How Knowledge Worker Teams Deal Effectively with Task Uncertainty: The Impact of Transformational Leadership and Group Development

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to clarify how leadership is able to improve team effectiveness, by means of its influence on group processes (i.e., increasing group development) and on the group task (i.e., decreasing task uncertainty). Four hundred and eight members of 107 teams in a German research and development (R&D) organization completed a web-based survey; they provided measures of transformational leadership, group development, 2 aspects of task uncertainty, task interdependence, and team effectiveness. In 54 of these teams, the leaders answered a web-based survey on team effectiveness. We tested the model with the data from team members, using structural equations modeling. Group development and a task uncertainty measurement that refers to unstable demands from outside the team partially mediate the effect of transformational leadership on team effectiveness in R&D organizations (p < 0.05). Although transformational leaders reduce unclarity of goals (p < 0.05), this seems not to contribute to team effectiveness. The data provided by the leaders was used to assess common source bias, which did not affect the interpretability of the results. Limitations include cross-sectional data and a lower than expected variance of task uncertainty across different job types. This paper contributes to understanding how knowledge worker teams deal effectively with task uncertainty and confirms the importance of group development in this context. This is the first study to examine the effects of transformational leadership and team processes on team effectiveness considering the task characteristics uncertainty and interdependence.

How and When Do Leaders Influence Employees’ Well-Being? Moderated Mediation Models for Job Demands and Resources

“…Second, it is defined as "a state physio-psychological sensation, addressing people's perceptions of psychological and physiological states" (Glazer and Beehr, 2005, 469) and includes both, physiological and psychological outcomes of stress. Third, anxiety is especially related to RA across different countries (Glazer and Beehr, 2005) in working environments that are characterized by uncertainty and ambiguity (Leuteritz et al, 2017;Peters et al, 2017). Fourth, it has also been conceptualized as the most proximal response in supervisorsubordinate relationships that is directed internally (Pyc et al, 2016).…”

“…RA, which has been linked with multiple indicators of strain, e.g., the frequency of symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, hyper-alertness (Dobreva-Martinova et al, 2002), and tension/anxiety (Parker and DeCotiis, 1983;Glazer and Beehr, 2005), is prevalent in research organizations (Schulz, 2013), and thus, relevant to our sample that consisted of employees of a research organization. Those knowledge workers are often confronted with uncertain tasks, conflicting priorities, multiple stakeholders, and requirements that may exceed their available resources (Savelsbergh et al, 2012;Leuteritz et al, 2017). At the same time, teams often suffer compositional changes that provoke a change in responsibilities which may, in turn, result as unclear or incompatible (Alcover et al, 2011).…”

“…For example, it is a basic tenet in psychological science that stress originates from dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty (Peters et al, 2017). This is especially applicable to knowledge workers that are exposed to uncertain tasks, tough deadlines, and conflicting requirements (e.g., Savelsbergh et al, 2012;Leuteritz et al, 2017). Consequently, organizations need to prepare their employees successfully to deal with ambiguity and provide the necessary resources for wellbeing.…”

Transformational Leadership, Career Adaptability, and Work Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Task Variety

“…For example, Wu and Wang (2015) found that the effect of TFL on team proactivity is stronger when the team task variety is higher. Besides, TFL is more likely to emerge and take effect when the environment is unstable, uncertain, or turbulent (Leuteritz et al, 2017). Accordingly, we expect that if the job design offers some degree of variety, TFL might be more supportive to promote employees' career adaptability.…”

“…For another, low task variety provides fewer opportunities for employees to adopt different skills and develop their capabilities (Pan et al, 2018). Employees follow routine methods to work and are less dependent on transformational leaders' effort at motivating their self-efficacy and capabilities (Leuteritz et al, 2017). Thus, the functioning of TFL on employees' career adaptability is restrained when task variety is low (Aggarwal and Krishnan, 2013).…”