Paul E. Tesluk

The Impact of Team Empowerment on Virtual Team Performance: The Moderating Role of Face-to-Face Interaction

We investigated the relationship between team empowerment and virtual team performance and the moderating role of the extent of face-to-face interaction using 35 sales and service virtual teams in a high-technology organization. Team empowerment was positively related to two independent assessments of virtual team performance— process improvement and customer satisfaction. Further, the number of face-to-face meetings moderated the relationship between team empowerment and process improvement: team empowerment was a stronger predictor for teams that met face-toface less, rather than more, frequently.

A Comparison of Approaches to Forming Composite Measures in Structural Equation Models

A common practice in applications of structural equation modeling techniques is to create composite measures from individual items. The purpose of this article was to provide an empirical comparison of several composite formation methods on model fit. Data from 1, 177 public school teachers were used to test a model of union commitment in which alternative composite formation methods were used to specify the measurement components of the model. Bootstrapping procedures were used to generate data for two additional sample sizes. Results indicated that the use of composites, in general, resulted in improved overall model fit as compared to treating all items as individual indicators. Lambda values and explained criterion variance indicated that this improved model fit was due to the creation of strong measurement models. Implications of these results for researchers using composites are discussed.

A Multilevel Investigation of the Motivational Mechanisms Underlying Knowledge Sharing and Performance

This study draws on three different, yet complementary, theories of motivation, which we combine in an interactive manner, to explain the mechanisms that underlie the exchange between knowledge providers and recipients and ultimately impact performance. More specifically, we use incentive, goal-setting-social cognitive, and social motivation theories to examine knowledge sharing within dyads and its influence on individual performance. One hundred and twenty participants functioning as interdependent manager dyads completed a strategic decision-making simulation. Hierarchical regression and random coefficient modeling techniques were used to test hypothesized relationships. Results demonstrated that the effect of group-oriented incentive systems on the knowledge provider was enhanced when more positive norms for knowledge sharing existed among dyad members. The recipients self-efficacy had a stronger relationship with performance goals when the recipient trusted the provider. Finally, self-set goals and knowledge sharing had both direct and interactive effects on individual performance. We argue that these findings constitute a useful advance in middle-range motivation (Landy and Becker 1987, Pinder 1984) theory pertaining to knowledge sharing and utilization.

A Longitudinal Study of Team Conflict, Conflict Management, Cohesion, and Team Effectiveness

This study examines the relationships among team conflict, conflict management, cohesion, and team effectiveness. Data are collected longitudinally from 53 teams, and the results indicate that conflict management has a direct, positive effect on team cohesion and moderates the relationship between relationship conflict and team cohesion as well as that between task conflict and team cohesion. These results suggest that a high level of conflict management not only has a direct impact on team cohesion but also alters the negative and positive effects of relationship conflict and task conflict, respectively, on team cohesion. We also found team cohesion to be positively related to perceived performance, satisfaction with the team, and team viability. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Innovation At and Across Multiple Levels of Analysis

In this introductory article for the Special Issue on Innovation At and Across Multiple Levels of Analysis, we review major streams of extant research on innovation to establish a clear role for multilevel theory and research within this domain. We then examine and illustrate two fundamental and complementary approaches for investigating multilevel linkages---bottom-up emergent processes and top-down processes. In a brief commentary on each paper in the special issue, we overview the conceptual questions addressed by the research, identify the particular model of multilevel effects that serves as its foundation, and suggest how the use of multilevel models provides insights that help us better understand how innovation phenomena at one level of analysis are linked to those at another, thus providing a richer and more complete perspective on innovation. We conclude by identifying major methodological and applied contributions of the special issue and suggesting future research directions for the study of innovation at and across multiple levels of analysis.

Understanding Managerial Development: Integrating Developmental Assignments, Learning Orientation, and Access to Developmental Opportunities in Predicting Managerial Competencies

Integrating the work experience, leadership development, and learning literatures, we developed and tested a model of managerial development linking experience in highly developmental assignments, ...

The Impact of Demographic Heterogeneity and Team Leader-Team Member Demographic Fit on Team Empowerment and Effectiveness:

The authors report the results of an investigation on how demographic heterogeneity in work teams influences team empowerment and team effectiveness. Using data collected from 111 intact work teams in four organizations, it was found that team race heterogeneity was negatively related to team empowerment and to multiple indicators of team effectiveness. Teams were also less effective when their team leaders had longer, rather than shorter, organizational tenure. Team empowerment fully mediated the relationships that race heterogeneity had with team leader ratings of team effectiveness and partially mediated the relationships with team member ratings. In addition, demographic dissimilarity between team leaders and their teams on race was negatively related to empowerment and team leader ratings of team effectiveness; and team members reported less empowerment when led by older team leaders. The authors discuss both theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

Examining Employee Involvement in the Context of Participative Work Environments

A systems-based, guided examination of employee involvement (EI) in the context of participative climates is presented. The authors proposed a theoretical multi-cross-level model to examine the relationship between participative climates as they exist at top and middle organizational levels and employee attitudes and behaviors. Data from an organization consisting of 11 relatively autonomous districts further divided into 88 units were used to examine the relationship of EI practices, participative climates, and individual (n = 483) work-related attitudes and involvement in the EI process. Results indicated that district and unit participative climates interacted with one another in influencing work-related attitudes and behaviors. The importance of multiple participative climates operating in relation to one another to influence individual attitudes and behaviors, and how these climates are supported, is discussed.

Knowledge Management Processes and Work Group Innovation.

Abstract: Following a selective review of theoretical models and empirical research on work group effectiveness and innovation, we present a dynamic model of work group innovation. Our model integrates recent advances in taxonomies of work group processes and stages of the innovation process with a focus on the temporal nature of innovation. We also provide a discussion of the specific inputs, group processes, emergent states, and outcomes that appear to be most relevant for each of the various stages of work group innovation.

Comparing Consensus- and Aggregation-Based Methods of Measuring Team-Level Variables: The Role of Relationship Conflict and Conflict Management Processes

Using data collected from 53 student teams, the authors examine the relationships between team cohesion as measured through aggregation of individual team member responses and consensus methods and two outcome variables. They examine whether the different methods of assessment affect the strength of the relationships between cohesion and the outcome variables in cases of high and low relationship conflict and conflict management. Moderated regression results reveal three-way interactions among cohesion, method of assessment, and conflict management on team satisfaction and perceived team performance; in addition, the authors find support for a three-way interaction between cohesion, method of assessment, and relationship conflict on perceived team performance. The pattern of findings suggests that the team consensus approach to assessing cohesion may result in stronger relationships with outcome variables than the individual aggregation method only when teams are able to manage relationship conflict effectively. The findings and their implications for measuring team-level variables are discussed.