Dorothy R. Carter

Social network approaches to leadership: : An integrative conceptual review.

Contemporary definitions of leadership advance a view of the phenomenon as relational, situated in specific social contexts, involving patterned emergent processes, and encompassing both formal and informal influence. Paralleling these views is a growing interest in leveraging social network approaches to study leadership. Social network approaches provide a set of theories and methods with which to articulate and investigate, with greater precision and rigor, the wide variety of relational perspectives implied by contemporary leadership theories. Our goal is to advance this domain through an integrative conceptual review. We begin by answering the question of why-Why adopt a network approach to study leadership? Then, we offer a framework for organizing prior research. Our review reveals 3 areas of research, which we term: (a) leadership in networks, (b) leadership as networks, and (c) leadership in and as networks. By clarifying the conceptual underpinnings, key findings, and themes within each area, this review serves as a foundation for future inquiry that capitalizes on, and programmatically builds upon, the insights of prior work. Our final contribution is to advance an agenda for future research that harnesses the confluent ideas at the intersection of leadership in and as networks. Leadership in and as networks represents a paradigm shift in leadership research-from an emphasis on the static traits and behaviors of formal leaders whose actions are contingent upon situational constraints, toward an emphasis on the complex and patterned relational processes that interact with the embedding social context to jointly constitute leadership emergence and effectiveness.

Charting a course for collaboration: a multiteam perspective

ABSTRACTThe translation of medical research from bench-to-bedside often requires integrated input from multiple expert teams. These collectives can best be understood through the lens of multiteam systems theory. Team charters are a practical tool thought to facilitate team performance through the creation of explicit shared norms for behavior. We extend the current literature on team charters to the multiteam context and make three practical recommendations for multiteam charter content that could facilitate effective communication and leadership processes between teams.

Leadership for Global Virtual Teams: Facilitating Teamwork Processes

This chapter considers the intersection of leadership and global virtual team dynamics. We consider four key developments in the science of team effectiveness as they apply to virtual teams: (a) team emergent states, (b) team phases, (c) teamwork processes, and (d) team leadership functions. First, we elaborate the importance of team emergent states, highlighting their relevance to team success and acknowledging that leadership is a prominent force to help facilitate their development. Second, we describe the interaction processes through which teams develop optimal emergent states and achieve their goals over time. Leadership is needed that shapes team processes throughout the team lifecycle, and thereby team emergent states and performance. In closing, we offer specific, research-based strategies to guide today’s virtual team leaders in enabling optimal team processes, illustrating these suggestions using examples drawn from a large-scale study of in global virtual teams.

Implications of Observability for the Theory and Measurement of Emergent Team Phenomena

Many of the most pivotal mechanisms of team success are emergent phenomena—constructs with conceptual origins at the individual level that coalesce over time through members’ interactions to characterize a team as a whole. Typically, empirical research on teams represents emergent mechanisms as the aggregate of members’ self-report perceptions of the team. This dominant approach assumes members have developed a perception of the emergent property and are able to respond accurately to survey items. Yet emergent phenomena require sufficient time and team interaction before coalescing as perceptible team properties. Attempting to measure an emergent property before it is perceptible can result in inaccurate assessments and substantive conclusions. Therefore, a key purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the underlying characteristics of emergent team phenomena that give rise to their emergence as perceptible and, thus, accurately measurable team characteristics. We advance a conceptual framework that classifies emergent team properties on the basis of the degree to which the construct manifests in overtly observable behaviors, positing that more observable emergent team phenomena require less interaction before emerging as ratable team properties compared to constructs that are less easily observed. Leveraging advances in measurement modeling, we test our conceptual framework in a laboratory sample and a quasi–field study sample, demonstrating a multilevel measurement approach that evaluates the emergence of shared team properties across measurement occasions. Results suggest the observability of emergent team properties is a crucial determinant of the relative speed at which constructs emerge as recognizable, ratable properties of the team.

Conflict, Trust, and Cohesion: Examining Affective and Attitudinal Factors in Science Teams

Abstract In this chapter we discuss attitudinal and affective factors in the context of science teams. We review some of the key findings on conflict, trust, and cohesion in teams and discuss the differentiation between team-related and task-related definitions of each. In so doing, we discuss their relevance to team effectiveness in science teams and provide guidance on notional areas of research for understanding how these are related to effectiveness in science teams.

Team task switching: A conceptual framework for understanding functional work shifts

Modern work environments are technologically and socially rich, requiring individuals to manage multiple tasks that involve different technologies and varying degrees of interdependence. Individual and team performance hinge on functional work shifts that can involve changing tasks (multi-tasking), technologies (multi-tooling), and/or teammates (multi-teaming). We extend research on task switching to explain how the social and technological dimensions of tasks affect switch costs. The task switching literature identifies lateral shifts that occur when individuals change tasks. We also consider vertical switches that occur when individuals change from independent (i.e., working alone) to interdependent work (i.e., as part of a team) or from interdependent to independent work. We then integrate personological, social, task, and technological factors into one conceptual framework. Our framework lays the groundwork for understanding the effect of functional work shifts on task and team performance in modern-day work environments.

How Team Interlock Ecosystems Shape the Assembly of Scientific Teams: A Hypergraph Approach

ABSTRACT Today’s most pressing scientific problems necessitate scientific teamwork; the increasing complexity and specialization of knowledge render “lone geniuses” ill-equipped to make high-impact scientific breakthroughs. Social network research has begun to explore the factors that promote the assembly of scientific teams. However, this work has been limited by network approaches centered conceptually and analytically on “nodes as people,” or “nodes as teams.” In this article, we develop a “team-interlock ecosystem” conceptualization of collaborative environments within which new scientific teams, or other creative team-based enterprises, assemble. Team interlock ecosystems comprise teams linked to one another through overlapping memberships and/or overlapping knowledge domains. They depict teams, people, and knowledge sets as nodes, and thus, present both conceptual advantages as well as methodological challenges. Conceptually, team interlock ecosystems invite novel questions about how the structural characteristics of embedding ecosystems serve as the primordial soup from which new teams assemble. Methodologically, however, studying ecosystems requires the use of more advanced analytics that correspond to the inherently multilevel phenomenon of scientists nested within multiple teams. To address these methodological challenges, we advance the use of hypergraph methodologies combined with bibliometric data and simulation-based approaches to test hypotheses related to the ecosystem drivers of team assembly.

Space Exploration Illuminates the Next Frontier for Teams Research

Effective teamwork is beneficial for organizations on Earth, but is a sine qua non for teams venturing into outer space. The prospect of sending a team to Mars by the year 2030 invites organizational scientists to take stock of what we know and what we still need to know about teams. The team endeavoring to Mars will be multicultural and interdisciplinary, living and working in uncomfortable and dangerous conditions, and doing so in close collaboration with distant teams back on Earth. Tackling the teamwork challenges associated with a mission to Mars present an opportunity to rapidly accelerate the science of teams. In this conceptual review, we explore seven complexities of teams that are both important and understudied. Results of structured interviews with experts on human space exploration regarding the nature of teamwork in long-duration space exploration illuminate seven complexities, or key features of teams, in general, that serve as a catalyst for identifying, informing, and motivating future directions of inquiry about teams. These features, and the research they inspire, may enable organizations to build more effective teams on Earth and beyond.

Teamwork situated in multiteam systems: Key lessons learned and future opportunities.

Many important contexts requiring teamwork, including health care, space exploration, national defense, and scientific discovery, present important challenges that cannot be addressed by a single team working independently. Instead, the complex goals these contexts present often require effectively coordinated efforts of multiple specialized teams working together as a multiteam system (MTS). For almost 2 decades, researchers have endeavored to understand the novelties and nuances for teamwork and collaboration that ensue when teams operate together as “component teams” in these interdependent systems. In this special issue on the settings of teamwork, we aim to synthesize what is known thus far regarding teamwork situated in MTS contexts and offer new directions and considerations for developing, maintaining, and sustaining effective collaboration in MTSs. Our review of extant research on MTSs reveals 7 key lessons learned regarding teamwork situated in MTSs, but also reveals that much is left to learn about the science and practice of ensuring effective multiteam functioning. We elaborate these lessons and delineate 4 major opportunities for advancing the science of MTSs as a critical embedding context for collaboration and teamwork, now and in the future.

The five perils of team planning: Regularities and remedies

1. Organizational Planning: The Psychology of Performance Introduction Michael Frese, Michael D. Mumford, and Carter Gibson 2. Planning Processes: Relevant Cognitive Operations Michael D. Mumford, Jensen T. Mecca, and Logan L. Watts 3. The Planning Fallacy: When Plans Lead to Optimistic Forecasts Roger Buehler and Dale Griffin 4. Personality and Planning: The Interplay Between Linear and Holistic Processing Anna M. Engel and Julius Kuhl 5. Planning: A Mediator in Goal Setting Theory Gary P. Latham and Alana S. Arshoff 6. Emotions and Planning in Organizations Shane Connelly and Genevieve Johnson 7. Planning High Performance: Can Groups and Teams Benefit from Implementation Intentions? J. Lukas Thurmer, Frank Wieber, and Peter M. Gollwitzer 8. Planning for Innovation: The Critical Role of Agility Samuel T. Hunter, Melissa Gutworth, Matthew P. Crayne, and Bradley S. Jayne 9. The Five Perils of Team Planning: Regularities and Remedies Alejandra C. Montoya, Dorothy R. Carter, Jessie Martin, and Leslie A. DeChurch 10. Examining the Multi-Level Effects of Organizational Planning on Performance Nastassia Savage, Shannon Marlow, and Eduardo Salas 11. Expertise in Organizational Planning - Impact on Performance Kenneth N. McKay, Wout van Wezel, and Toni Waefler 12. Biases as Constraints on Planning Performance Dawn L. Eubanks, Daniel Read, and Yael Grushka-Cockayne 13. Planning by Leaders: Factors Influencing Leader Planning Performance Michael D. Mumford, Vincent Giorgini, and Logan Steele 14. Strategic Planning and Firm Performance: Towards a Better Understanding of a Controversial Relationship Laura B. Cardinal, C. Chet Miller, Markus Kreutzer, and Candace TenBrink 15. Planning and Entrepreneurship Michael M. Gielnik, Michael Frese, and Miriam S. Stark 16. Time Management and Procrastination Wendelien van Eerde 17. Training and Development for Organizational Planning Skills Holly K. Osburn, Jenifer M. Hatcher, and Bianca M. Zongrone