Leadership team cohesiveness
and team performance
Abstract
Purpose – To examine leadership style (transactional versus transformational), knowledge level, and
team cohesiveness as antecedents of team performance.
Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted among students studying for an
MBA. The 252 participant students were involved in a computerized business simulation course which
required forming teams of about six members. Each team represented the management of one firm
that competed with the other groups.
Findings – Transformational leadership was associated with a higher level of team cohesiveness, as
compared to transactional leadership. Both knowledge level and team cohesiveness predict team
performance, particularly among men.
Research limitations/implications – The student sample may not necessarily represent
responses from workers in an actual organization. From a measurement perspective, the reliability
of the one item scale of leadership could not be ascertained.
Practical implications – For improving team performance, a manager should enhance team
knowledge and encourage greater team cohesiveness.
Originality/value – Using a simulated research design, leadership style, an antecedent associated
with individual performance, was also found to be related to team performance.
Keywords Leadership, Team performance, Transational leadership, Transformational leadership,
Gender
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
As with individual performance, group performance is a vital determinant and
frequently used indicator of organizational outcome. DeNisi (2000) argues that there is
a belief among managers and the public that improving performance will assist
organizations in their pursuit of excellence. Probably, the major emphasis of
performance research has been on identifying antecedents and how they relate or lead
to desired outcome measures (Viswesvaran and Ones, 2000). Similarly, for teams,
researchers have asked what goes on when a team gets together in an organizational
framework and which of these variables can predict or enhance performance (Cooke
et al., 2003). Using measures of team performance as the criteria, the present study
examines the interactive effects of three such variables, leadership, which has
traditionally been studied in the context of individual performance, knowledge level
and team cohesiveness. In addition, gender, which has been found to be an antecedent,
as well as a moderator of performance, will be included in the prediction model.
Over the past decade or so, organizations have begun to use teams to a much greater
extent (DeShon et al., 2004). Thus, when human resources personnel were asked what
they considered their number-one priority, they answered that teamwork and how to
capitalize on it so as to make it work better was the major issue for them (Roomkin et al.,
1998). In a comprehensive review of the history of groups and team usage, Sundstrom
et al. (2000) found that the surge of work group applications can be found everywhere
in the organization ranging from production, service, management, and projects. Aside
from management’s perspective, the researcher’s focus on the process has led to many
new insights as to the “correct” makeup of a team that is likely to achieve
organizational goals. For example, Beal et al. (2003) argue that one of the important
goals of organizational research, especially as it relates to teams, is to identify the
factors and processes that give rise to increased performance.
What exactly constitutes a team? Similar to the definition deployed by other
researchers in the field, we define a team as two or more people, each with separate
responsibilities and/or assignments, working together for a common goal (Salas et al.,
1992). It is the latter part of the definition that is most critical as it helps to concretize
the dependent variable here. Achieving the team’s, and therefore, the organization’s
goal can be objectified by examining the team’s performance, usually through a
quantitative measure. By in
