Relationship of Individual Difference and Group Process Variables with Self-Managed Team Performance : A Field Investigation

The efficacy of dispositional individual difference team composition and group process variables in explaining team performance was examined for 1, 030 military officers working in 92 teams over a 5-week period. The teams were assessed on both input variables (conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness, learning and performance goal orientation) and process variables (social cohesion and group potency). Team performance was measured with seven objective performance tasks (team leadership problem solving 1 and 2, computer simulation exercise, physical task exercise, and field operations performance 1, 2, and 3), and two subjective measures (team performance ratings and team member satisfaction). Of the input variables, only emotional stability and performance goal orientation showed any predictive ability. Emotional stability predicted one of the objective criteria- computer simulation exercise. Moreover, performance goal orientation was negatively related to both team leadership problem solving 2 and field operations performance 1. Conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and learning goal orientation showed no relationship with hypothesized criteria. Of the group process variables, group potency exhibited the greatest predictive efficacy as it predicted unique variance in both subjective performance measures and 6 of the 7 objective performance measures over that of social cohesion. Social cohesion predicted unique variance in team member satisfaction over that of group potency. Additionally, social cohesion mediated the relationship between agreeableness and team member satisfaction. Implications, strengths, limitations, and directions for future study are discussed.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Relationship of Individual Difference and Group Process Variables with Self-Managed Team Performance : A Field Investigation', published 2001 under ISBN 9781423524915 and ISBN 1423524918.