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Key research themes
1. How do shared mental models and cohesion mechanisms influence team performance?
This research area investigates how cognitive and social constructs like shared mental models (SMMs), team mental models (TMMs), collective efficacy, and cohesion interact to shape team coordination, collective decision-making, and overall performance. It focuses on understanding the antecedents and consequences of these constructs within team dynamics, particularly in sports and high-stakes environments, providing insight into how cognitive alignment and social bonds foster team effectiveness.
Key finding: This study empirically demonstrated that team cohesion acts as an exogenous predictor of both team mental models (TMMs) and collective efficacy (CE), with TMM and CE being correlated and jointly predicting perceived... Read more
Key finding: The study found that task cohesion is positively and significantly correlated with collective efficacy, whereas social cohesion did not significantly correlate. This indicates that athletes’ shared commitment to task goals... Read more
Key finding: Through an experimental design, the research established that productivity norms moderate the cohesion-performance relationship such that under high cohesion, teams with high productivity norms significantly increase... Read more
Key finding: The case studies documented practical interventions where elite rugby union coaches successfully developed and implemented shared mental models (SMMs) to enhance collective decision-making and coordination. Coaches reported... Read more
Key finding: Using computational modeling, this study evidenced that higher levels of social learning and prior team familiarity contribute to the formation of accurate team mental models, leading to enhanced team performance measured by... Read more
2. What cognitive and knowledge-based factors contribute to team effectiveness and how can they be leveraged?
This theme centers on how team knowledge structures—including taskwork knowledge, teamwork knowledge, and team-specific human capital—affect team learning behaviors, coordination, satisfaction, and performance outcomes. It explores mechanisms through which shared knowledge and accumulated team-specific expertise translate into superior team outputs. Understanding these knowledge-based antecedents provides actionable insights for designing training, team composition, and knowledge management to optimize team effectiveness.
Key finding: This longitudinal study demonstrated that shared teamwork knowledge (understanding of interpersonal coordination) directly impacts team satisfaction and performance, with team learning behavior mediating this relationship.... Read more
Key finding: Examining professional football teams using panel data, the research showed that team member tenure (team-specific human capital) positively affects team performance, and that managerial team-specific human capital enhances... Read more
Key finding: This research developed a validated multidimensional measure of team development encompassing both task and interpersonal dimensions. Teams at higher stages of development manifest stronger viability, extra-role performance,... Read more
Key finding: The computational study revealed that social learning modes and prior team familiarity foster the formation of team mental models which enhance coordination and efficiency, reducing communication burden. This elucidates... Read more
Key finding: The work proposes a model for maximizing positive team experiences and minimizing social loafing and heroism in student teams. It argues that aligning team members with similar academic abilities and fostering balanced... Read more
3. How do leadership behaviors and organizational context shape teamwork and team performance?
This body of research focuses on the influence of leadership styles, team empowerment, organizational culture, and contextual factors such as environment type on fostering cooperation, cohesion, communication, and ultimately team performance. It integrates psychological theories of leadership with human resource management and organizational behavior to understand how effective leadership practices and cultural moderators optimize team functioning in both stable and extreme environments.
Key finding: The study found that teams expecting to operate in extreme environments develop and maintain significantly higher levels of teamwork compared to teams in non-extreme environments, both during training and deployment phases.... Read more
Key finding: Empirical evidence showed that benevolent leadership negatively influences team empowerment indirectly via improved team performance and reduced employee silence behaviors. Furthermore, corporate social responsibility... Read more
Key finding: Quantitative analysis found that the Star Intrapreneur Framework positively influences both knowledge sharing behavior and team performance, with partial mediation through knowledge sharing. Organizational culture, as well as... Read more
Key finding: The conceptual paper highlights task cohesion as a leadership-driven construct essential for team unity and performance, emphasizing shared goals, role clarity, accountability, and communication. It identifies leadership... Read more
Key finding: The commentary synthesizes evidence indicating that appropriate use of humor by leaders and team members in surgical teams reduces stress, enhances interpersonal trust, breaks down hierarchical barriers, and facilitates... Read more