To link or not to link? Multiple team membership and unit performance

Area of Science:

• Organizational Psychology
• Healthcare Management
• Team Dynamics

Background:

• Multiple team membership is prevalent in modern organizations.
• Understanding its impact on collective effectiveness across teams is limited.
• A microfoundations framework is needed to analyze this relationship at a higher level.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between multiple team membership and unit performance.
• To examine how task complexity moderates this relationship.
• To provide insights for optimizing performance in team-based structures.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a microfoundations framework.
• Collected data from 849 primary care units within the Veterans Health Administration.
• Analyzed the association between multiple team membership and unit performance, considering task complexity.

Main Results:

• Multiple team membership was found to be negatively associated with unit performance.
• Task complexity exacerbated the negative relationship between multiple team membership and unit performance.
• Findings highlight potential drawbacks of extensive cross-team involvement.

Conclusions:

• High levels of multiple team membership can hinder overall unit performance.
• Organizations should consider task complexity when structuring teams.
• Further research is needed to explore strategies for mitigating negative effects.