Daniel R. Ilgen

Consequences of Individual Feedback on Behavior in Organizations

The literature on feedback to individuals was reviewed with respect to its effect on the behavior of individuals in performance-o riented organizations. Although contemporary views of individual behavior in organizations stress that feedback is necessary for effective role performance, little attention is given to the psychological processes affected by it. This review focuses upon the multidimensional nature of feedback as a stimulus and addresses the process by which feedback influences behavior. Emphasis is placed on those aspects of feedback that influence (a) the way it is perceived, (b) its acceptance by the recipient, and (c) the willingness of the recipient to respond to the feedback. Feedback about the effectiveness of an individuals behavior has long been recognized as essential for learning and for motivation in performance-oriented organizations. Not surprisingly, considerable research has been conducted on the subject (see reviews of feedback by Adams, 1968; Ammons, 19S6; Annett, 1969; Bilodeau, 1966; Locke, Cartledge, & Koeppel, 1968; Sassenrath, 1975). Yet, in spite of the large and varied literature, generalizations about the effects of feedback on individuals are few. Several factors contribute to this state of affairs. First, feedback is not a simple stimulus. The diverse elements subsumed under the single rubric of feedback may share the property of conveying some degree of information about past behavior, but they share We wish to thank L. L. Cummings, H. P. Dachler, E. A. Locke, M. M. Greller, D. M. Herold, and J. C. Naylor for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. The research was supported by Grant DAHC 19-76-G-0017 from the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral Sciences, as part of the technical-base research project for the Organizational Development Unit. While the support of the agency is greatly appreciated, the ideas expressed in the article are solely those of the authors and are not to be considered the position of the agency or the U.S.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams

Teams of people working together for a common purpose have been a centerpiece of human social organization ever since our ancient ancestors first banded together to hunt game, raise families, and defend their communities. Human history is largely a story of people working together in groups to explore, achieve, and conquer. Yet, the modern concept of work in large organizations that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is largely a tale of work as a collection of individual jobs. A variety of global forces unfolding over the last two decades, however, has pushed organizations worldwide to restructure work around teams, to enable more rapid, flexible, and adaptive responses to the unexpected. This shift in the structure of work has made team effectiveness a salient organizational concern. Teams touch our lives everyday and their effectiveness is important to well-being across a wide range of societal functions. There is over 50 years of psychological research—literally thousands of studies—focused on understanding and influencing the processes that underlie team effectiveness. Our goal in this monograph is to sift through this voluminous literature to identify what we know, what we think we know, and what we need to know to improve the effectiveness of work groups and teams. We begin by defining team effectiveness and establishing the conceptual underpinnings of our approach to understanding it. We then turn to our review, which concentrates primarily on topics that have well-developed theoretical and empirical foundations, to ensure that our conclusions and recommendations are on firm footing. Our review begins by focusing on cognitive, motivational/affective, and behavioral team processes—processes that enable team members to combine their resources to resolve task demands and, in so doing, be effective. We then turn our attention to identifying interventions, or “levers,” that can shape or align team processes and thereby provide tools and applications that can improve team effectiveness. Topic-specific conclusions and recommendations are given throughout the review. There is a solid foundation for concluding that there is an emerging science of team effectiveness and that findings from this research foundation provide several means to improve team effectiveness. In the concluding section, we summarize our primary findings to highlight specific research, application, and policy recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of work groups and teams.

Time devoted to job and off-job activities, interrole conflict, and affective experiences.

Employed persons (N=120) were surveyed to examine the demands on their time from both work and nonwork activities and the degree of interrole conflict they experienced. Job interference with off-job activities and off-job interference with job commitments were separate but interrelated components of conflict. On-job time was associated with job interference, but off-job time was not linked with off-job interference. Job interference mediated the effect of time demands on satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological strain, whereas satisfaction linked interrole conflict and affective experiences

Cooperation, Competition, and Team Performance: Toward a Contingency Approach

A passive, reusable visual amusement or warning device includes a handle and a number of light diffracting strips bearing an embossed holographically generated diffraction pattern. The diffraction pattern in the foil is produced in a planar format, and the strips bearing the pattern are displayed and viewed in a curved format. Ambient light striking the strips is diffracted to produce a dynamic, kaleidoscopic readily noticed display of brilliant colors.

Team learning: collectively connecting the dots.

This article tests the degree to which personal and situational variables impact the acquisition of knowledge and skill within interactive project teams. On the basis of the literature regarding attentional capacity, constructive controversy, and truth-supported wins, the authors examined the effects of cognitive ability, workload distribution, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and structure on team learning. Results from 109 four-person project teams working on an interdependent command and control simulator indicated that teams learned more when composed of individuals who were high in cognitive ability and when the workload was distributed evenly. Conversely, team learning was negatively affected when teams were composed of individuals who were high in Agreeableness. Finally, teams using a paired structure learned more than teams structured either functionally or divisionally. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.

A theoretical approach to sex discrimination in traditionally masculine occupations

Abstract An In-Basket simulation was designed to examine occupational sex discrimination at the time the employee sought access to the organization (access discrimination), and once the employee was on job (treatment discrimination). Two access variables; (1) the decision to hire and (2) starting salary, and the five treatment variables: (1) employee development, (2) delegation of work assignments, (3) employee evaluation, (4) distribution of rewards, and (5) promotion were investigated. Although participants hired a female as frequently as an identically qualified male, the female was offered a significantly lower starting salary. Once within the organization the female was assigned to routine tasks more frequently than to challenging ones. Also, second year salary offer increased the initial salary discrepancy between sexes which occurred at hiring. The results were discussed in light of Attribution Theory, Equity Theory, and the role of stereotypes.

Backing up behaviors in teams: the role of personality and legitimacy of need.

In this article, the authors developed several hypotheses regarding both the main and interactive effects of 2 types of team inputs on backing up behaviors in teams: (a) team composition characteristics in terms of the personality of the members of the team and (b) team task characteristics in terms of the extent to which the nature of the task is one that legitimately calls for some members of the team to back up other members of the team. Results from a study of 71 4-person teams performing a computerized tactical decision-making task suggest that the legitimacy of the need for back up has an important main effect on the extent to which team members provide assistance to and receive assistance from each other. In addition, the legitimacy of the need for back up also has important interactive effects with both the personality of the back up recipient and the personality of the back up providers on backing up behaviors in teams.

Structural contingency theory and individual differences: Examination of external and internal person-team fit

This article develops and tests a structurally based, integrated theory of person-team fit. The theory developed is an extension of structural contingency theory and considers issues of external fit simultaneously with its examination of internal fit at the team level. Results from 80 teams working on an interdependent team task indicate that divisional structures demand high levels of cognitive ability on the part of teammembers. However, the advantages of high cognitive ability in divisional structures are neutralized when there is poor external fit between the structure and the environment. Instead, emotional stability becomes a critical factor among teammembers when a divisional structure is out of alignment with its environment. Individual differences seem to play little or no role in functional structures, regardless of the degree of external fit.

Multiple professional identities: examining differences in identification across work-related targets.

Although there is a growing literature on organizational identification, relatively little research has investigated other possible targets of identification. In a sample of veterinarians working in a wide range of organizations, the authors compared their identification with the veterinary profession, their organization, and their workgroup. The authors found different patterns of identification across these targets depending on whether the individual (a) worked in a veterinary medicine or nonveterinary medicine organization and (b) was an owner/partner or an associate. Owners of veterinary medicine organizations identified more with the organization than with either the profession or their workgroup. Associates in veterinary medicine organizations identified more with the organization and the workgroup than with the profession. Veterinarians in nonveterinary medicine organizations identified more with the profession and their workgroup than with the organization. Identification with each of the targets provided independent predictive validity of job satisfaction.

Bearing Bad News: Reactions to Negative Performance Feedback

Knowledge of results plays a major role in almost all learning and motivational theories of task performance. Central to all these is the belief that it is necessary to feed back to employees information about the degree to which they have or have not met performance standards. In particular, information about performance that falls short of the standard (typically termed negative feedback) is a necessary but not sufficient condition for corrective action. However, reactions to negative feedback frequently do not produce the desired effect of improving performance even in cases where the person is capable of better performance. This article presents a model of negative feedback incorporating situational and individual characteristics that appear to impact motivation to respond to negative feedback.