New Product Development Decision‐Making Effectiveness: Comparing Individuals,Face‐To‐Face Teams,and Virtual Teams*

A total of 411 subjects participated in two decision‐making experiments in order to examine the effectiveness of new product development project continuation decisions. Using escalation of commitment theory, in Study 1, individual versus face‐to‐face team decision‐making effectiveness was compared. Study 2, an extension of Study 1, compared the new product development decision‐making effectiveness of individuals, face‐to‐face teams, and virtual teams. A virtual team is a geographically and temporally dispersed and electronically communicating work group. In Study 2, the virtual teams communicated asynchronously via groupware technology. Our findings suggest that teams make more effective decisions than individuals, and virtual teams make the most effective decisions.     

Transformational leadership and ambidexterity in the context of an acquisition

This study explores the role of transformational leadership and the values incorporated in a learning culture in promoting ambidexterity (the ability to explore new capabilities while exploiting existing ones) in teams involved in acquisition integrations. Data from a field study of an acquisition integration (N = 71 work teams) support hypotheses arguing that transformational leadership behaviors and the development of a learning culture, characterized by psychological safety, openness to diverse opinions, and participation in decision making, promote ambidexterity at the team level. We also found support for the association between transformational leadership and learning cultures.     

The Big Five personality factors and team performance: implications for selecting successful product design teams

In the pursuit of faster product development, product design teams are a growing phenomenon in many organizations. In order to be successful, these teams must be composed of people who work well together. However, despite the benefit of selecting the optimal combination of team members, this topic has received little attention. Personality has been identified as a potentially helpful selection variable in the determination of optimal team composition. This study examines the relationships between the ‘Big Five’ personality factors (Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience) and objective team performance for three-member product design teams. In addition to this, the potential incremental contribution of personality to the variance in team performance over that accounted for by established selection measures such as general cognitive ability was investigated. In the short duration of the study, it became apparent that some teams were capable of success, and some were not. Successful teams were characterized by higher levels of general cognitive ability, higher extraversion, higher agreeableness, and lower neuroticism than their unsuccessful counterparts. In successful teams, the heterogeneity of conscientiousness was negatively related to increments in product performance. Implications for the selection of product design teams and future directions for research are discussed.     

Leadership capacity in teams

The present article examines the state of the field regarding leadership in teams. A perspective is advanced that considers leadership as an outcome of team processes (e.g., teamwork and team learning) that provides resources for better team adaptation and performance in subsequent performance cycles. This perspective complements but does not replace the perspective of leadership as an input to team processes and performance. Specific facets of the teaming cycle are reviewed, including the nature of teamwork and interventions designed to facilitate its development, the role of team learning as different from individual learning, and relatively recent advances in understanding shared and distributed leadership (DL). These components of team leadership are cast within an emerging IMOI (inputs, mediators, outcomes, inputs) framework proposed for understanding the cyclical and ongoing nature of teams in organizations.     

Examining the cross-level relationship between shared leadership and learning in teams: Evidence from China

The current study extends the literature on shared leadership by exploring the questions of whether, how, and when shared leadership makes an impact on team and individual learning behaviors. Specifically, the current research proposed that shared leadership has a positive impact on both team and individual learning and this impact was realized through the mediating role of team psychological safety. Furthermore, the study introduces job variety as a potential moderator in the relationships between shared leadership on team and individual learning behaviors through team psychological safety, such that the indirect effects are more positive when team members perceived high job variety. Using 263 members from 50 teams in China, the hypotheses were largely supported. Theoretical contributions, practical implications and future research directions are discussed.     

研发团队共享领导力行为的产生和对创新绩效的作用：基于垂直领导力的影响

 共享领导力是提高多元性、知识型的组织绩效的有效方式，但已有对研发组织领导力理论的研究大都侧重于垂直领导力对创新的影响，对共享领导力关注不足，而共享领导力作为一种随着团队发展而动态形成的领导力类型，已被证明是提高多元性、知识型组织绩效的有效方式；目前将共享领导力作为整体概念的研究思路能从宏观视角把握其作用机制，但不足以从微观层面揭示共享领导力的动态性的产生和作用。        基于领导力行为理论，从7个行为维度对共享领导力和垂直领导力进行解构，考虑垂直领导力的影响，从微观层面研究共享领导力的产生及对创新绩效的作用。运用访谈和参与性观察对4个研发团队进行全生命周期数据收集，通过多案例研究方法和规范的质性分析技术探究共享领导力行为在团队不同发展阶段的形成过程，以及垂直领导力行为对该形成过程的影响。区分创新绩效中的过程绩效、产品绩效和学习绩效，进一步揭示共享领导力和垂直领导力在促进不同创新绩效过程中发挥的不同作用。        研究结果表明，共享领导力不同行为的产生既直接依赖于垂直领导力，又通过依存环境间接依赖于垂直领导力；共享领导力的不同行为并非一次性形成，而是分别产生于团队生命周期的不同阶段，即在团队构建期首先形成跨边界领导行为，在成员磨合期形成激励行为和关怀行为，在规范执行期形成授权行为和变革领导行为；共享领导力行为的这种动态性决定了其直接作用于团队创新的学习绩效和产品绩效，对过程绩效没有直接作用，而垂直领导力行为则对过程绩效具有直接促进作用，并通过共享领导力间接作用于学习绩效。        在理论层面，从共享领导力行为角度分析其产生和作用，从微观层面挖掘其动态特性，解释了共享领导力和垂直领导力在促进创新绩效过程中的替代和互补关系，从而完善共享领导力的动态概念理论，也为后续的动态研究提供新思路。在实践层面，为研发团队管理中依据团队不同阶段和不同类型的创新绩效需求发展不同的共享领导力行为提供理论支持。     

Is training leaders in functional leadership a useful tool for improving the performance of leadership functions and team effectiveness?

Departing from the functional leadership model, we propose a team leadership training model as a way to improve the performance of leadership functions and foster team effectiveness. Based on a longitudinal quasi-experimental study involving ninety 6-person teams, 45 trained leaders were compared to 45 untrained leaders at two points in time: before the intervention group was subjected to training experience (time 1), and 6 months after the intervention group had completed their training (time 2). Results showed that, compared to the non-trained leaders, the trained leaders registered an improvement in their enactment of leadership functions. Moreover, these results also showed that training leaders led to an improvement in team effectiveness through the development of team leadership functions. The current findings offer new insights into the way that leaders can improve team effectiveness.     

Transformational leadership in context: Face-to-face and virtual teams

This experimental study examined transformational leadership in the context of traditional teams using face-to-face communication and virtual teams using computer-mediated communication. Thirty-nine leaders led both face-to-face and virtual teams. Repeated-measures analyses revealed similar mean levels of transformational leadership in both team types; however, leader rank order varied across team type. Post hoc analyses revealed that the most effective leaders where those who increased their transformational leadership in virtual teams. Furthermore, analyses at the team level revealed that the effect of transformational leadership on team performance was stronger in virtual than in face-to-face teams. Team-member ratings of transformational leadership were equally linked to project satisfaction in face-to-face and virtual teams. Considered as a whole, our results suggest that transformational leadership has a stronger effect in teams that use only computer-mediated communication, and that leaders who increase their transformational leadership behaviors in such teams achieve higher levels of team performance.     

Predictors of the emergence of transformational leadership in virtual decision teams

This study examined the etiology of transformational leadership in virtual team contexts. First, we compared 127 members of virtual decision-making teams with 135 members of traditional face-to-face teams in terms of the relationship between aspects of personality and the emergence of transformational leadership. The type of communication media (face-to-face versus “pure” virtual) was found to interact with extraversion and emotional stability in the prediction of emerging transformational leadership. In line with prior findings, we showed how these personality characteristics were relevant to transformational leadership emergence in our face-to-face teams. However, they were largely unrelated to such leadership in the virtual team context. We also focused specifically on the virtual context by analyzing the content of team interactions. After accounting for the effect of degree of activity level, the linguistic quality in one's written communication was found to predict the emergence of transformational leadership in virtual teams.     

研发团队领导、团队反思与研发团队绩效关系研究

针对研发团队的特点,以团队领导和团队反思理论为基础,提出了研发团队领导、团队反思与团队绩效之间关系的概念模型,并采用SEM方法进行了实证检验。结果表明,变革型领导和交易型领导都会对团队绩效直接产生影响,但前者的影响更显著;变革型领导能够通过团队反思影响团队绩效,而交易型领导不能。团队反思在鼓励性激励、智能激发、个性化关怀三个变量分别与研发团队绩效作用过程中起到了一定的中介作用。     

Authorizing processes changing team autonomy during new product development

One basic feature of recent collaborative team arrangements for organizing new product development is a high degree of autonomy for cross-functional teams. The literature, however, has not provided a very precise analysis of team autonomy in the context of new product development. The theoretical framework advanced here, based on the literature and the authors' case studies, assumes that developing a large and technologically sophisticated new product requires a hierarchy of collaborating teams. In this complex organizational context, managers do not completely predetermine any one team's autonomy. During the course of a new product development program, certain authorizing (deauthorizing) processes produce ad hoc changes in autonomy. This paper identifies specific authorizing processes and hypothesizes about variables that should affect them. The propositions also lead to some managerial implications for preserving team autonomy.     

Structuring Supplier Involvement in New Product Development: A China–U.S. Study

Buying and supplying organizations rely on each other for developing better products in an efficient manner, which explains the popularity of involving suppliers in new product development (NPD). However, such involvement is not always successful, partially due to the challenges of structuring a buyer–supplier team to manage joint dependence and dependence asymmetry. This study adopts an organizational dependence view to examine how three types of intergroup structures—administrative (formalization and centralization), task (task interdependence), and physical (colocation)—influence project performance and buyer learning in NPD projects. Furthermore, adopting a contingency theory perspective, we study whether the national context moderates the effects of intergroup structures on project outcomes. We adopt a two‐group structural equation modeling approach to test hypotheses with survey responses from a sample of NPD projects in the United States (US) and China. Results show different ways in which intergroup structures influence project performance and buyer learning in the two culturally, economically, and institutionally distinct countries. We discuss the implications of these new findings and present directions for future research.     

Leadership clarity and team innovation in health care

The relationships among leadership clarity (i.e., team members' consensual perceptions of clarity of and no conflict over leadership of their teams), team processes, and innovation were examined in health care contexts. The sample comprised 3447 respondents from 98 primary health care teams (PHCTs), 113 community mental health teams (CMHTs), and 72 breast cancer care teams (BCTs). The results revealed that leadership clarity is associated with clear team objectives, high levels of participation, commitment to excellence, and support for innovation. Team processes consistently predicted team innovation across all three samples. Team leadership predicted innovation in the latter two samples, and there was some evidence that team processes partly mediated this relationship. The results imply the need for theory that incorporates clarity and not just style of leadership. For health care teams in particular, and teams in general, the results suggest a need to ensure leadership is clear in teams when innovation is a desirable team performance outcome.     

New product development in turbulent environments: Impact of improvisation and unlearning on new product performance

Team learning is vital for organizations in order to compete in fast-paced environments. However, the ways learning can be effective in such environments warrents research, especially for teams developing new products under rapidly changing technological and market conditions. Interestingly, recent new product development (NPD) literature demonstrates the essential role of improvisation (i.e., planning and executing any action simultaneously) and unlearning (i.e., changes in team beliefs and project routines) for effective learning and performing under turbulent conditions. However, the combined effect of team improvisation and unlearning on new product success (NPS) has largely been ignored. This paper investigates the nomological relations among team improvisation and unlearning, new product success, and environmental turbulence, and contributes to the literature on NPD team learning, and on team flexibility under turbulent conditions. By examining 197 new product-development projects, we found that (1) environmental turbulence positively affects team unlearning, (2) team unlearning concurrently stimulates team improvisation, (3) team improvisation positively impacts new product success by utilizing/implementing new knowledge acquired by unlearning and improvisation. We further discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our conclusions.     

Transformational leadership,job satisfaction,and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust

In spite of calls for deliberate differentiation between individual and team levels of analysis, leadership research based on well-grounded theory referring to multiple levels is scarce. We seek to fill this gap by analyzing the relations between transformational leadership, trust in supervisor and team, job satisfaction, and team performance via multilevel analysis. Results are based on a sample of 360 employees from 39 academic teams. Transformational leadership was positively related to followers' job satisfaction at individual as well as team levels of analysis and to objective team performance. The relation between individual perceptions of supervisors' transformational leadership and job satisfaction was mediated by trust in the supervisor as well as trust in the team. Yet, trust in the team did not mediate the relationship between team perceptions of supervisors' transformational leadership and team performance. Implications for theory and research of leadership at multiple levels as well as for practice are discussed.     

An empirical study of transformational leadership,team performance and service quality in retail banks

The discipline of operations management (OM) has long been offering differing quantitative techniques for improving the efficiency of banking operations. However, there has been a trend in recent years that operations and services of the banking industry are becoming more diverse and unstructured, rendering many traditional OM quantitative techniques less effective in performance improvement. By integrating the literature on banking operations, service quality, leadership style and work teams, we argue that leadership style and team performance are crucial concerns determining the service quality performance of today's banking operations in a team setting. Using data collected from 192 employees from 32 operational teams (a leader and five members in each team) in 15 retail banks in Macau, China, we investigated whether the five dimensions of transformational leadership have an impact on team performance with respect to team cohesion, team leader job satisfaction and team competence; and whether the dimensions of team performance have an impact on such service quality dimensions as reliability and responsiveness. We found that one of the dimensions of transformational leadership and two of the dimensions of team performance have a significant impact on service quality. We discuss the implications of the findings for research and practise.     

HRD,the science of the artificial

Innovation is the bedrock of organizational and national competitiveness across the globe. Leaders of research and development (R&D) teams have an especially important role to play given their direct influence on leading, organizing, rallying, and managing the operations of innovative tasks. However, when it comes to how leaders influence R&D innovation in different contexts, researchers' opinions diverge. This study explores leadership characteristics and their contextual contingencies, using the approach of a multiple case study. This paper is situated in the stream of research focusing on the interactions of leadership and contextual factors in innovation. We collected qualitative data from four highly innovative teams residing in two national laboratories in the US. The results suggest that while leadership demonstrates similarities across the four teams – a simultaneous focus on the internal and external domains, it also displays different characteristics in teams that differ on three contextual factors: funding model, nature of tasks, and team structure. Theoretical and practical implications are drawn.     

Functional leadership in interteam contexts: Understanding ‘what’ in the context of why? where? when? and who?

Research on team leadership has primarily focused on leadership processes targeted within teams, in support of team objectives. Yet, teams are open systems that interact with other teams to achieve proximal as well as distal goals. This review clarifies that defining ‘what’ constitutes functionally effective leadership in interteam contexts requires greater precision with regard to where (within teams, across teams) and why (team goals, system goals) leadership processes are enacted, as well as greater consideration of when and among whom leadership processes arise. We begin by synthesizing findings from empirical studies published over the past 30 years that shed light on questions of what, where, why, when, and who related to interteam leadership and end by providing three overarching recommendations for how research should proceed in order to provide a more comprehensive picture of leadership in interteam contexts.     

How and When Servant Leaders Enable Collective Thriving: The Role of Team–Member Exchange and Political Climate

Thriving teams are critical to the effective functioning of an organization. Extending Spreitzer et al.’s (2005) socially embedded model of thriving at work to the team level, this study explores how and when servant leadership promotes collective thriving. Through data collected from 80 teams composed of 520 employees, the study reveals that servant leaders help embed members in high‐quality team–member exchange relationships, which in turn enables their collective thriving. The authors find that a highly political climate is a dual‐stage moderator hindering the positive impact of servant leadership on collective thriving. The findings move forward extant servant leadership and thriving literature. The authors also offer practical implications for how organizations can nurture and reap benefits from thriving teams and the active role of employees in this process.     

Emergence of shared leadership networks in teams: An adaptive process perspective

Adaptive leadership theory suggests that shared leadership networks grow in a complex manner. We propose that leadership decentralization (the dispersion of leadership), leadership density (the total amount of leadership), and situationally-aligned leadership (SAL: leadership transitions to those who fit situation requirements) are distinct aspects of a shared leadership network and should be examined together to capture the development of shared leadership process. Through a study of 450 participants in 90 teams, we find that each of these three aspects of shared leadership plays a different role during shared leadership network emergence. Specifically, transactive memory systems (TMS) contribute to decentralized leadership structures, which in turn precipitate more dense leadership networks. We also find that TMS contributes to the most situationally aligned team member engaging in leadership. Both leadership density and SAL predict team performance. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results.