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A team is more than a group of people in the same space, physical or virtual. In recent years, increasing attention has been devoted to the social bases of cognition, taking into consideration how social processes in groups and teams affect performance. This article investigates when and how teams in collaborative learning environments engage in building and maintaining mutually shared cognition, leading to increased perceived performance. In doing so, this research looks for discourse practices managing the co-construction of mutually shared cognition and reveals conditions in the interpersonal context that contribute to engagement in these knowledge-building practices. A comprehensive theoretical framework was developed and tested. The constructs in the model were measured with the Team Learning Beliefs & Behaviors Questionnaire and analyzed using regression and path analysis methodology. Results showed that both interpersonal and sociocognitive processes have to be taken into account to understand the formation of mutually shared cognition, resulting in higher perceived team performance.

The development of a team situation model (TSM), a shared understanding of the current situation developed by team members moment by moment, and its impact on team effectiveness have received minor attention in team research. This study investigates a moderated mediation model including the relationship between the team learning processes of co-construction and constructive conflict, the TSM, and team effectiveness. Forty-seven emergency management command-and-control teams participated in this field study. Their task was to manage a realistic emergency simulation developed and organized by field experts. The multi-rater approach included ratings of team members, researchers, and field experts. Results show that co-construction is related to the TSM under the condition of high constructive conflict. The TSM predicts team effectiveness in terms of the quality of actions at the incident scene.

Team learning behavior is found to be one of the most effective team processes, as learning behavior at the team level (e.g., sharing, discussing, and reflecting on knowledge and actions) enables teams to adapt existing or develop new knowledge. Team leadership behavior is considered a critical accelerant for creating conditions that are essential to engage in team learning behavior, such as a safe environment. Yet despite the growing amount of research in team learning, this relationship remains unclear. Meta-analytic techniques were used to examine when team leadership behaviors support team learning behavior and how the task type moderates that relationship. Forty-three empirical studies reporting 92 effect sizes were synthesized. Analyses show that team leadership behavior explains 18% of the variance in team learning behavior. Furthermore, results indicate that person-focused leaders foster team learning for both adaptive and developmental tasks, whereas task-focused leaders influence team learning for adaptive tasks only.