Adapting to unstable and dynamic environments is a critical challenge for organizations. It requires continuous improvements not only in products and services but also in their overall functioning. Rapid shifting in the context creates a need for individuals and work teams to quickly adapt to new conditions and task demands (e.g. Kozlowski & Bell, 2008). The recognition of this new reality has given rise, in the last decade, to a set of theoretical models and empirical research that seek to explain adaptation (e.g. Rosen et al., 2011). Authors have argued that in order to adapt to unexpected situations, teams need to adjust their cognitive and behavioral processes, and emergent states (e.g., Burke et al., 2006). However, a lack of theoretical and empirical integration among different approaches for studying adaptation has constrained the advancement of this field of research. At the empirical level, there is a lack of experimental research and empirical work on the underpinnings of adaptation as a dynamic process, as well as a lack of longitudinal designs that analyze how team performance and adaptation occurs over time (Baard et al., 2014). Finally, although organizations increasingly rely on multiteam systems (MTS) to accomplish their goals (i.e., “two or more teams that interface directly and interdependently in response to environmental contingencies toward the accomplishment of collective goals”, Mathieu et al., 2001, p. 290), research has not empirically analyzed how teams coordinate their work in order to adapt and perform over time. We propose four interrelated empirical studies, combining research methods and approaches to capture the dynamics of team cognition on team adaptation and performance trajectories. We also investigate team cognition and leadership as two relevant coordinating mechanisms that support team adaptation in multiteam systems. In study 1 we will experimentally manipulate shared mental models (SMM) and team cognitive flexibility in order to assess the causal effects of these variables on team adaptive processes and performance change over time. The innovative power of this study lies in the combination of an experimental setup with a longitudinal measurement design, in which we assess behavior, as well as cognition at multiple time points in the adaptation process. In study 2 we will use a longitudinal design to analyze the role of team leadership processes on SMM development, as well as on team adaptation and performance trajectories over time. Zaccaro et al. (2001) posited that team leader’s sensemaking and sensegiving activities are positively related to SMM because they provide a model of cue-response contingencies that are particularly relevant in dynamic environments. This study aims to empirically test this proposition that has been scarcely and partially studied (Marks et al., 2000; Randall et al., 2011). In study 3 we integrate previous research on team leadership and team cognition and we will experimentally analyze the effect of team leader’s sensemaking and sensegiving activities on the development of mental models similarity and accuracy as well as on team adaptation and performance growth. This study clearly goes beyond previous research by experimentally testing whether leader’s activities which contribute to the development of congruent cognitions (with no correct value) are similar to the ones that contribute to the development of accurate cognitions, contributing to the development of organizational practices and training programs. In study 4 we will analyze team leadership and SMM as coordinating mechanisms in MTS, a new collective form that has emerged as organizational adaptive responses to environmental challenges. 

Our research proposal provides an important scientific contribution for several reasons. First, researchers within a longitudinal performance approach have neglected the mechanisms involved in the moments in which teams adapt to changes. We aim to bridge this gap by analyzing the emergence of cognitive states at different phases of the team adaptation cycle (Rosen et al, 2011). Second, we adopt an innovative longitudinal approach to investigate SMM, tuning in to recent theoretical models that call for more research on the dynamics of team cognition over time (Kozlowski & Chao, 2012). Third, our study clearly exceeds a limitation related to the use correlational studies to test a causal hypothesis. We propose an experimental procedure to test how team cognition and team leadership affect adaptation over time. Finally, we contribute to a new stream of research that goes beyond looking at the team as an isolated entity. We focus on MTS and investigate how team cognition and leadership contribute to collectives of teams to adapt and perform over time.

Due to this novel approach, the research plan will lead to important research findings which also have practical implications to help practitioners to develop adaptive team capacities in organizations.

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With the objective to increase the research activity directed towards the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the possibility of associating scientific projects with the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in Ciência_Iscte. These are the Sustainable Development Goals identified for this project. For more detailed information on the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.