Distinguishing between taskwork and teamwork planning in teams: relations with coordination and interpersonal...

Area of Science:

• Organizational Psychology
• Team Dynamics
• Human Factors

Background:

• Effective team functioning relies heavily on robust planning processes.
• Understanding the nuances of team planning is crucial for optimizing team performance.
• Existing research often treats team planning monolithically, potentially overlooking critical distinctions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether team planning can be differentiated into taskwork-focused and teamwork-focused components.
• To validate a two-factor structure for emergent team planning.
• To examine the unique relationships between taskwork and teamwork planning and subsequent team processes and performance.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: Exploratory factor analysis of team planning indicators.
• Study 2: Confirmatory factor analysis to validate the proposed two-factor structure.
• Study 3: Examination of the relationships between planning types, team processes (coordination, interpersonal), and team performance.

Main Results:

• The first two studies supported a two-factor structure for team planning, distinguishing between taskwork and teamwork planning.
• Study 3 demonstrated independent relationships for taskwork and teamwork planning with subsequent team processes.
• Both planning types indirectly influenced team performance through their impact on team processes.

Conclusions:

• Team planning is not a singular construct but comprises distinct taskwork and teamwork elements.
• Differentiated team planning strategies have unique impacts on team processes and ultimately, team performance.
• These findings have implications for training and developing more effective team planning approaches.