Short-term and long-term relationships between reflection and performance in teams: evidence from a four-wave longitudinal study

Teams in Transition: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study of Reflection, Implicit and Explicit Coordination and Performance Improvements

Research has shown that team reflection is a critical transition process for coordination processes and team performance, but our understanding of its dynamics and relationship to action processes and performance is incomplete. The goal of the present study was to examine the long-term change in reflection in teams over time and explore whether these changes are related to implicit and explicit coordination processes and performance improvement. Drawing on the recurring phase model of team processes and team reflexivity theory, we hypothesized that team reflection is at least stable or increases over time for dissimilar tasks, that reflection trajectories are positively associated with implicit and negatively associated with explicit coordination in the later phases, and that implicit coordination mediates the relationship between team reflection and performance improvement. This model was tested in a three-wave longitudinal study (N = 175 teams) over a 2-months period. Results from growth curve modeling and structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses.

Surrendering to social emptiness: Chronic social exclusion longitudinally predicts resignation in asylum seekers

The current knowledge of the long-term consequences of social exclusion mostly relies on theoretical assumptions. (Williams, 2009, Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol., 41, 275) hypothesized that chronic ostracism drives individuals into a stage of resignation (depression, alienation, unworthiness, helplessness). We focused on asylum seekers (N = 112) as a social group at risk of experiencing prolonged instances of exclusion. Applying a three-wave longitudinal design with a three-month interval between each wave, we sought to advance the knowledge of the temporal development of chronic social exclusion. Cross-lagged panel analyses showed that social exclusion influenced the development of feelings of resignation in the long term, from baseline to six months and between three and six months. In the same time frame, the perception of social exclusion became stable and chronic. These findings provide empirical evidence that chronic exclusion predicts resignation and shed light on the temporal development of the detrimental impact that pervasive exclusion can have on people belonging to marginalized social groups.

Team reflections, team mental models and team performance over time

Purpose

Although previous research proved positive impacts of team reflection on team outcomes, especially team performance and innovation, there are only a few insights in to which factors (mediators) account for these positive effects and over what period these effects unfold (temporal effects). To close this gap, this paper aims to investigate the direct effects of team reflection on team performance over time, as well as indirect effects because of the development of similar and accurate team mental models to explain this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Within a longitudinal experimental study on 22 student project teams working on a complex problem-solving task, the effects of repeated team reflection interventions on the development of team performance and team mental models over six measuring times were analysed.

Findings

Results show that team reflections caused significant increases in team performance and team mental models over time. Results also provide evidence that team mental models’ quality mediates the effects of team reflections on team performance.

Research limitations/implications

The results are interesting for both research fields, team reflection and team mental models, as the findings indicate the merits of recurrent reflection for improving team mental models’ quality.

Practical implications

For organisational practice, the question of how reflection processes can be deliberately triggered in teams and effectively integrated into the daily routine should be considered.

Originality/value

The findings accentuate the role of team reflections for improving team performance team mental models over time. By continuous reflecting teams increase awareness and insights into effective team processes and strategies (i.e. shared and accurate team mental models), which lead to better performance.

Effective Team Reflection: The Role of Quality and Quantity

In this study, we distinguished between quantity and quality aspects of team reflection and examine how they relate to team performance improvement. We hypothesized that teams that reflect little but deeply and thoroughly show greater performance improvements than teams that reflect a great deal but on a superficial level. In addition, we examined the extent to which team performance will improve if teams engage in both quality and quantity in reflection in different extents, and whether implementation explained additional variance in team performance. We examined these issues in a sample of 46 three-person teams in a lab-based hidden profile setting, using a repeated measure design. The results from Bayesian structural equation modeling confirmed our hypotheses. In addition, polynomial regression revealed that performance improved most when teams focused exclusively on the quality of team reflection and weakest when teams tried to engage in quality and quantity of reflection in the same extent.