Team Leader Structuring for Team Effectiveness and Team Learning in Command-and-Control Teams

Abstract

Due to their crucial and highly consequential task, it is of utmost importance to understand the levers leading to effectiveness of multidisciplinary emergency management command-and-control (EMCC) teams. We argue that the formal EMCC team leader needs to initiate structure in the team meetings to support organizing the work as well as facilitate team learning, especially the team learning process of constructive conflict. In a sample of 17 EMCC teams performing a realistic EMCC exercise, including one or two team meetings (28 in sum), we coded the team leader’s verbal structuring behaviors (1,704 events), rated constructive conflict by external experts, and rated team effectiveness by field experts. Results show that leaders of effective teams use structuring behaviors more often (except asking procedural questions) but decreasingly over time. They support constructive conflict by clarifying and by making summaries that conclude in a command or decision in a decreasing frequency over time.

When Leadership Powers Team Learning: A Meta-Analysis

“…For example, differences in status can lead to obstructive domination by members with more authority ( Brooks, 1994 ), and members can experience a cognitive overload when facing unstructured tasks ( De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ). For this reason, it is argued that engaging in team learning behavior needs to be encouraged through team leadership behavior (e.g., Van der Haar, Koeslag-Kreunen, Euwe, & Segers, 2017 ). Team leadership behavior is defined as “the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives” ( Yukl, 2010 , p. 8).…”

Using sensor technology to capture the structure and content of team interactions in medical emergency teams during stressful moments

“…For the team leader, communicating clear goals and a clear task distribution has proven to reduce the emotional reactions by team members, leading to an increase in performance in stressful situations (Zaccaro et al, 2001;Andersen, Jensen, Lippert, & Østergaard, 2010;Marsch et al, 2004). Moreover, research in emergency command-and-control teams has shown the importance of leader structuring behavior, such as clarifying and summarizing (van der Haar et al, 2017). During resuscitation, the use of closed-loop-communication is advocated to avoid errors (Fernandez Castelao et al, 2013).…”

Multidisciplinary Teams on the Battlefield: An Innovative Approach to Overcrowded Field Hospitals and Trauma Centers

“…Having organized behavior in medical teams could save time and increase efficacy. 1 In such a situation, multidisciplinary groups consisting at minimum of an emergency medicine specialist, trauma surgeon, and anesthesiologist could help overcome the problem. Recently, multidisciplinary care teams have been introduced in some medical management teams.…”