Fluid and stable: Dynamics of team action patterns and adaptive outcomes

Abstract

The current study draws on work in the areas of team adaptation, team compilation, and small groups as complex systems to predict and test relationships between time, taskwork team mental models, team action patterns, and team effectiveness. Three-person teams performed 9 scenarios of a firefighting simulation distributed over 3 days with discontinuous task changes introduced in the fourth and seventh scenarios (N = 41 teams; 123 individuals). We applied pattern detection algorithm software to the behavioral data to identify emergent performative patterns in the team members' task-oriented actions. We also used discontinuous growth modeling to track the development of these team action patterns and their dynamic relation to team effectiveness.The results indicate that pattern emergence increased over time. This was particularly true for teams with similar taskwork mental models, and these teams also showed a more acute decrease in action patterns after a task change. In addition, team action patterns became increasingly positively related to team effectiveness over time, but this effect was reset after the occurrence of a task change. Overall, our research provides practical guidance to managers by illustrating the value of teams having highly shared taskwork team mental models and of enhancing the effects of teams' action patterns on team adaptive outcomes.

Time perspective balance and team adaptation in dynamic task contexts

“…Some empirical and theoretical work currently underway moves focus away from the more traditional topic of the fit between the leader's style and the situation to more focus on the ability of leaders and followers to appropriately sense when a switch in leadership behavior is appropriate during dynamic situations, and the ability to switch. For example, research evidence suggests that teams benefit from leadership that is efficiently directive in simple, straightforward situations, but that switches to being inclusively participative in complex situations (Uitdewilligen, Rico, & Waller, ). One important factor in this flexible ability may well be a BTP—both for leaders and for followers.…”

There Is Light and There Is Darkness: On the Temporal Dynamics of Cohesion, Coordination, and Performance in Business Teams

“…It offers an optimal data collection environment for the testing of new theory because experimenters have more control and data accessibility than in naturalistic settings (Marlow et al, 2017). In addition, the adoption of simulations has been proven highly effective in I/O Psychology and Human Factors research, and the number of empirical studies showing that simulations are most beneficial for research and training is growing (e.g., Uitdewilligen et al, 2018).…”

“…Occasionally, either driven by internal or external triggers, the relative stability that exists in self-organized states is disrupted. Such discontinuities in team functioning are well documented in the work of authors such as Gersick’s (1991) punctuated equilibrium model, or Uitdewilligen et al (2018), who found that team processes and team performance unfold over time through longer periods of stability, which alternate with shorter periods of instability where discontinuities occur.…”

“…In this regard, studies from the tCAS literature reported that team processes such as team learning (Rebelo et al, 2016) and team coordination (Guastello and Guastello, 1998) display discontinuous shifts. In addition, very recent research found that team action patterns (a proxy of team task coordination) exhibit discontinuous growth trajectories over time (Uitdewilligen et al, 2018).…”

The time has come to study dynamics at work

“…Several articles in this special issue focus on temporal patterns and emergence. First, Uitdewilligen, Rico, and Waller () used pattern detection algorithms to identify action patterns (i.e., recurrent sequences of actions) when team members collaborate on an assignment. They then examined how these action patterns dynamically emerged over time and how are they related to overall team effectiveness.…”