Challenging the “static” quo: Trajectories of engagement in team processes toward a deadline.

Abstract

Although team effectiveness research has advanced our understanding of team processes, much of this research has been based on static methodologies, despite the recognition that team processes change over time. Thus, the purpose of this article is to advance the team dynamics literature by developing and testing a theoretical account of team engagement in processes toward a deadline. We theorize about team process trajectories, which we suggest is the form of process change over time (i.e., pattern of increase/decrease). Further, we identify a key driver of process trajectories and consider the implications of trajectories for team performance. Results from a series of linear multilevel latent growth models suggested that teams' engagement in strategy and planning, monitoring goal progress, and cooperative conflict management (cf. Marks, Mathieu, & Zaccaro, 2001) increased over time toward a deadline, and that steeper increases tended to be positively related to team performance. Finally, achievement-striving was found to be an important within-team factor driving team-specific process trajectories and was indirectly related to performance. This study provides new theoretical insights with respect to how teams engage in processes toward a deadline, along with team achievement-striving as a compositional input, and the performance implications of team process trajectories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

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