as knowledge creation. The theoretical model and corresponding hypotheses were tested empirically, drawing on a sample of 80 R&D teams from four universities in China. We concluded that knowledge communication, sharing, and integration play very important mediated roles in the knowledge creation process of the R&D team. Though researchers might have differing opinions on interdisciplinary research, they still tend toward communication and sharing their knowledge, experience, and viewpoints in the R&D process; this is an essential means for the achievement of knowledge integration. In order to achieve high innovation performance, management should pay attention to the process of knowledge communication, sharing, and integration.     

Selecting people based on person‐organisation fit: Implications for intrateam trust and team performance

Teamwork is widely adopted in organisations. Although much evidence indicates that using person‐organisation (P‐O) fit as a selection criterion benefits individual employees, little is known about how this practice influences team functioning. Drawing on the input‐mediator‐outcome model and the research on value congruence, this study built and tested a model that links P‐O fit in recruitment to work teams' performance. Based on data collected from team members, team leaders, human resources managers, and chief executive officers in 96 firms, we found that P‐O fit in recruitment had a positive relationship with team performance and that intrateam trust mediated the relationship between P‐O fit in recruitment and team performance. Further, this mediated relationship existed only when the organisation had a weak, rather than strong, respect‐for‐people culture. This study contributes to the P‐O fit and team literature and has practical implications for human resources practices and team management.     

Leading corporate sustainability: The role of top management team composition for triple bottom line performance

Sustainable development at the corporate level requires balancing social, environmental, and financial performance goals. Achieving such “triple bottom line” (TBL) performance is a very challenging task. In this study, we explore the role the organization's top management team (TMT) plays in leading their organization towards corporate sustainability. We focus on how two distinct aspects of the TMT's structural composition—the presence of a “chief sustainability officer” (CSO) and the TMT's functional diversity—affect the organization's ability to reach high levels of TBL performance. We follow the presence of 22 global energy companies in Corporate Knight's “Global 100” sustainability index for a period of 11 years and find that, surprisingly, the presence of a CSO does not boost TBL performance. However, we do find a positive effect for TMT functional diversity, suggesting that more diverse TMTs are better able to lead their organization to higher levels of TBL performance.     

Virtual team concepts in projects: A case study

This article uses a case study to demonstrate the application of virtual team concepts in a virtual project team formed from existing personnel within an organization. The article is presented as a literature review followed by a case study of a virtual team project entitled the “Country Capital Works Program” undertaken within the New South Wales Police Force, Australia. The case confirms the appropriateness of existing virtual team concepts in a virtual project team formed from existing personnel for a specific purpose. The study has the inherent limitations of any case study in terms of the generalization of the findings.     

Blending service provider–client project teams to achieve client trust: Implications for project team trust,cohesion, and performance

The objective of the present research is to examine the effectiveness of “teaming with the client,” using blended service provider–client teams as an organizational strategy for achieving effective co‐production engagements. The results show that having a blended team creates a more trusting relationship between the project manager and client. The client's trust results in greater team trust, team cohesion, and team performance. However, the research also demonstrates an important limitation to the use of blended teams. In blended teams, when the client does not trust the project manager, significant problems arise for the team itself as compared to non‐blended teams.     

Managing venture team relationships in corporate incubators: a case study of network dynamics and political rivalry in a high-tech incubator

This article addresses venture team relationships in an advanced high tech incubator through an analysis of the personal relationships of venture team members. During the study period of almost 2 years, the ventures were projected to grow and commercialise but, overall, they failed. Quantitative data collected in two rounds showed that commercial relationships remained weak while political relationships intensified. Qualitative follow-up interviews suggest that the political rivalry and low level of knowledge sharing between the ventures were further exacerbated by the individualistic-competitive structure of the incubator and weak management in some respects.     

Ideological currency in psychological contracts: the role of team relationships in a reciprocity perspective

This study focused on the role of ideology in psychological contracts, which has been a neglected theme in psychological contract research. A study among Dutch middle managers in education revealed that ideological psychological contract fulfillment explained additional variance in relation to employee obligations toward the organization. Moreover, it was found that team relationships moderated the relations between some aspects of employer contract fulfillment and employee obligations, but no significant interactions were found between employer ideological fulfillment and team relationships in relation to employee obligations.     

Managing global projects: A structured approach for better performance

The purpose of this research effort is to develop a model for improving the performance of global projects using the underlying relations among the important enablers and barriers of global project performance. A number of factors are identified in the study, using a literature review to develop the model. A survey was used to determine the impact of these factors on global project performance. The model suggests different management practices for global projects versus traditional, co‐located projects. Different from the outcomes of traditional projects, research results suggest that leadership and establishing trust is a first step in the initial stages of the global project.     

Project success and project team management: Evidence from capital projects in the process industries

Efficient project execution is a key business objective in many domains and particularly so for capital projects in the process industries, but existing project management research gives little direction about how project team factors influence three important capital project outcomes: cost, schedule, and operability. After an extensive cross-disciplinary review of the general team and project management literatures, we constructed and tested a theoretically based, five-dimensional model of organizational context, project team design, project team leadership, project team processes, and project outcome factors. We examined the model by means of an empirical study of 56 newly completed capital projects executed by 15 Fortune 500 companies in the process industries. The results indicate the value of disaggregating project outcomes for research purposes. Different bundles of project team factors were found to drive project cost, schedule, and operability. Project team efficacy, cross-functional project teams, autonomous project team structure, and virtual office usage were the strongest predictors of project cost effectiveness. Continuity of project leadership, cross-functional project teams, and project manager incentives were the strongest predictors of project construction schedule. In contrast, clear project goals and an office design to facilitate effective communication were the main predictors of plant operability. Implications of these findings for researchers and project practitioners are discussed. One major practical implication of our findings is that project managers need to clearly focus and prioritize their goals for each project so they can adopt the appropriate bundles of project team practices that will facilitate their goal achievement.     

On the Same Side of the Faultline: Inclusion in the Leader's Subgroup and Employee Performance

Extending theory on faultlines and subgroups, we argue that faultlines splitting a team into homogeneous subgroups can have different effects on team members' individual performance, depending on different intra‐subgroup processes. Specifically, we propose that the effect of faultline strength on individual performance depends on whether a team member's subgroup includes the team leader. Building on the notion of faultline triggers, we further propose that organizational crises exacerbate this interaction because they make social support by the team leader especially important. We tested these assumptions with objective performance data collected over a period of four years from 3263 financial consultants (325 teams) while controlling for the effects of relational demography. Results showed that in teams with strong faultlines, consultants' performance decreased to a lesser extent in crisis years if the consultants shared a subgroup with their team leader. Thus, faultlines had different effects on team members from different subgroups.     

Career patterns of top management team members in five countries: an optimal matching analysis

This paper introduces optimal matching analysis (OMA) to the field of top management research. With this method, we develop six career patterns of top management team (TMT) members from five countries based on their international experience, organizational tenure and professional experience. The results provide strong support for the significance of these patterns, since each country (Denmark, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) shows one to four predominant career patterns of their managers and the occurrence of these patterns also differs significantly between the fields of activity within the TMT (chairperson, head of a division, primary activities and support activities).     

The effectiveness of teams in organizations: a meta-analysis

The proposed meta-analysis of 61 independent samples aims to identify whether, and if so under what conditions, team working in organizations is related to organizational effectiveness. Team working had a significant though small positive relationship with both performance outcomes and staff attitudes. Our contingency analyses further showed that team working had a stronger relationship with performance outcomes if accompanied by complementary HR measures and in non-health-care settings. Finally, we found that team working is more strongly related to attitudinal outcomes in Sociotechnical Systems and health-care settings.