Harrie F. J. M. van Tuijl

Personality and team performance: a meta-analysis

Using a meta‐analytical procedure, the relationship between team composition in terms of the Big‐Five personality traits (trait elevation and variability) and team performance were researched. The number of teams upon which analyses were performed ranged from 106 to 527. For the total sample, significant effects were found for elevation in agreeableness (ρ = 0.24) and conscientiousness (ρ = 0.20), and for variability in agreeableness (ρ = −0.12) and conscientiousness (ρ = −0.24). Moderation by type of team was tested for professional teams versus student teams. Moderation results for agreeableness and conscientiousness were in line with the total sample results. However, student and professional teams differed in effects for emotional stability and openness to experience. Based on these results, suggestions for future team composition research are presented. Copyright

Task complexity and task, goal, and reward interdependence in group performance management : A prescriptive model

A prescriptive model on how to design effective combinations of goal setting and contingent rewards for group performance management is presented. The model incorporates the constructs task complexity, task interdependence, goal interdependence, and reward interdependence and specifies optimal fit relationships between these constructs. Four propositions address the levels of goal interdependence that should be created given certain levels of task complexity and task interdependence. Based on the assumption that reward systems should reinforce goal attainment through a level of reward interdependence that is similar to the level of interdependence created by the goals, four additional propositions are formulated. These are confronted with the results of experimental studies on the effects of reward interdependence on group performance. We argue that the research on effective combinations of goal setting and contingent rewards for the performance management of groups will benefit from studies in which: (1) both task interdependence and task complexity are taken into account, and (2) goal interdependence and rewards interdependence are manipulated separately.

Designing in teams : does personality matter?

Twenty-six multidisciplinary student design teams (n = 128) each built a robot that had to perform a specific task in a design contest. For these teams, an input—process—output framework of team member personality (input), generic and specific design behaviors (process), and contest result and supervisor and team member ratings of the design (output) was researched using correlations. Agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to generic design behaviors in both the concept and elaboration phase of the design process. Generic design behaviors were positively related to contest result and team member ratings of the designs technical realization. The conclusions hold implications for design research (multiple process and outcome measures are needed) and practice (attention for personality differences in teams and particular design behaviors in specific design phases foster design outcomes).

Measuring and Enhancing Organizational Productivity by Means of ProMES: Three Practical Implications

A large number of practical experiences that have come from various Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System ProMES projects are organized around what seem to be three essential questions that have to be answered when one aims at productivity improvement. The first question regards the essence of organizational effectiveness and how a group can effectively contribute to that. In other words, the What of productivity improvement. The second question refers to the group s motives to contribute to organizational effectiveness. In other words, the Why of productivity improvement, from the perspective of the employees. The last question deals with the task strategies a group should follow in order to actually improve. In other words, the How of productivity improvement. Along with the description of practical examples some indications for future research are given.