To link or not to link? Multiple team membership and unit performance

J Appl Psychol. 2019 Mar;104(3):341-356. doi: 10.1037/apl0000381. Epub 2019 Jan 14.

Abstract

Multiple team membership is common in today's team-based organizations, but little is known about its relationship with collective effectiveness across teams. We adopted a microfoundations framework utilizing existing individual- and team-level research to develop a higher-level perspective on multiple team membership's relationship with performance of entire units of teams. We tested our predictions with data collected from 849 primary care units of the Veterans Health Administration serving over 4.2 million patients. In this context, we found multiple team membership is negatively associated with unit performance, and this negative relationship is exacerbated by task complexity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Employment*
  • Group Processes*
  • Health Personnel*
  • Humans
  • Primary Health Care / organization & administration*
  • United States
  • United States Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Work Performance*