"Team Role Knowledge" -- A New Tool for Predicting An Individual's Performance Within a Team
Sports fans have heard commentators talk about certain players "understanding the team concept." But what does that mean in the organizational world? Is there such an understanding, and can you measure it in job applicants (and thereby select employees based on it) and does it predict job performance once hired into a team?
Mumford and his colleagues have come up with a measure of this very thing, and have provided evidence that it is a valid measure. They call the aspect of this understanding of teams that they focused on "team role knowledge." They define it as "the knowedge an individual possesses about the nature of team roles and the situational contingencies govening their use." They go on to explain that the term "encompasses the declarative and procedural knowledge of role types and contingencies that is needed to effectively perform team roles."
What are these roles? The researchers identified 10 main functional roles that seem to cover the bulk of the role waterfront identified in the scientific literature on the subject:
- Contractor
- Creator
- Contributor
- Completer
- Critic
- Cooperator
- Communicator
- Calibrator
- Consul
- Coordinator
Through a series of studies, they developed a test of knowledge of these roles and how they function within teams, the Team Role Test (TRT), a 90-item measure. They validated the test in pilot studies, then took it to the field to see how it worked in a real-life situation. As it turns out, the TRT does several things that psychologists like:
- It reveals the existence of individual differences in role knowledge
- Its results correlate with peer ratings of team performance.
- It predicts role performance within teams more than mental ability, the "Big Five" personality factors, and team tenure.
- It does not seem to be a mere specific application of mental ability -- it appears instead to be a distinct concept only moderately related to intelligence.
So, it's an encouraging start to a new field of study -- the extent to which individuals' knowledge of how team roles function predict their performance in teams. If these results hold up in future research, employers will have a new and powerful tool to help them figure out who will be the most productive team members.
From: Mumford, T. V., Van Iddekinge, C. H., Morgeson, F. P., & Campion, M. A. (2008). The team role test: Development and validation of a team role knowledge situational judgment test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 250-267.
