Structure and learning in self-managed teams: Why ‘bureaucratic’ teams can be better learners
Abstract: This paper considers the effect of team structure on a team’s engagement in learning and continuous improvement. We begin by noting the uncertain conceptual status of the structure concept in the small groups literature, and propose a conceptualization of team structure which is grounded in the long tradition of work on formal structure in the sociology and organization theory literatures.
We then consider the thesis that, at least in self-managed teams dealing with stable tasks, greater team structure – i.e., characterized by higher levels of specialization, formalization, and hierarchy – can promote learning by creating a safe and predictable team environment in which information is more freely shared and the frequency of conflicts is reduced. That is, we examine a mediated model in which the effect of structure on learning and improvement in teams is mediated by psychological safety, information sharing, and conflict frequency.
This model was largely supported in a study of self-managed production teams in a Fortune 100 high technology firm, although the observed pattern of mediation was more complex than anticipated. The theory and results of this study advance our understanding of team structure, team learning, and the consequences of bureaucracy.
Aspects of mental accounting for reciprocity, bargaining, and social exchange
Abstract: Complex negotiations generally occur within a broader stream of ongoing social exchange. Yet negotiation research typically examines narrowly bounded encounters isolated from the larger stream. We propose a model of a negotiator who opens and maintains ‘relational accounts’ with others. Account imbalances motivate behavior in future exchange with particular persons. Social motives to compete or cooperate mediate the impact of accounts on bargaining behavior and the subsequent willingness to expend resources to implement negotiated agreements. In a series of four laboratory studies widely studied mental accounting scenarios were manipulated to test emotional reactions, social motives, and bargaining behavior.
In Study 1 we found that different accounting scenarios arouse different emotional response profiles that have implications for future exchange. In Study 2 we found that these emotional response profiles mediate the impact of mental accounting on social value orientation. Studies 3 and 4 replicated this mediation effect but also revealed that the causal sequence extends to bargaining behavior. In Study 3, the effect of mental accounting on willingness of an agent to expend resources to implement a contract was mediated by emotional response and social value orientation. In Study 4, mental accounting affected social motive and contract offers made by a principal though social motive did not mediate this relation.
This accounting concept is one important element in a psychological model that can serve as the basis for a general behavioral theory of negotiation. Limitations of these studies as well as the implications for future research are considered.
Trust and the counter-intuitive suspicion effect: Processing and correcting discredited negative information
Abstract: Prior research on trust repair following trust violations has primarily utilized an attributional process approach that emphasizes the rational updating of trust judgments. This attribution process has been called into question by recent work in the psychological sciences that highlights the lingering effect of previously believed information. We extend this research into the trust domain by arguing that negative integrity relevant information will continue to factor into assessments of an individual’s trustworthiness, even after that information is discredited.
We then examine factors that may influence correction of this bias by inducing more deliberative processing. Specifically, we argue that correction may take place when one is suspicious of the subject, as that will induce further deliberation. Thus, counter-intuitively, we argue that making judgments of individuals of stereotyped races may induce bias correction because of the suspicion effect.
Results from 2 laboratory studies on job hiring decisions demonstrate the shadow of false negative integrity information on current judgments, and additionally demonstrates that correction is more likely when the trustor suspicious of the candidate, including when that candidate is a part of a racially stereotyped group. The results offer important implications for the psychological process of trust judgments given discredited negative information, as well as offer insight on how being judged suspicious and/or being apart of a racially stereotyped group may, in some contexts, result in more accurate judgment.
Sailing into the wind: Exploring the relationships among ambidexterity, vacillation and organizational performance
Abstract: Sustainable high performance is a function of dual capability, or the capacity to simultaneously explore and exploit to both maintain current success while ensuring future viability. The management literature, however, is divided both on the likelihood of achieving this dual capability and the route by which it is best achieved. In this paper, we review two proposed approaches for achieving dual capability: specifically, organizational ambidexterity and organizational vacillation. In an effort to facilitate comparison, we outline a common framework by mapping the proposed relationships among exploration, exploitation and organizational performance.
We proceed by identifying the ways that vacillation and ambidexterity map onto this common framework, and outline a methodology for empirically comparing their relationships to performance over time. Two canonical cases of the organizational vacillation and organizational ambidexterity literatures form the basis of our qualitative comparison, and we examine the patterns of managerial decision-making and corresponding performance over time to determine how each approach facilitates an organization‘s exploitation and exploration capabilities.
From these case studies, we argue for the relative superiority of organizational vacillation in yielding dual capability, while also suggesting that ambidexterity as a leadership initiative serves some benefit when utilized within the larger epochs of vacillation. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the current research on dual capability and the practice of management.