Paths to Team Success: A Configurational Analysis of Team Effectiveness

ABSTRACT This study investigates how two team processes (team learning, team conflict) and two team emergent states (team trust and team psychological safety) combine to yield three team effectiveness dimensions: team performance, quality of the group experience and team viability. Eighty-two teams (353 team members and 82 team leaders) were surveyed. Using a configurational approach, different routes that lead to the same outcome were identified. Moreover, the results suggest that the conditions that lead to high levels of team effectiveness are not the mirror opposite of the conditions that lead to low levels. The findings emphasize the importance of monitoring the effectiveness of a team in its different components and reinforce the notion that cognitive trust is a core condition for team success. Additionally, it is shown that the importance of intragroup conflicts for team effectiveness is contingent on the presence of other processes and emergent states.