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This paper focuses on a kind of reasoning in which the members of a group with a goal of its own may engage, herein referred to as "real team reasoning." Starting with four challenging observations on what is, and is not, involved in acting together towards a group or collective goal, an account of a collective goal that accords with these observations is offered. This account appeals to a joint commitment of the parties, understood as is explained. Several virtues of the account are noted, and it is defended against a methodological objection privileging theoretical parsimony by reference in part to the need to invoke joint commitment in other contexts.

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.

Seeks to determine the impact managerial controls have on the effectiveness of virtual teams. Using an experimental design compares self‐directed virtual teams to counterparts where behavior controls are used as a method of managerial control. The data were collected using 51 student teams of three or four members each from three different countries. The results indicate that the most satisfied team members were in virtual teams with effective coordination and communication. Members of self‐directed virtual teams report higher individual satisfaction with the team and project, while different control structures had no significant impact on virtual team performance. Future research should investigate how these findings generalize to organizational workers, rather than just looking at students. This paper is just a first step investigating one type of managerial control: behavior controls. The small amount of research that has been published on virtual teams has primarily concentrated on self‐directed teams. This paper compares results of team effectiveness by looking at both self‐directed virtual teams and virtual teams with behavioral controls enforced.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between team political skill, i.e., the mean level of political skill among team members, and team performance. Specifically, it proposes that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon a common professional background as well as collective team commitment within the team.Design/methodology/approachData from 45 service teams with 295 team members and their supervisors were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression.FindingsThe results show that a common professional background and collective team commitment serve as crucial contingencies for the relationship between team political skill and team performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study complements previous individual-level research demonstrating a positive relation between political skill and relevant outcomes by highlighting that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon other team characteristics.Practical implicationsTo enhance team performance, managers should carefully consider the interplay between team political skill and other team characteristics when making staffing decisions.Originality/valueThe study highlights the relation of political skill with team performance and points to a potential downside of political skill in organizations.

In this article we propose to go beyond the dichotomy of virtual vs collocated teams to look instead at virtuality in teams. In so doing, we argue that technology-mediated interactions do not substitute but rather complement face-to-face interactions.We adopt a definition of virtuality in teams based on discontinuities and pursue an understanding of their dynamics in an in-depth case study of an inter-organizational virtual centre of excellence.The findings present evidence suggesting the formation of 'virtual continuities' that mitigate the effects that create discontinuities. This, we argue, enriches our understanding of the complex dynamics of virtuality. The theoretical implications are discussed.

Although role stress literature has almost exclusively focused on individual role incumbents, it is conceivable that shared conditions of ambiguity, conflict, and quantitative or qualitative overload may give rise to a collective experience of role stress in teams. Testing a multilevel mediation model among 38 Dutch project teams ( N = 283), we studied the interplay among individual and team role stress, team learning behaviors, and individual and team performance. Team role stress was discerned as a separate construct next to individual role stress. Team quantitative role overload, in particular, impeded team and individual performance by inhibiting team learning behaviors and, indirectly, also hindered individual performance by increasing individual quantitative overload.

Work group literature has recently focused on team process improvement, which refers to a learning process within the team, including the review of recent work methods and objectives and the development of alternative working strategies. Until now, however, no systematic empirical effort has been undertaken to empirically explore the dimensionality of team process improvement, although a dual focus, namely, team reflection and team adaptation, is theoretically accepted. The authors thus examined a two-dimensional structure of team process improvement by distinguishing team reflection and team adaptation in two studies using an experimental and a field design. Confirmatory factor analyses results of both studies provide evidence for the hypothesized two-dimensional structure of team process improvement. Additionally, the field study of organizational teams show that team reflection and team adaptation predict team performance to some extent.

TeamXchange, an online team-based exercise, is described. TeamXchange is consistent with the collaborative model of learning and provides a means of fostering enhanced student learning and engagement through collaboration in virtual teams experiencing periodic membership changes. It was administered in an undergraduate Organizational Behavior course over two 4-week sessions using WebCT classroom support technology. Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate some support for the exercise objectives. Specifically, learning of course material, learning about teamwork, and confidence for working in virtual teams were enhanced among those without prior experience working in virtual teams. Team cohesiveness and social loafing behavior were lower in fluid teams than in stable teams. Finally, introverted individuals perceived themselves as having more influence and their teams as more cohesive and communicative than did more extraverted individuals. These results suggest the potential value of TeamXchange, especially for those who have not previously been exposed to virtual teams or who are normally more reticent in face-to-face team or large-class settings. Exercise implications and lessons learned are discussed.