When none of us perform better than all of us together: the role of analogical decision rules in groups

During social interactions, groups develop collective competencies that (ideally) should assist groups to outperform average standalone individual members (weak cognitive synergy) or the best performing member in the group (strong cognitive synergy). In two experimental studies we manipulate the type of decision rule used in group decision-making (identify the best vs. collaborative), and the way in which the decision rules are induced (direct vs. analogical) and we test the effect of these two manipulations on the emergence of strong and weak cognitive synergy. Our most important results indicate that an analogically induced decision rule (imitate-the-successful heuristic) in which groups have to identify the best member and build on his/her performance (take-the-best heuristic) is the most conducive for strong cognitive synergy. Our studies bring evidence for the role of analogy-making in groups as well as the role of fast-and-frugal heuristics for group decision-making

Single versus multiple project teams and individual performance : do they ask for different leadership behaviors?

Multiple project team membership is a prevalent phenomenon in modern organizational life. However, is any leadership behavior in such a setting beneficial to individual team members' performance? Our study suggests that working in a multiple project team setting requires particular types of leadership. In an experimental design, we manipulated charismatic and boundary-spanning leadership behaviors in single and multiple team project settings and we studied their effects on project members’ performance. When workers are part of a single team, charismatic leadership enhances their performance to a greater extent than a boundary spanning leader. When members are part of two project teams concurrently, boundary-spanning leadership behavior becomes more beneficial for individual performance compared to charismatic leadership. The main theoretical contribution lies in the insight that different organizational project forms ask for different leadership behaviors to nurture individual performance. Practically, (future) project leaders must be prepared for operating in different project settings.https://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpromanhj2024Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM)SDG-08:Decent work and economic growt

The impact of multiple project team membership on individual and team learning : a micro-meso multi-level empirical study

In this paper, we investigate the effects of multiple project team membership on individual and team learning. Data from 435 members of 85 project teams shows that, at the individual level, membership variety has a positive impact on individual learning. Moreover, this positive relationship is stronger for individuals with an average need for cognition, in comparison to individuals with a high or a low need for cognition. At the project team level, the simultaneous inter-organizational memberships of a project team have a positive impact on the team's external learning. However, the simultaneous intra-organizational project team memberships negatively moderate this positive relationship. Furthermore, cross-level analyses show that individual learning has a positive impact on both internal and external team learning. Our findings are relevant for project management practice as they suggest ways in which work design can be configured to increase individual and team learning.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpromanhj2022Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM

Learning not to underestimate:Understanding the dynamics of women’s underestimation in groups

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to isolate a new mechanism (i.e. underestimation judgments) through which gender (percentage of women in a group in particular) influences group synergy, or the extent to which groups are able to perform better than their composing members. Second, it aims to explore further the extent to which underestimation judgments are prone to change and adjustment as a result of participating in social contexts, such as groups. Design/methodology/approach The sample consisted of 278 student participants (161 women), nested within 66 groups. Participants performed a series of cognitive tasks with correct answers and had to rate how confident they were in the answers given. Findings Gender composition in terms of percentage of women is positively related to underestimation within groups and this negatively affects group synergy. The data also show that women underestimate less or improve the accuracy of their performance self-evaluation judgments after group interaction, thereby highlighting a factor (group experience) that helps women gain greater accuracy about their performance. Research limitations/implications Further research could explore the extent to which underestimation judgments are present in various organizational contexts and the extent to which they are prone to change. Practical implications Organizations and universities are invited to reflect on the relevance of self-beliefs (and underestimation in particular) on the accomplishment of cognitive tasks. Practices and policies should be geared toward the enhancement of self-knowledge accuracy, with a particular focus on the female population. Originality/value This paper identifies a new mechanism through which gender influences group synergy: underestimation judgments

Time judgment during a crisis: The moderating effect of stress and ego network diversity on retrospective time judgments

Forming accurate judgments is vital for management in general, and crisis management in particular. Despite its fundamental role in an organizational context, time judgments were not yet studied in a crisis context. Building on attentional-gate theory, we hypothesized that when decision-makers are under high information load, they can suffer from less accurate retrospective (i.e. recalled) time judgments. Furthermore, we expected this effect to be enhanced if stress and ego network diversity were also at higher levels. We tested our hypotheses in a within-subject experimental design (information load: low vs. high) where participants (N = 34) role-played a disaster-response management team. We found that participants had less accurate and underestimating time judgments when information load was high, and this effect was more evident when stress levels were higher. Contrary to our expectations, the effect of information load on time judgments was not observed when ego network diversity was high, whereas a low level of diversity was associated with less accuracy under high information load. Our findings contribute to our understanding of the antecedents and boundary conditions of retrospective time judgments for crisis management

Collective intelligence in teams: Contextualizing collective intelligent behavior over time

Collective intelligence (CI) in organizational teams has been predominantly understood and explained in terms of the quality of the outcomes that the team produces. This manuscript aims to extend the understanding of CI in teams, by disentangling the core of actual collective intelligent team behavior that unfolds over time during a collaboration period. We posit that outcomes do support the presence of CI, but that collective intelligence itself resides in the interaction processes within the team. Teams behave collectively intelligent when the collective behaviors during the collaboration period are in line with the requirements of the (cognitive) tasks the team is assigned to and the (changing) environment. This perspective results in a challenging, but promising research agenda armed with new research questions that call for unraveling longitudinal fine-grained interactional processes over time. We conclude with exploring methodological considerations that assist researchers to align concept and methodology. In sum, this manuscript proposes a more direct, thorough, and nuanced understanding of collective intelligence in teams, by disentangling micro-level team behaviors over the course of a collaboration period. With this in mind, the field of CI will get a more fine-grained understanding what really happens at what point in time: when teams behave more or less intelligently. Additionally, when we understand collectively intelligent processes in teams, we can organize targeted interventions to improve or maintain collective intelligence in teams

Team adaptation under inconsistent team rewards: The mediating role of fairness and team efficacy perceptions

Organizations use teams as an adaptive and flexible response to rapidly changing environmental conditions. Team adaptive performance, which is team performance under changing environmental conditions, can be facilitated by motivational mechanisms. In this paper, we investigated the effect of team rewards on team adaptive performance. Noting the temporal nature of team adaptation and emergent states, we hypothesized that team reward stability (as compared to instability) would result in higher team adaptive performance. We further posited that team efficacy beliefs and team distributive fairness perceptions would partially mediate this relationship. We used a between-subjects (team reward condition: stable or unstable) experimental study with 43 3-person student teams who performed a coordination task with a change in the task at midpoint. The empirical results supported our predictions. Team distributive fairness perceptions fully mediated the relationship between team reward stability and team adaptive performance. Thus, our paper highlights the importance of team rewards on team adaptatio

Time judgment during a crisis:The moderating effect of stress and ego network diversity on retrospective time judgments

Forming accurate judgments is vital for management in general, and crisis management in particular. Despite its fundamental role in an organizational context, time judgments were not yet studied in a crisis context. Building on attentional-gate theory, we hypothesized that when decision-makers are under high information load, they can suffer from less accurate retrospective (i.e. recalled) time judgments. Furthermore, we expected this effect to be enhanced if stress and ego network diversity were also at higher levels. We tested our hypotheses in a within-subject experimental design (information load: low vs. high) where participants (N = 34) role-played a disaster-response management team. We found that participants had less accurate and underestimating time judgments when information load was high, and this effect was more evident when stress levels were higher. Contrary to our expectations, the effect of information load on time judgments was not observed when ego network diversity was high, whereas a low level of diversity was associated with less accuracy under high information load. Our findings contribute to our understanding of the antecedents and boundary conditions of retrospective time judgments for crisis management