It has been over a decade since organizational researchers began seriously grappling with the phenomenon of multiteam systems (MTSs) as an organizational form spanning traditional team and organizational boundaries. The MTS concept has been met with great enthusiasm as an organizational form that solves both theoretical and practical challenges. However, the development of the MTS domain has been stifled by the absence of theory that clearly delineates the core dimensions influencing the interactions between the individuals and teams operating within them. We contribute to such theory building by creating a multidimensional framework that centers on two key structural features of MTSs—differentiation and dynamism—that create distinct forces affecting individual and team behavior within the system. Differentiation characterizes the degree of difference and separation between MTS component teams at a particular point in time, whereas dynamism describes the variability and instability of the system over time. For each dimension, we discuss the underlying subdimensions that explain how structural features generate boundary-enhancing and disruptive forces in MTSs. We then advance a mesolevel theory of MTS functioning that associates those forces with individuals’ needs and motives, which, in turn, compile upward to form team and MTS emergent states. Finally, we discuss coordination mechanisms that offset or compensate for the structural effects and serve to cohere the MTS component teams. The theoretical and practical implications of our work and an agenda for future research are then discussed.

The composition of the workforce with regard to organizational tenure is rapidly changing. In this paper, we examine the cross-level effects of tenure diversity on individual-level creativity. In keeping with the categorization-elaboration model, we propose individual-level explicit knowledge as a mediating mechanism between tenure diversity and individual creativity, and knowledge sharing as moderating the relationship between tenure diversity and individual explicit knowledge. Using a sample of 341 Korean insurance agents from 76 groups, we find that knowledge sharing moderates the relationship between tenure diversity and individual explicit knowledge. Results further support the direction of the hypothesized relationships, with tenure diversity positively influencing individual explicit knowledge at high levels of knowledge sharing and exhibiting a negative influence at low levels. Individual explicit knowledge carries these indirect effects to individual creativity, although directional significance was only found at extremely high and low values. Practitioner PointsTenure diversity is now a fact of organizational life that managers need to embrace. While our results suggest that tenure diversity is positively related to individual creativity, individual explicit knowledge and knowledge sharing play important roles in the association. Knowledge sharing appears to be a key boundary condition, which modifies the influence of tenure diversity on individual explicit knowledge. Working in a diverse group is not enough; the knowledge has to be shared.

No abstract

Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro (2001) advanced a theory and framework of team processes that has garnered much attention and guided numerous investigations. They proposed that 10 first-order constructs (e.g., strategy formulation, coordination, conflict management) would map to three second-order constructs (i.e., transition, action, and interpersonal). Despite the popularity of this framework, we are unaware of any validated multiitem measures of the team processes they identified. Accordingly, we develop and demonstrate content and construct validity of 50-, 30-, and 10-item versions of a survey measure of team processes. Using data from over 700 teams, we test Marks et al.’s higher-order model and find results that are largely consistent with both their 10 first-order dimensions and the 10:3 second-order framework. Using samples of global virtual knowledge teams and health care employees, we provide evidence of the discriminant validity of our team process measure versus a measure of team empowerment. We provide recommendations for the use of these measures in future research and practice and encourage their use as part of a portfolio of measures of team processes.

Employee psychological empowerment is widely accepted as a means for organizations to compete in increasingly dynamic environments. Previous empirical research and meta-analyses have demonstrated that employee psychological empowerment is positively related to several attitudinal and behavioral outcomes including job performance. While this research positions psychological empowerment as an antecedent influencing such outcomes, a close examination of the literature reveals that this relationship is primarily based on cross-sectional research. Notably, evidence supporting the presumed benefits of empowerment has failed to account for potential reciprocal relationships and endogeneity effects. Accordingly, using a multiwave, time-lagged design, we model reciprocal relationships between psychological empowerment and job performance using a sample of 441 nurses from 5 hospitals. Incorporating temporal effects in a staggered research design and using structural equation modeling techniques, our findings provide support for the conventional positive correlation between empowerment and subsequent performance. Moreover, accounting for the temporal stability of variables over time, we found support for empowerment levels as positive influences on subsequent changes in performance. Finally, we also found support for the reciprocal relationship, as performance levels were shown to relate positively to changes in empowerment over time. Theoretical and practical implications of the reciprocal psychological empowerment-performance relationships are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).