Do you see what we see? The complex effects of perceptual distance between leaders and teams

Citation

(2009), "Do you see what we see? The complex effects of perceptual distance between leaders and teams", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 23 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2009.08123ead.009

Do you see what we see? The complex effects of perceptual distance between leaders and teams

Article Type: Abstracts From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 23, Issue 5

Gibson C.B., Cooper C.D., Conger J.A. Journal of Applied Psychology (USA), January 2009, Vol. 94 No. 1, Start page: 62, No. of pages: 15

Purpose – Ascertains how team performance is affected by leader-team perceptual distance. Design/methodology/approach – Draws attention to how team members and team leaders opinions sometimes are not in agreement leading to organizational conflict. Applying the concept of leader-team personal distance (differences between a leader and a team in perceptions of the same social stimulus) and drawing on Zaccaro’s (2001) team leadership model, proposes an integrative theoretical framework to study this issue. Outlines a number of hypotheses proposing how leader-team’s perceptions of goal accomplishment, constructive conflict and decision-making autonomy will affect team performance. Tests these on data collected from teams working at five pharmaceutical and medical products companies. Findings – Reports how leader-team perceptual distance has a greater predictive capacity that did within-team perceptual distance; puts forward how leader-team perceptual distance resulted in effects for goal accomplishment and constructive conflict, while within-team perceptual distance among members failed to demonstrate any significant effects for any of the three phenomena. Research limitations/implications – Sample restricted to two industries; study a wide range of industry settings. Originality/value – Focuses on the role that perceptions play for teams.Article type: Research paper ISSN: 0021-9010 Reference: 38AH106

Keywords: Group dynamics, Leadership, Team management, Team performance, Teamwork