C. Savelsbergh

The Development and Empirical Validation of a Multidimensional Measurement Instrument for Team Learning Behaviors

The importance of teamwork to organizational success in today’s economy has been emphasized in literature for well over a decade. Effective teamwork can only be sustained, however, if it is supported by a process of team learning. Following Edmondson, the authors regard team learning as a group process comprising several concrete learning behaviors. The aim of this article is to report on the development of a conceptual framework and its operationalization into a measurement instrument for behaviors associated with team learning. A better understanding of these distinctive behaviors and their impact on team performance may help tailor interventions aimed at improving team performance. Based on a survey among 19 operational teams in the Dutch banking sector, the authors validated a multidimensional instrument for team learning behaviors. To prevent common-method bias, they used a multirater approach with two respondent groups, namely, team members and leaders (representing the insiders of the team), on one hand, as well as supervisors (representing the external stakeholders of the team), on the other hand. The data indicated a positive relationship between several team learning behaviors and team performance, and partly confirmed their theoretical model.

Team Role Stress: Relationships With Team Learning and Performance in Project Teams

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.

Attitudes towards factors influencing team performance: A multi-rater approach aimed at establishing the relative importance of team learning behaviors in comparison with other predictors of team performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish how teams view the relative importance of team learning behaviors in comparison with other predictors of team performance.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was administered to 30 team members, 19 team leaders, and 21 supervisors of 22 teams from eight Dutch organizations, Respondents were asked to indicate which criteria they applied to evaluate team performance, and which factors they deemed the most important ones in distinguishing between high and poorly performing teams.Findings – The most frequently applied criteria to measure team performance were satisfying quality requirements, reaching the target goals, and customer satisfaction. Respondents evaluated team leadership, goal clarity, and team learning behaviors as main factors influencing team performance. Attitudes of team members, team leaders, and supervisors differed in some respects.Research limitations/implications – The study uses a cross‐sectional approach and a relatively small sampl...

Leren samenwerken op afdelingen en in teams

In dit hoofdstuk bespreken we het proces van samenwerken op afdelingen en in teams. Daaronder verstaan we zowel het samenwerken ‘rond het bed’, als ook op een afdeling of in projectteams. ‘Spelers’ van het team zouden niet alleen individueel, maar ook als team afgerekend kunnen worden op de ‘opbrengst’ van hun team, als onderdeel van hun functioneren. Er komen onder andere acht dimensies aan de orde van teamleergedrag. Dit is een instrument om te reflecteren op de stand van zaken, maar ook om leer- en oefenpunten te formuleren. Daarna geven we een overzicht van kenmerken van afdelingen in zorginstellingen en op basis daarvan de uitdagingen die daaruit volgen voor het samenwerken op afdelingen en in teams. Tot slot geven we concrete werkvormen voor de start van een projectteam of voor het aannemen van nieuwe medewerkers.