Team personality characteristics and performance in a simulated largeaircraft instrument control task

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate impact of transformational leadership on team performance and the effects of support for innovation and psychological empowerment in this association. Over the past many decades, teams have become an increasingly popular way of organizing and coordinating work. This trend creates new challenges for leaders, as they are expected to motivate individual employees and to improve team performance simultaneously.Design/methodology/approach– This study proposes a conceptual framework for understanding motivation and support extended to individual employees which would influence team performance. The conceptual framework includes psychological empowerment and support for innovation as mediating variables in the effect of transformational leadership on team performance. The study also validates the proposed conceptual framework using a second-order confirmatory factor analysis technique, namely, partial least squares-structural equations modeling, with the data collected from 182 followers from 10 service organizations in the UAE.Findings– The findings suggest that transformational leadership has significant positive impact on team performance and, on the contrary, transactional leadership has significant negative effect on team performance. Two dimensions of psychological empowerment such as meaning and self-determination have partial mediation effect in the relationship between transformational leadership and team performance.Originality/value– This study contributes to the research that identifies team mechanisms influenced by transformational leadership that can affect team success and performance, particularly in the context of UAE-based organizations. Managerial implications and future research areas are further discussed.

This dissertation investigated how personality traits and team criteria influence team performance in real construction projects. Though personality influence on team performance has been significantly investigated in other business sectors, the literature revealed that the construction industry lacks investigations regarding personality influencing team performance. The existing literature revealed that the Big Five Factors (BFF) was the most popular assessment tool for personality. Thus, this dissertation adopted the 50-Item Personality questionnaire developed by Goldberg, which consited of extraversion, aggreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The literature also revealed several common team criteria to evaluate team performance: team member satisfaction, shared values/goals/culture, commitment/responsibility, communication/information sharing, and trust/respect. This investigation aimed to find what personality traits influence team performance in construction projects and determine the accuracy of the personality traits and team criteria conditions. The qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) revealed that personality traits influence team performance only in combination with team criteria. It also revealed that agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experiance are the most influential traits in the sampled construction projects. QCA also revealed team criteria conditions were the most influential and that trust and respect must be present in construction teams to achieve high team performance. This dissertation provided valuable findings to the construction industry by demonstrating that personality traits and team criteria are influence team performance. The practical implication of the results is that construction stakeholders must value trust/respect and use personality, especially agreeableness, to access and maintain trust/respect levels during the project's construction phase.

This thesis hypothesizes that providing task specific information to individual team members will improve coordination and decision-making, and therefore team performance, at time critical tasks. Major themes addressed in this research include teams and team processes, mental models, team mental models, work domain analysis, and hierarchical task analysis. Furthermore, the theory behind the development of complementary models is introduced. A unique method to identify the information sources and requirements in a complex team environment is first discussed in general and then specifically applied in two domains. The findings are presented of two experiments examining the effects of imposing different information distribution strategies that range from no complementariness to full complementariness of information. Team communication, team and individual task performance, workload, and timeliness and effectiveness of team decision making were assessed in nominal and off-nominal conditions. The first experiment used an automobile simulator and examined team navigation while driving. A second experiment was designed to incorporate additional measures to more specifically investigate individual performance, team workload, and clarity of information requirements using a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter simulator. The procedures used for both experiments provided for dynamic yet controlled environments through which critical factors that influence team process and performance could be evaluated accurately. Results of these experiments provide empirical evidence that providing task relevant information to individual team members in a time critical environment, while limiting their access to non-relevant information, improves individual and team performance. Furthermore, there is evidence of increased individual performance that indicates this method of distributing information among team members may provide individual crewmembers with a more accurate “task relevant” mental model of their own environment. This research provides new insight into how the distribution of information among team members effects the development of mental models, information requirements, team and individual performance, and communications, and highlights several directions for future research. The information distribution design principles presented in this thesis address the heterogeneity of teams; teams cannot be thought of as groups of identical individuals. The results concerning the communication, workload, performance and team of mental models were consistent across the domains in this research.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the transformational leadership and service quality in the businesses active in the field of e-commerce with the mediating role of trust and team performance.Design/methodology/approachSurvey questionnaires were administered on a 384-subject sample of the employees of the teams working in electronic businesses in Iran. The structural equation modeling and partial least square techniques were used to analyze the data.FindingsThe results showed that transformational leadership has a positive impact on service quality and improves team performance. The effect of transformational leadership on the interpersonal trust and the trust on the team performance are also positive and significant. In summary, the improved performance also has a positive impact on service quality.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation is the assessment by questionnaire because the questionnaires measure the attitudes of individuals, not the facts as they are, and the attitudes of individuals usually involve personal judgments and prejudices in the research. Also, examining the research model in different cultural domains may provide different results because of being influenced by different cultures. Hence, the authors recommend that the findings should be examined in other communities with different cultures.Originality/valueEvaluating the impact of the transformational leadership on service quality (SERVPERF scale) by a survey of team trust and performance in e-business is an innovation in the influence assessment of these variables. The present research is considered applicable to the management science as new findings in organizational behavior studies and recognition of transformational leaders, as well as the positive impacts of the characteristics of them on individuals and followers.

PurposeThis study aims to examine empirically the effect of emotional intelligence of the team, as calculated by the average of all team members’ individual emotional intelligence measurements, on the cohesiveness of the team, and the effect of the perception of self-efficacy of the team members on the relationship between emotional intelligence and team cohesion. Finally, certain financial indicators were analyzed to evaluate team performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study used quasi-experimental design. Participated in the experiment a total of 146 students (35 teams) who were senior business major students in the mid-sized university in the USA. In the experiment, the participants played a business simulation game over an eight-year simulated time frame. After the final round of the simulation game, the variables of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and team cohesion were measured using the survey questionnaire and team performance and participation data were collected from the business simulation game. In the support of the quantitative data analysis, the current study also collected and analyzed qualitative data comments on other group members’ contribution to the group task.FindingsResults indicated that team cohesion was highest when team members demonstrated greater emotional intelligence. Self-efficacy also had a positive influence on team cohesion. High self-efficacy was found to be an important mediator of the relationship between emotional intelligence and team cohesion. High emotional intelligence promoted the development of self-efficacy, resulting in increased team cohesion. Increased team cohesion resulted in improved team performance and participation.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study has several limitations. First, the sample is mostly business major students in the mid-sized university in the USA. There is a limitation in generalizing the findings into other populations. Second, this study accessed information on 35 teams comprising a total of 146 students. While the number of students and teams is sufficient for a study, more data would improve the robustness of the results. Third, this study collected and analyzed cross-sectional data, so there is the possibility for the reversed causal relationship in the findings. Although the authors concluded that team cohesion had a positive impact on team performance and participation, they also found the reverse relationship from the additional analysis. Fourth, the validity of the construct for emotional intelligence has some detractors, mainly because of the subjective nature of the measurement that tends to overlap existing personality measures and the objective measurement which involves a consensual scoring method with poor reliability.Practical implicationsThis paper implies practical strategies to manage teams and team members for enhanced team productivity. Teams are critical resources within companies. This study demonstrates that high team cohesion leads to better team performance. As team cohesion is important for team performance, the authors found that two antecedents for team cohesion are emotional intelligence and self-efficacy within team members. Therefore, it is important for managers to hire and select team members with high levels of emotional intelligence and self-efficacy. Managers can train employees to internalize increased levels of these traits.Originality/valueThe current study demonstrated that self-efficacy mediated emotional intelligence and team cohesion during a research project lasting one semester. There have been few studies examining the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between emotional intelligence and team cohesion. In particular, unlike many other studies that use short-term laboratory experiments, the duration of this study could provide enough time to more thoroughly develop cohesion among members. The current study collected both quantitative and qualitative data. In addition to the quantitative data analysis, the analysis of qualitative data reinforced the findings of the quantitative data analysis.

Special Ones? The Effect of Head Coaches on Football Team Performance

Guided reflexivity interventions (i.e., formal and structured interventions to induce teams to engage in team reflexivity) have been touted as being beneficial in terms of team processes and team performance. However, it is less well known under what conditions a guided team reflexivity intervention is beneficial for team performance improvement . Importantly, the leadership style employed by the team leader, i.e. directive versus empowering, may determine under what conditions guided team reflexivity is more beneficial for team performance over time. Drawing on the motivated information processing in groups (MIP-G) theory and on reflexivity theory, we argue that a guided team reflexivity intervention is particularly helpful for teams with directive leaders because those leaders do not foster team reflexivity. To test this, we conducted two experimental studies manipulating leadership style (directive vs empowering) and guided team reflexivity (reflexivity vs no-reflexivity). In Study 1, 37 three-person teams composed of aspirant army officers performed the Virtual Battle Space simulation. In Study 2, 77 three-person teams composed of undergraduate students performed an emergency management simulation. Random coefficient modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Across both studies, and in line with our hypotheses, we found that the positive effect of guided team reflexivity on team performance improvement is higher in teams with directive leaders than in teams with empowering leaders. Thus, we found support for the idea that teams led by directive leaders benefit from guided team reflexivity for improving performance over time.

Using meta-analytic evidence, this study tested trait- and task-based theoretical approaches to team personality management, using both team behaviors and team outcomes as criteria. Trait theories state that maximization of the team trait is harmful for Extroversion (complementary team fit) but beneficial for Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability (supplementary fit). Task-based theories state that tasks with few work exchanges are best reflected by mean trait scores, whereas tasks with frequent work exchanges are best represented by other types of scores (e.g., minimum score). Correlations between different aggregations of team personality and team performance were coded, as well as the study criterion choice and the pattern of workflow (as moderators). Partial support for both trait and task theories were found. Team Conscientiousness and Agreeableness provided supplementary fit primarily with team behaviors, but there was mixed evidence that Extroversion provided complementary fit. Furthermore, minimum and variance measures of the team trait related to team performance in tasks with frequent work exchanges, but not in tasks with few work exchanges. Results suggest several limitations with existing measurement methods, which are discussed.

Team composition literature has established associations of team personality composition and performance in previous research. This study adds to this literature by examining the positive relationship of mean core self-evaluations (CSE) and team performance as well as the moderating effect of team-member exchange (TMX) on this relationship. Using 63 senior business student teams engaged in a management-simulation exercise, there was no support for the main effect of CSE above any variance explained in team performance by mean levels of the Big 5 factors. However, there was strong support for TMX as a moderator where mean CSE was only found to positively relate with team performance when TMX was high. The discussion will detail the results and future directions for research.

ABSTRACTThis study investigates whether task interdependence in teams alters the effectiveness of managerial discretion in motivating team performance. Teams are particularly useful when employees' tasks are interdependent—that is, when the degree to which the increase in team performance resulting from a team member's effort depends on the effort and skills of the other team members. The reason is that the more interdependent tasks are, the more employees need to coordinate their actions and help one another to achieve their objectives. Prior research analyzing settings where task interdependence is absent suggests that providing managers with discretion over team bonus allocation can improve team performance relative to equal team bonus allocations because it strengthens the link between contributions to team output and rewards. Economic theory suggests that managerial discretion will also improve team performance when task interdependence is present and information is efficiently used. However, we use behavioral theory to predict that managerial discretion is less effective in the presence of task interdependence, because managers do not fully incorporate all relevant information into bonus decisions and because managerial discretion hurts coordination and helping, which is particularly problematic under task interdependence. We find that while discretion over compensation has a positive effect on team performance relative to equal bonus allocation when task interdependence is absent, it has a negative effect when task interdependence is present. Additional analyses provide support for our underlying theory. Results of our study contribute to both theory and practice by suggesting that, ironically, managerial discretion may be most useful when the potential benefits of employing teams are lowest and least useful when the potential benefits are highest. Our results help explain why firms often grant managers only partial or no discretion over team members' compensation.

People frequently face challenging decision-making problems in which outcomes are uncertain or unknown. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms exist that can outperform humans at learning such tasks. Thus, there is an opportunity for AI agents to assist people in learning these tasks more effectively. In this work, we use a multi-armed bandit as a controlled setting in which to explore this direction. We pair humans with a selection of agents and observe how well each human-agent team performs. We find that team performance can beat both human and agent performance in isolation. Interestingly, we also find that an agent's performance in isolation does not necessarily correlate with the human-agent team's performance. A drop in agent performance can lead to a disproportionately large drop in team performance, or in some settings can even improve team performance. Pairing a human with an agent that performs slightly better than them can make them perform much better, while pairing them with an agent that performs the same can make them them perform much worse. Further, our results suggest that people have different exploration strategies and might perform better with agents that match their strategy. Overall, optimizing human-agent team performance requires going beyond optimizing agent performance, to understanding how the agent's suggestions will influence human decision-making.

Research has shown that team reflection is a critical transition process for coordination processes and team performance, but our understanding of its dynamics and relationship to action processes and performance is incomplete. The goal of the present study was to examine the long-term change in reflection in teams over time and explore whether these changes are related to implicit and explicit coordination processes and performance improvement. Drawing on the recurring phase model of team processes and team reflexivity theory, we hypothesized that team reflection is at least stable or increases over time for dissimilar tasks, that reflection trajectories are positively associated with implicit and negatively associated with explicit coordination in the later phases, and that implicit coordination mediates the relationship between team reflection and performance improvement. This model was tested in a three-wave longitudinal study (N = 175 teams) over a 2-months period. Results from growth curve modeling and structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses.

In high-stakes environments like Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations, effective verbal team communication is critical yet often hindered by environmental noise. This study explores how verbal communication and real-time gaze sharing—visualizing a teammate’s gaze through fixation trails—affects team performance. Twenty-four two-person teams completed simulated UAV tasks under three conditions: no gaze sharing with communication, gaze sharing only, and both gaze sharing and communication. Results revealed that combining gaze sharing with communication significantly improved team performance and reduced mental workload. This combination also improved visual attention strategies, as evidenced by reduced saccadic activity and more stable fixations. Participants also reported improved shared awareness and coordination. These findings underscore the complementary benefits of integrating verbal and non-verbal communication tools. By highlighting the value of gaze sharing in complex team settings, this work informs the design of adaptive interfaces that support collaborative decision-making and shared awareness in operationally demanding environments.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present The Build and Bond, an experiential exercise which engages student teams while they apply team dynamics, enhance team skills and foster team member interpersonal bonds. Design/methodology/approach During The Build and Bond, teams design and execute their own team-building activity. Specifically, teams set goals, generate ideas, make decisions, create a team-building activity, develop implementation plans and ultimately execute the activity. Finally, during an all-class debrief discussion, teams describe their team-building activities, connect their experiences to the learning objectives and reflect on how these lessons can be applied in future team experiences. Pretest and posttest surveys were used to determine if participants perceived increases in team performance and cohesion following The Build and Bond. Findings All teams reported that their activity added value, was preferred over an instructor-assigned team-building activity and improved team states. Findings from t-tests supported an improvement in team performance and cohesion. Social implications The Build and Bond is designed to help students feel more equipped to communicate, have fun and work interdependently with current and future team members. Originality/value Teams design the team-building activity themselves, so members are often more interested in participating and engaging during the team-building activity.

Just as firms must consider the impact of changes in management, sports teams must consider whether a coaching change will improve the team’s on-field performance. I examine the effects of coaching changes for National Football League (NFL) teams between the 1995 and 2012 seasons. A variety of factors contribute to an NFL team’s performance reverting towards league-average levels between seasons. Thus, a nominal improvement in team performance could be due to improved management or it could simply be mean reversion. I find that, after accounting for the highly significant mean reversion effect during this time period, firing a coach reduces a team’s expected performance during the next season and the team’s average performance over the next two seasons. This effect is present when wins are used to measure performance, but also when performance is measured by point differential and playoff appearances, two variables that avoid some shortcomings of using team wins as a measure of performance. I conclude that teams are firing coaches an inefficiently high percentage of the time.