Effective Self-Regulating Teams: A Generative Psychological Approach

This paper compliments Hackman‟s (2002) work on the critical conditions for effecting „self-regulated‟ teamwork with an understanding of team psychology. Assuming various structural pre-requisites, we propose that effective teamwork is generated by a social self-identification process, upon which there are „emergent states‟ across affective (commitment, cohesion), motivational (drive to secure and maintain positive self-esteem), cognitive (shared cognition) and behavioural (intra-team and inter-team processes) dimensions. This propositional model integrates and builds on previous thinking into a more generative understanding of effective team work (i.e., what makes teamwork possible and how can this be sustained) that takes into account the importance of context in accounting for team success. Considerations for further testing, conceptual and methodological refinement are highlighted. The model otherwise affords clear pragmatic implications for leveraging more effective teamwork in organizational contexts.