The Journal of applied psychology
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By integrating literature on group faultlines, organizational cultures, and value congruence, this research presents a framework that explains how cultural alignment across organizational levels may influence the relationship between faultlines and performance. The hypotheses were tested using representatively sampled multisource qualitative and quantitative data on 138 teams from a Fortune 500 company. The present findings demonstrate that although informational faultlines were detrimental for group performance, the negative relationship between faultlines and performance was reversed when cultures with a strong emphasis on results were aligned, was lessened when cultures with a weak emphasis on results were aligned, and remained negative when cultures were misaligned with respect to their results orientation. These findings show the importance of recognizing alignments not only within groups (group faultlines) but also outside groups (cultural alignments between the group and departments) when considering their implications for group performance.
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Past research suggests that task conflict may improve team performance under certain conditions; however, we know little about these specific conditions. On the basis of prior theory and research on conflict in teams, we argue that a climate of psychological safety is one specific context under which task conflict will improve team performance. ⋯ The results support the conclusion that psychological safety facilitates the performance benefits of task conflict in teams. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
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Comparative Study
When does transformational leadership enhance employee proactive behavior? The role of autonomy and role breadth self-efficacy.
Two multisource studies address the interactive effects of personal and contextual variables on employees' proactive behavior. In line with previous work, we find positive main effects of transformational leadership, role breadth self-efficacy, and job autonomy on employee proactive behavior (personal initiative in Study 1 and prosocial proactive behavior in Study 2). ⋯ Vice versa, in situations low on job autonomy, transformational leadership relates positively to proactive behavior for individuals low (but not high) on self-efficacy. This pattern is found both for self-ratings and peer-ratings of employees' proactive behavior in Study 1 and for supervisor ratings of such behavior in Study 2.