The Relationship of Team Goal Orientation with Team Processes and Outcomes

As teams are highly prevalent in organizations, it is beneficial to examine inputs that facilitate effective team processes and outcomes. This research examined the relationship between goal orientation and important team processes (communication, interpersonal conflict, task conflict, and social loafing) and how these processes, in turn, impacted team performance and satisfaction. The moderating role of task interdependence was also examined. Information was gathered from 270 individuals (83 teams) who were enrolled in graduate and undergraduate courses that required a team project. Results indicated that team learning goal orientation was positively related to increased communication and decreased task conflict, interpersonal conflict, and social loafing. Prove goal orientation was significantly related to communication. Avoid goal orientation was related to decreased communication and increased interpersonal conflict. In contrast to past literature, no significant relationships were found between team processes and team performance and satisfaction; however, task interdependence did moderate the relationship between task conflict and performance along with the relationship between social loafing and satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications concerning team goal orientation are discussed. Rottman, Cari, 2011, USML p.3 The Relationship of Team Goal Orientation with Team Processes and Outcomes Teams are prevalent in many organizations and are responsible for important activities such as decision making, product development, strategy formulation, and other various tasks that are aligned with organizational goals (Devine, Clayton, Philips, Dunford, & Melner, 1999). In light of the prevalence and importance of teamwork in organizations, it is important to understand what factors influence team processes and outcomes in order to improve team efficiency and effectiveness. A team involves two or more individuals who interact to accomplish shared goals (Kozlowski & Bell, 2003). In order to better understand factors that influence teams and their resulting outcomes, it is conceptually helpful to examine these factors in a theoretical framework. A commonly utilized framework in team research is the inputprocesses-output (I-P-O) framework (Guzzo & Shea, 1992; Hackman, 1987; McGrath, 1984; Steiner, 1972). Inputs entail individual characteristics (e.g., personality), team factors (e.g., team structure), and organizational factors (e.g., organizational culture). These inputs influence teams by facilitating and/or limiting potential processes. Processes (e.g., interpersonal interactions), in turn, influence team outcomes by impacting how the team members interact together. Some inputs that have been examined in teams are personality and cognitive ability (Barrick, Stewart, Neubert, & Mount, 1998; Barry & Stewart, 1997; Bell, 2007; Devine & Philips, 2001). In a meta-analysis conducted by Bell (2007) it was found that personality factors such as conscientiousness (ρ = 0.30), agreeableness (ρ = 0.31), extraversion (ρ = 0.15), and openness to experience (ρ = 0.20) are related to team performance in field settings. In addition, cognitive ability has also been found to be Rottman, Cari, 2011, USML p.4 significantly related to team performance (Barrick et al., 1998; Bell, 2007; Devine & Philips, 2001). Although these are important inputs that influence team processes and outcomes, there are other inputs that may influence team work. An additional input is goal orientation (GO), which refers to peoples’ motivation to learn new information, prove their competence, and/or avoid looking incompetent (VandeWalle, 1997). Goal orientation has been shown to exhibit incremental validity over conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability, openness to experience, and general mental ability in predicting performance at the individual level (Payne, Youngcourt, & Beaubien, 2007). Although the importance of GO has been found at the individual level, it is necessary to determine the extent to which GO translates to group level processes allowing for an increased understanding of inputs that influence group processes and outcomes (Klein & Kozlowski, 2000). In order to determine the effects of GO on teams, the relationship between group level GO and team processes (communication, task conflict, relationship conflict, and social loafing) and their resulting influence on team performance and satisfaction outcomes will be examined. These processes have been shown to be important factors relating to both satisfaction and performance in teams. Communication refers to the extent to which team members talk to each other and share information (Campion, Medsker, & Higgs, 1993). Communication has been shown to be positively correlated with team productivity, although the correlation with satisfaction was nonsignificant (Campion et al., 1993). Task conflict involves disagreement and argument concerning project tasks while relationships conflict refers to interpersonal friction and conflict. Both have been shown to negatively relate to performance and communication (De Dreu Rottman, Cari, 2011, USML p.5 & Weingart, 2003). Social loafing involves individuals in groups demonstrating less effort and motivation than when they are working independently, which, by definition, results in decreased productivity (Karau &Williams, 1993; Latané, Williams, & Harkins, 1979). To increase knowledge about the influence of GO at the team level, the relationship between these processes with team performance and satisfaction will be explored. Given the examination of team level variables, it is important to look at task interdependence, which is the degree to which team members are dependent upon each other to accomplish their tasks (Wageman, 1995). More specifically, the moderating influence of perceived task interdependence on the relationship between team processes and outcomes will be examined.