The authors developed and tested a longitudinal multilevel model of collective efficacy formation. In 50 self-managing student teams, they investigated the effects of individual-level and team-level factors on observed behaviors and the subsequent development of collective efficacy for mastering a complex team task. Self-efficacy for teamwork, task-relevant knowledge, and collective efficacy predicted individual teamwork behaviors (rated by peers). Aggregated measures of teamwork behavior were related to subsequent collective efficacy, which was significantly related to final team performance.

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Uniting separate research streams on situational and dispositional goals, we investigated goal setting and goal orientation together in a complex business simulation. A specific learning goal led to higher performance than did either a specific performance goal or a vague goal. Goal orientation predicted performance when the goal was vague. The performance goal attenuated correlations between goal orientation and performance. The correlation between a learning goal orientation and performance was significant when a learning goal was set. Self-efficacy and information search mediated the effect of a learning goal on performance. This research was supported, in part, by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grants to the first and second authors. We thank Edwin Locke, Don VandeWalle, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments on a draft of this paper.

SummaryThis research examines whether the relationship between an individual's personality and their behavior within a team is contingent on the team's overall perception of its capability. Individuals were peer-rated on the extent to which they displayed interpersonal and performance management teamwork behaviors over the course of an 8 week business simulation. The personality trait of agreeableness predicted interpersonal teamwork behavior, while the personality traits of conscientiousness and core self-evaluation (CSE) predicted performance management behavior. Multilevel analysis showed that collective efficacy influenced the extent to which an individual engaged in both types of behavior, and was also a cross-level moderator of the relationship between agreeableness and interpersonal behavior and the relationship between CSE and performance management behavior. This study takes a multilevel approach to examine the possibility that the relationship between an individual's personality and their behavior within a team is contingent on the team's perception of its capability. This shared perception of team capability, known as collective efficacy, has been defined as ''a group's belief in their conjoint capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given levels of attainments'' (Bandura, 1997, p. 477 A substantial volume of research has also emerged on the role of personality in teams, and much of this research has centered on the relationships between personality traits, under different forms of compilation, and team performance (e.g., Barrick et al., 1998). Thus, we know a great deal about how personality composition, such as the average of, or variance between, team members' scores on a trait relates to team outcomes (Bell, 2007). What we know less about, however, is how individual personality and team-level characteristics (such as collective efficacy) interact to influence how individuals behave in teams. This study focuses on linkages between personality traits and individual behavior, rather than team-level composition effects because although research on team composition has demonstrated that team member personality is associated with team performance, it has provided less insight into the mediating processes through which personality is linked to performance (a noteworthy exception is a study by Stewart, Fulmer, & Barrick, 2005).One of the primary ideas we advance is that collective efficacy, which is a team-level emergent state, influences the relationship between individual traits and individual behavior. As we discuss below, collective efficacy exerts cross-level effects on the relationship between personality and behavior by encouraging (or discouraging) the display of trait-relevant behaviors. Treating collective efficacy as a variable that contextualizes individual personality to behavior relationships is consistent with the definition of context put forth by Johns (2006); specifically, that context refers to ''situational opportunities and constraints that affect...

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SummaryResearchers have been challenged to specify the processes that quality improvement (QI) practices could be expected to generate and to explain how they might contribute to organizational effectiveness. This research article meets that challenge through a study of 97 teams in the health care field. The authors developed a 'Quality Improvement Practices Index' and showed that QI practices could be differentiated from traditional team-level variables, and that such practices affect both directly and indirectly (through team-level variables) team effectiveness. Two models were tested using structural equation modelling. It was found that the perceptions of the impact of QI practices on team effectiveness varied depending on who was assessing the team's performance-members of the team or managers who were external to the team but responsible for the team's performance. The authors discuss the implications of these results both for researchers and practitioners.

This article describes the results of a study designed to understand h how health care organizations use patient feedback. The article examines the organizational factors and the barriers that influence patient feedback use and concludes with propositions that can serve to guide future action and research in this area.

Trust serves as the foundation for social harmony and prosperity, but it is not always easy to build. When people see other groups as different, e.g., members of a different race or ethnicity, the perceived boundary often obstructs people from extending trust. This may result in interracial conflicts. The current research argues that individual differences in the lay theory of race can systematically influence the degree to which people extend trust to a racial outgroup in conflict situations. The lay theory of race refers to the extent to which people believe race is a malleable social construct that can change over time (i.e., social constructionist beliefs) versus a fixed essence that differentiates people into meaningful social categories (i.e., essentialist beliefs). In our three studies, we found evidence that social constructionist (vs. essentialist) beliefs promoted interracial trust in intergroup contexts, and that this effect held regardless of whether the lay theory of race was measured (Studies 1 and 3) or manipulated (Study 2), and whether the conflict was presented in a team conflict scenario (Study 1), social dilemma (Study 2), or a face-to-face dyadic negotiation (Study 3). In addition, results revealed that the lay theory's effect on interracial trust could have critical downstream consequences in conflict, namely cooperation and mutually beneficial negotiation outcomes. The findings together reveal that the lay theory of race can reliably influence interracial trust and presents a promising direction for understanding interracial relations and improving intergroup harmony in society.