Group affective tone and team performance: A week level study in project teams

Group affective tone is an emergent state that can be shared by group members during interdependent tasks. Groups can experience positive group affective tone (PGAT), a shared feeling of, e.g., excitement, enthusiasm, or activation, as well as negative group affective tone (NGAT), a shared feeling of, e.g., distress, anxiety, and hostility. So far, previous cross-sectional research suggests that PGAT and NGAT are related to team performance outcomes. However, little is known about how the dynamic and fluctuating group affective states are related to team performance over an extended period of time. Therefore, the current study investigated the relation between PGAT, NGAT, and performance over the course of 34 software engineering projects. We hypothesized that PGAT is positively related to team performance, whereas NGAT is negatively related to team performance. Based on the punctuated equilibrium model and the feeling-as-information theory, we expected that these associations become stronger in the second half of the project. Using week-level design with 165 participants in 34 software engineering teams, we repeatedly assessed PGAT, NGAT, and team performance over 14 weeks. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. As expected, PGAT was positively related to team performance, whereas NGAT was negatively related to team performance – between teams over the course of the projects as well as within teams over time. More importantly, the weekly relationships were stronger in the second half of the project. Our study indicates that weekly variations in group affective tone are more relevant after projects reach a temporal midpoint. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for project teams

Time to go wild: How to conceptualize and measure process dynamics in real teams with high-resolution

Team processes are interdependent activities among team members that transform inputs into outputs, vary over time, and are critical for team effectiveness. Understanding the temporal dynamics of team processes and related team phenomena with a high-resolution lens (i.e., methods with high sampling rates) is particularly challenging when going “into the wild” (i.e., studying teams operating in their full situated context). We review quantitative field studies using high-resolution methods (e.g., video, chat/text data, archival, wearables) and map out the various temporal lenses for studying team dynamics. We synthesize these different lenses and present an integrated temporal framework that is of help in theorizing about team dynamics. We also provide readers with a “how to” guide that summarizes four essential steps along with analytical methods (e.g., sequential and pattern analyses, mixed-methods research, abductive reasoning) that are applicable to the broad scope of high-resolution methods

Unpacking the Role of Feedback in Virtual Team Effectiveness

Feedback is a cornerstone of human development. Not surprisingly, it plays a vital role in team development. However, the literature examining the specific role of feedback in virtual team effectiveness remains scattered. To improve our understanding of feedback in virtual teams, we identified 59 studies that examine how different feedback characteristics (content, source, and level) impact virtual team effectiveness. Our findings suggest that virtual teams benefit particularly from feedback that (a) combines performance-related information with information on team processes and/or psychological states, (b) stems from an objective source, and (c) targets the team as a whole. By integrating the existing knowledge, we point researchers in the direction of the most pressing research needs, as well as the practices that are most likely to pay off when designing feedback interventions in virtual teams

Using Motivational Interviewing to reduce threats in conversations about environmental behavior

Human behavior contributes to a waste of environmental resources and our society is looking for ways to reduce this problem. However, humans may perceive feedback about their environmental behavior as threatening. According to self-determination theory (SDT), threats decrease intrinsic motivation for behavior change. According to self-affirmation theory (SAT), threats can harm individuals’ self-integrity. Therefore, individuals should show self-defensive biases, e.g., in terms of presenting counterarguments when presented with environmental behavior change. The current study examines how change recipients respond to threats from change agents in interactions about environmental behavior change. Moreover, we investigate how Motivational Interviewing (MI) — an intervention aimed at increasing intrinsic motivation — can reduce threats at both the social and cognitive level. We videotaped 68 dyadic interactions with change agents who either did or did not use MI (control group). We coded agents verbal threats and recipients’ verbal expressions of motivation. Recipients also rated agents’ level of confrontation and empathy (i.e., cognitive reactions). As hypothesized, threats were significantly lower when change agents used MI. Perceived confrontations converged with observable social behavior of change agents in both groups. Moreover, behavioral threats showed a negative association with change recipients’ expressed motivation (i.e., reasons to change). Contrary to our expectations, we found no relation between change agents’ verbal threats and change recipients’ verbally expressed selfdefenses (i.e., sustain talk). Our results imply that MI reduces the adverse impact of threats in conversations about environmental behavior change on both the social and cognitive level. We discuss theoretical implications of our study in the context of SAT and SDT and suggest practical implications for environmental change agents in organizations

Coding interactions in Motivational Interviewing with computer-software: What are the advantages for process researchers?

a b s t r a c t Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based behavior change intervention. The interactional change processes that make MI effective have been increasingly studied using observational coding schemes. We introduce an implementation of a software-supported MI coding scheme-the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity code (MITI)-and discuss advantages for process researchers. Furthermore, we compared reliability of the software version with prior results of the paper version. A sample of 14 double-coded dyadic interactions showed good to excellent interrater reliabilities. We selected a second sample of 22 sessions to obtain convergent validity results of the software version: substantial correlations were obtained between the software instrument and the Rating Scales for the Assessment of Empathic Communication. Finally, we demonstrate how the software version can be used to test whether single code frequencies obtained by using intervals shorter than 20 min (i.e., 5 or 10 min) are accurate estimates of the respective code frequencies for the entire session (i.e., behavior slicing). Our results revealed that coding only a 10-min interval provides accurate estimates of the entire session. Our study demonstrates that the software implementation of the MITI is a reliable and valid instrument. We discuss advantages of the software version for process research in MI

Experimental conditions (video manipulations)

We used the same experimental design as in Study 1 (four leader conditions: opening, closing, ambidextrous leadership, and transformational leadership). To ensure a high standardization of the manipulation, we videotaped the different leadership conditions. Participants worked on the same task as described in Study 1. However, in contrast to Study 1, participants received the leader messages as video messages [(a) opening behavior, (b) closing behavior, (c) ambidextrous leadership, and (d) transformational leadership]. We conducted the experiment in two locations (Germany and Australia) and thus portrayed the leader in two languages (German and English). To minimize the effects of the portrayed leader (i.e., physical appearance, attractiveness, and gender), the same actress was used across all four conditions (Podsakoff et al., 2013). The actress was instructed to maintain contaminating factors (e.g., non-verbal cues, body movements and orientation, and affective tone) constant across all conditions (see Fig. 2). Furthermore, the visual perspective and film editing were kept constant across conditions, and we ensured that the actress used the exact wording of the emails

Experimental Material for main study

The experimental task was designed to capture a proxy of workplace innovation from previous research (e.g., Zacher et al., 2016; Zacher & Rosing, 2015). In the experimental task, participants had to improve marketing material for an organization that is attempting to promote a 20-year longitudinal study (Appendix E). To carry out this task, participants received an existing marketing document that the organization intends to use for recruitment purposes. This marketing flyer is relatively poorly designed (see Appendix F; e.g., the flyer features typographical mistakes, missing words, poor formatting, very small font size, etc.). Hence, there are various opportunities for improvements

Study 1 - Main Study (Data)

Data (SPSS and Stata, including syntax) from the main experiment. We collected data from working professionals via TurkPrime (Litman, Robinson, & Abberbock, 2017) and prolific.ac (Palan & Schitter, 2018), two versatile crowdsourcing data acquisition platforms for researchers that allowed us to recruit participants using pre-screening requirements (Keith, Tay, & Harms, 2017; Litman et al., 2017). Our study was only accessible for participants who had an approval rate of ≥90%, and we included multiple measures of attention/ comprehension checks to ensure high data quality (i.e., screener items; cf. Thomas & Clifford, 2017). We applied multiple procedures to select an appropriate subject pool that (a) aligned with previous study populations and (b) was adequate in terms of providing high-quality responses. First, we used the platforms' integrated pre-screening procedures, which made our study available only to a pre-defined population of participants (for MTurk, pre-screening criteria were occupational status: employee, hours employed: 35+ hours/week, nationality: AU and US, approval rate: 90%+, number of HITs approved: 100+; for prolific, screening criteria were nationality: AU and US, supervisor: yes, employment status: full-time, and first language: English). Using these criteria, the available participant pool in MTurk was N < 480,7 while the available participant pool in prolific was N = 1054. We also separated the assessment of the personality and trait affect measures from the main experiment by using a prescreening procedure (for details, see Keith et al., 2017)

Providing engineers with OARS and EARS: Effects of a skills-based vocational training in Motivational Interviewing for engineers in higher education

Purpose-Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a vocational communication skill from the helping professions. Verbal skills in MI are summarized under the acronyms OARS and EARS (open-ended questions/elaborating, affirmations, reflections, and summaries). The purpose of this paper is to outline how MI provides important skills for engineers, and demonstrate skill assessment by using an observation-based scientific approach. Design/methodology/approach-Totally, 25 engineering students took part in a skill-based MI training. Quality assurance of the training was assessed by using a repeated measurement design with multiple measures: systematic observations from recorded interactions and self-reported and standardized performance measures. Two external observers reliably coded the recorded conversations using the MI skill code. Findings-Trainees showed a significant increase of verbal skills in MI. Directive-confrontational behaviors decreased after training. Self-reported and performance measures indicated significant increases in MI post training. Conversational partners in the post-training condition showed significantly more motivation in comparison to partners before the training. Research limitations/implications-The main limitation of the study is the small sample size. However, training effect sizes showed large effects on verbal skills. Practical implications-Communication skills in MI can be taught effectively for a technical population. This study suggests that MI is effective within the higher education of technical professions who have to deal with motivational issues. Observational measures can be used for quality assurance purposes, but also serve as a feedback instrument for work-based learning purposes. Originality/value-This is the first study to evaluate training in MI for engineers using a multi-method approach with observational measures