The effect of team leaders' Simmelian brokerage on team cooperation from the social network perspective

Abstract

Subgroups within a team can result in differentiation, discord, and even the dissolution of the team. However, previous research has neglected to acknowledge the pivotal role of the team leader in directly coordinating activities among subgroups and has failed to conduct a thorough analysis of the tripartite relationship involving the team leader, subgroups, and the entire team. The study tends to integrate social network perspective to introduce a novel concept, team leaders' simmelian brokerage, that is, team leaders acting as brokers between two or more subgroups, and explore its reconciliation of subgroups' conflicts and subsequent facilitations of team cooperation. This study not only advances the literature on subgroups, but also provides practical guidance for subgroup management.