Competing Conversations: An Examination of Competition as Intrateam Interactions

Intrateam competition is an inherently social and interactional process, yet it is not often studied as such. Research on competition is mostly limited to studying it as an individual state and assumes that the resulting team outcomes are equivalent across different competition types. Often overlooked in competition research are the means through which competition can lead to constructive outcomes for the team. Constructive competition occurs when the primary motivation is not to win at the expense of others, but rather to make social comparisons and gain knowledge of relative competence. This study furthers insight into constructive competition by studying its interpersonal characteristics as it develops within a team, and its impact on task conflict, perceived performance, and team satisfaction. The conversations of 24 student project teams were recorded over 4 weeks and analyzed, operationalizing competition as an attempt to exert control and influence on the team. Each individual then provided sociometric ratings of perceived performance of each team member, and rated the level of task conflict and satisfaction of the team. The effects of competition on perceived performance and team satisfaction, both directly and indirectly through task conflict, were examined. Findings demonstrated a negative direct effect of competition on the range of perceived performance ratings, and a positive indirect effect of competition on team satisfaction as mediated through task conflict. The study broadens understanding on the construct of competition and underscores the positive implications competition can bring to the teams

Does thinking of myself as leader make me want to lead? The role of congruence in self-theories and implicit leadership theories in motivation to lead

The paper focuses on antecedents of leadership self-efficacy and motivation to lead. We propose that the congruence between how individuals see leaders in general (implicit leadership theories) and how they see themselves (implicit self-theories) on different characteristics, is related to leadership self-efficacy and indirectly to motivation to lead. We surveyed 497 individuals at two time points. For two dimensions of implicit theories, (dynamism and integrity), we found that congruence at a high level is important for leadership self-efficacy. For the dimensions of clever, dynamism, and integrity, we found that leadership self-efficacy was higher when individuals thought that they were higher on these characteristics than leaders in general. For manipulation, neither congruence nor incongruence was related to leadership self-efficacy. Our results further suggest that leadership self-efficacy mediates the significant direct effects of congruence in implicit leadership theories/implicit self-theories and motivation to lead. Our results demonstrate the importance of understanding the congruence or incongruence of views about leaders in general and the self, and highlight the importance of taking into account the different dimensions of implicit leadership theories/implicit self-theories to be better able to predict motivation to lead

Do You Remember? Rater Memory Systems and Leadership Measurement

Despite widespread concerns about the use of retrospective accounts of leader behavior and response tendencies associated with raters who tend rely on semantic memory, little attention has been devoted to developing methods that move measurement processes beyond those based on semantic memory to those based on episodic memory. The results from a series of six studies demonstrate a) questionnaire items can be classified in terms of their emphasis on episodic or semantic memory and the language used in items is associated with different types of memory processes, b) scales based on episodic memory have a greater association with trust than do scales based on semantic memory, c) the procedure that requires raters to indicate whether their response to each item is based on semantic or episodic memory dramatically reduces the impact of liking on leadership ratings, and d) the memory source intervention that encourages raters to rely on episodic memory reduces false alarms in leadership ratings. Taken together, these results demonstrate that rater memory systems are an important component of the leadership rating process and that consideration of the type of memory elicited during that process can be used to improve leadership measurement