The Relationship between Psychological Safety and Management Team Effectiveness: The Mediating Role of Behavioral Integration.

This study explores whether there is an indirect effect of psychological safety on team effectiveness in management teams, operating through the mediating variable of behavioral integration. Whilst there exists a fair amount of research on the relationship between psychological safety and team effectiveness, few have looked at potential mechanisms that can explain this association in management teams. We propose behavioral integration to be a potential mediator. Data are collected from 1150 leaders in 160 Norwegian management teams, answering a questionnaire measuring team functioning and effectiveness. Team size ranged from 3 to 19 members. Our results show a significant indirect effect of psychological safety on management team effectiveness, mediated by behavioral integration. Thus, the more team members perceive the climate as safe in terms of speaking their mind without the fear of repercussions, the more they partake in mutual collaboration, information sharing and experience ownership in the decisions being made. This is associated with management teams performing better. We also found a positive relationship between psychological safety and behavioral integration, and-in line with previous studies-that psychological safety and behavioral integration both were positively related to team effectiveness. This study adds to the existing team research literature by expanding our knowledge about the importance of psychological safety and the way it influences management team performance at all levels throughout the organizational hierarchy.

The Multidimensional Self-Control Scale (MSCS): Development and validation.

Trait self-control is important for well-being and mental and physical health. Most extant measures of self-control are limited in that they do not account for the multidimensionality and specificity of the trait. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a multidimensional and hierarchical scale of self-control in a full and a short version. The development of the Multidimensional Self-Control Scale (MSCS) and the Brief Multidimensional Self-Control Scale (BMSCS) was based on focus groups, a pilot, a main, and a validation sample (total N = 2,409). The 29-item MSCS consists of 6 first-order factors (Procrastination, Attentional Control, Impulse Control, Emotional Control, Goal Orientation, and Self-Control Strategies), 2 second-order factors (Inhibition and Initiation), and a third-order self-control factor. The 8 items in BMSCS provides a general trait self-control score. Findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the structures across samples, and internal consistency was acceptable. Assessment for acquiescence and sex differences indicated no major impacts on the scales. Strong convergent validity was observed with the Self-Control Scale (SCS) and the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS), as well as to other similar concepts. The MSCS subscales discriminated well between each other. Assessment of incremental validity of the MSCS over SCS, when controlling for sex and personality, showed significant increases in explained variance when predicting habits, hardiness, and life satisfaction. Similar significant results were observed for the BMSCS over the BSCS. Overall, results indicate that the new scales are useful measures that integrate recent theoretical and empirical findings of trait self-control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Effectiveness in top management group meetings: the role of goal clarity, focused communication, and learning behavior.

To explore the relationship between goal clarity, focused communication, learning behavior, and team effectiveness (i.e., task performance, relationship quality, and member satisfaction), self-report and observer data from eight top management groups that processed 56 agenda items during meetings were analyzed. We found that goal clarity and focused communication was positively related to team effectiveness. The effect of goal clarity on team effectiveness was partially mediated by focused communication. Speaking up when a goal was unclear increased focused communication, task performance and relationship quality. Speaking up when the discussion was off track was not related to task performance and member satisfaction, and was negatively related to relationship quality. These findings have implications for how to conduct an effective management meeting.