Well intended HR performance appraisal

Watson, W.E., Johnson, L., & Merritt, D. (1998). Team Orientation, Self-Orientation, and Diversity in Task Groups. Group & Organization Management, 23, 161-188.

Introduction

The success of group effort is a complex issue, and research has demonstrated tasks on which an individual’s effort is superior to group effort. The likelihood of the group performing better than the best individual increases when the problem has multiple parts, no one member has all the information necessary, the problem is at least moderately complex, interdependence is necessary, and there is enough time for members to process information.

Self-oriented behaviors (SOBs) are those that individuals exhibit as mechanisms for the defining and redefining roles in a group.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of interpersonal processes, diversity, and team performance. Research to aid our understanding of the complexity of diversity and its impact on team performance is in the very early stages, and the examination of work-group processes, diversity, and performance over time has been investigated very little.

Hypotheses

· (H1) Early on, culturally diverse teams will perform more effectively on complex, longer-duration tasks than will culturally nondiverse teams.

· (H2) Later in a team’s life cycle, after periodic feedback regarding team and self-issues, the culturally diverse teams will not perform more effectively than culturally nondiverse teams.

· (H3) Over time, culturally diverse groups will report TOBs and SOBs similar to that of culturally nondiverse teams.

Method

Two samples of students were used, taken from different semesters at the same university in the Southwestern US. Each sample comprised students involved in an upper level basic management course in which students were members of the same team throughout the semester. Both samples attended classes in which a significant portion of their final evaluation was calculated from team project performance.

Sample 1

· 226 participants (125 males, 101 females)

· Work groups consisted of 4 or 5 members.

· Projects involved four realistic case studies of business problems.

Sample 2

· 449 participants (234 males, 215 females)

· Work groups consisted of 4 to 6 members.

· Used different types of team projects.

Measures

The instrument administered was the Group Style Instrument (GSI), which is a 26-item survey describing critical group member process activities that affect team productivity. Participants were asked to complete the GSI according to observations that they have made about their team in this class. Data were gathered from three group tasks given at approximately 5-week intervals.

Dependent Variables

· The team’s score for that particular 5-week time period.

Independent Variables

· Demographic variables

· Type of team diversity

· Group-style dimensions of TOBs and SOBs.

Results

The finding that diverse teams did better over the first two time periods supported H1. H2 was also supported, because the culturally nondiverse teams performed better at Time 3. At Time 1, diverse groups and their team orientation predicted team performance. By Time 2, members in groups that reported high self-orientation in Time 1 predicted team performance. By Time 3, nondiverse groups who reported significant team orientation did better. Clearly, there are cyclical effects and significant relations among the elements of team orientation, self-orientation, diversity, and team performance.

Conclusion

This study contained several limitations; first, student groups were used and therefore could operate differently than ongoing teams in organizations. In addition, even though the project extended across 4 months, that is not enough time to evaluate the more lengthy cycles that teams will experience. An even longer time frame should be researched. For future extensions of this type of research, the authors encourage the examination of a broader spectrum of task types and team types.