Matthew J. Pearsall

Unlocking the Effects of Gender Faultlines on Team Creativity: Is Activation the Key?

The purpose of this study was to use faultline theory to examine the effects of gender diversity on team creativity. Results from 80 teams working on an idea generation task indicated that the activation of gender faultlines negatively affected the number and overall creativity of ideas. However, gender faultlines that were not activated had no effect. Results also indicated that the relationship between activated gender faultlines and team creativity was partially mediated by the level of conflict within the team. Specifically, emotional conflict partially mediated the effects of activated gender faultlines on the number of ideas generated. Implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.

The Effects of Critical Team Member Assertiveness on Team Performance and Satisfaction

In an effort to extend theory and research linking personality to team effectiveness, this study used the workflow networks literature to investigate the effects of critical team member dispositional assertiveness on team performance and satisfaction. Results from 64 teams working on a command-and-control simulation indicated that critical team member dispositional assertiveness positively affected team performance and team satisfaction. Results also indicated that both of those effects were due to improvements in the teams transactive memory system.

Building the infrastructure: The effects of role identification behaviors on team cognition development and performance.

The primary purpose of this study was to extend theory and research regarding the emergence of mental models and transactive memory in teams. Utilizing Kozlowski, Gully, Nason, and Smiths (1999) model of team compilation, we examined the effect of role identification behaviors and posited that such behaviors represent the initial building blocks of team cognition during the role compilation phase of team development. We then hypothesized that team mental models and transactive memory would convey the effects of these behaviors onto team performance in the team compilation phase of development. Results from 60 teams working on a command-and-control simulation supported our hypotheses.

Motivating interdependent teams: individual rewards, shared rewards, or something in between?

The primary purpose in this study was to extend theory and research regarding the motivational process in teams by examining the effects of hybrid rewards on team performance. Further, to better understand the underlying team level mechanisms, the authors examined whether the hypothesized benefits of hybrid over shared and individual rewards were due to increased information allocation and reduced social loafing. Results from 90 teams working on a command-and-control simulation supported the hypotheses. Hybrid rewards led to higher levels of team performance than did individual and shared rewards; these effects were due to improvements in information allocation and reductions in social loafing.

Thick as Thieves: The Effects of Ethical Orientation and Psychological Safety on Unethical Team Behavior

The purpose of this study was to uncover compositional and emergent influences on unethical behavior by teams. Results from 126 teams indicated that the presence of a formalistic orientation within the team was negatively related to collective unethical decisions. Conversely, the presence of a utilitarian orientation within the team was positively related to both unethical decisions and behaviors. Results also indicated that the relationship between utilitarianism and unethical outcomes was moderated by the level of psychological safety within the team, such that teams with high levels of safety were more likely to engage in unethical behaviors. Implications are discussed, as well as potential directions for future research.

Towards an understanding of the role of anticipatory justice in the employment dispute-resolution process: An investigation of EEOC-sponsored mediation

Purpose The paper aims to investigate why organizations often opt to reject Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)-sponsored mediation of employment disputes (in contrast to employees who tend to readily agree to it). It is guided by recent research associated with Shapiro and Kirkman’s (1999, 2001) theory of “anticipatory justice”, whereby (in)justice is anticipated, or expected, when people think about an event they have not yet experienced whose likely fairness they are questioning. In contrast, “organizational justice” reflects people’s retrospective assessments of how fair they have been treated to date. Design/methodology/approach The paper relied upon data made available by the mediation program administered by the US EEOC. The EEOC provided the names and contact information for the officially designated EEOC contacts for each dispute. The authors distributed surveys to each of these organizational representatives and received completed surveys from 492 organizations (a response rate of 85.8 per cent). Findings The authors tested the extent to which organizational representatives’ decision to accept or reject mediation as a means of settling discrimination claims is influenced by representatives’ expectation of more versus less fair treatments – by the opposing party as well as by the third-party mediator – during the mediation procedure. The pattern of findings in the study support all hypotheses and, thus, also the expectation-oriented theories that have guided them. Research limitations/implications The study relies on self-reports. However, this concern is somewhat lessened because of the salience and recency of events to the time of surveying. Practical implications The paper provides new insights on the need for organizations to implement rules, policies and procedures to constrain decision-maker choices consistent with organizational goals. The authors offer specific procedural proposals to reduce this organizational tendency to reject mediation. Social implications Employee grievances are costly to organizations in terms of finances, reputation and to the emotional climate of the organization. Moreover, it is similarly costly to employees. This study provides new insights to better understand why employees (as opposed to organizations) are almost three times more likely to elect mediation of employment disputes. As such, it offers some promising ideas to narrow that gap. Originality/value The paper investigates a little-studied phenomenon – the differential participation rate of employees versus organizations in EEOC-sponsored mediation.