Transformational Leadership Versus Shared Leadership for Team Effectiveness

This study aims at investigating the effect of transformational leadership and shared leadership on dimensions of team effectiveness and the mediating role of teamwork orientation. The data were collected from members of working teams in companies of different fields in Vietnam. The results show that both transformational leadership and shared leadership are significantly associated to team effectiveness including team performance, quality of team experience, and team viability. The effects of transformational leadership are more robust compared to those of shared leadership while both leadership styles are dramatically relevant to team viability. In addition, teamwork orientation serves as a significant partial mediator in the relationship between transformational leadership, shared leadership, and dimensions of team effectiveness. The study is an early research in evaluating the effect of transformational leadership and shared leadership on three dimensions of team effectiveness, namely team performance, quality of team experience, and team viability. It is also the very first to explore the mediating role of teamwork orientation in the effect of leadership approaches on components of team effectiveness. The study offers interesting empirical evidence of an under-researched Asian emerging economy – Vietnam – so providing practical implications for companies in Vietnamese context in particular and similar Asian economies.

Impact of Background Music on the Performance of Laparoscopy Teams

BACKGROUND: Music and noise have different impacts on individuals in the operating room. Their effects on the performance of surgical teams in simulated environments are not well documented. We investigated if laparoscopic teams operating under favorable acoustic conditions would perform better than under noisy conditions.METHODS: We recruited 114 surgical residents and built 57 two-person teams. Each team was required to perform two laparoscopic tasks (object transportation and collaborative suturing) on a simulation training box under musical, neutral, and noisy acoustic conditions. Data were extracted from video recordings of each performance for analysis. Task performance was measured by the duration of time to complete a task and the total number of errors, and objective performance scores. The measures were compared over the three acoustic conditions.RESULTS: A musical environment elicited higher performance scores than a noisy environment for both the object transportation (performance score: 66.3 ± 8.6 vs. 57.6 ± 11.2; p < 0.001) and collaborative suturing tasks (78.6 ± 5.4 vs. 67.2 ± 11.1; p < 0.001). Task times in the musical and noisy environments was subtracted to produce a musical-noisy difference time. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed a significant negative relationship between the team experience score and the musical-noisy difference time on the object transportation (r = -0.246, p = 0.046) and collaborative suturing tasks (r = -0.248, p = 0.044). CONCLUSIONS: As to individuals, music enhances the performance of a laparoscopy team while noise worsens performance. The negative correlation between team experience and musical-noisy difference time suggests that laparoscopy teams composed of experienced surgeons are less likely affected by an acoustic distraction than novice teams. Team resistance to acoustic distraction may lead to a new way for assessing team skills.

What's it really like to work in your organisation?

As a leader it is vital to understand what your team experience on a daily basis. Chris Marston discusses the ‘us and them’ culture and reflects on how he can do better.

Fishing for Feedback: Discussing Individual Competencies and Strengths in Teams

Management students conduct much of their coursework in teams, as they should. We teach them where teams can fail and how teams can become high performing. But too often, the team experience for students is solely about logistics and coordination. Students often miss the rich benefits of using their self-awareness and social intelligence to develop their abilities to give and receive deep peer feedback. This article introduces a playful format for teams to gain experience giving meaningful, lasting, individualized feedback for every team member. The exercise is appropriate for teams from undergraduates to executives and can be part of any course where students work in teams.