Team Players and Collective Performance

Abstract

Previous research on teams has found that agreeableness is one of the strongest personality predictors of team performance, yet one of the weakest personality predictors of individual-level job performance. In this study, we examined why teams with more agreeable members perform better. Data were collected across 4 months at 5 points in time from 107 project teams. We found that agreeableness affects performance through communication and cohesion and that communication precedes cohesion in time. Furthermore, we found that virtualness moderated the relationships between agreeableness and communication, as well as between agreeableness and team performance, such that teams only benefitted from high levels of agreeableness when interacting face-to-face.

The Benefits of Early Diverse and Late Shared Task Cognition

“…In addition, the use of student groups in research on teams is not unprecedented. For example, LeDoux, Gorman, and Woehr (2012) and Glew (2009) studied undergraduates enrolled in a university course to determine the effects of interpersonal perceptions and personal values on team processes and outcomes, and Bradley, Baur, Banford, and Postlethwaite (2013) and Purvanova (2013) collected longitudinal data on student project teams to study the effects of agreeableness and sense of feeling on team performance. In each of these studies, as in our own, care was taken to ensure that the student teams took the work seriously and were invested in it, and that they truly functioned like a work team in an organization as they engaged in interdependent activities to accomplish a shared goal over an extended period of time.…”

Team Performance as a Joint Function of Team Member Satisfaction and Agreeableness

“…As Bradley, Klotz, et al (2013) noted, the majority of team personality research has focused on the main effects of team personality on team performance; yet, the findings are rather inconsistent. Team agreeableness has been given particular attention recently in team research (e.g., Bradley, Bauer, et al, 2013). Yet, like other broad personality traits, the findings regarding the relationship between team agreeableness and team performance are rather mixed, pointing out the possible new direction of treating team agreeableness as a moderator for the relationship between psychological processes and team performance.…”

“…In team research, one important distinction is made between behavior-based processes and affect-based emergent states (Marks et al, 2001). Behavior-based processes represent interactions among team members, whereas affect-based emergent states require more time to develop and serve as affective inputs for subsequent processes and outcomes (Bradley, Bauer, Banford, & Postlethwaite, 2013). Common processes include communication, cooperation, and conflict, whereas common emergent states include cohesion and team affective tone (Bradley, Bauer, et al, 2013).…”

“…Behavior-based processes represent interactions among team members, whereas affect-based emergent states require more time to develop and serve as affective inputs for subsequent processes and outcomes (Bradley, Bauer, Banford, & Postlethwaite, 2013). Common processes include communication, cooperation, and conflict, whereas common emergent states include cohesion and team affective tone (Bradley, Bauer, et al, 2013). The empirical lack of distinction between processes and emergent states largely stems from the scarce data collected at multiple time points (Bradley, Bauer, et al, 2013).…”

“…Common processes include communication, cooperation, and conflict, whereas common emergent states include cohesion and team affective tone (Bradley, Bauer, et al, 2013). The empirical lack of distinction between processes and emergent states largely stems from the scarce data collected at multiple time points (Bradley, Bauer, et al, 2013).…”