Although recent research highlights the role of team member goal orientation in team functioning, research has neglected the effects of diversity in goal orientation. In a laboratory study with groups working on a problem-solving task, we show that diversity in learning and performance orientation are related to decreased group performance. Moreover, we find that the effect of diversity in learning orientation is mediated by group information elaboration and the effect of diversity in performance orientation by group efficiency. In addition, we demonstrate that team reflexivity can counteract the negative effects of diversity in goal orientation. These results suggest that models of goal orientation in groups should incorporate the effects of diversity in goal orientation.
Much of the behavior at work is goal-directed. Accordingly, differences in goal orientation – preferred goals in achievement situations (Dweck, 1986 and Dweck and Leggett, 1988) – have been shown to exert a powerful influence on individual behavior and performance at work (e.g., Payne et al., 2007 and Porath and Bateman, 2006). Given that teams and workgroups are often the primary unit of organization (DeShon et al., 2004 and Kozlowski and Bell, 2003) and the abundant evidence for the influence of goal orientation at the individual level, the question arises how goal orientation plays out in a group context. Only recently researchers set foot in this underdeveloped area (LePine, 2005 and Porter, 2005), showing that mean levels of goal orientation affect group member attitudes and behavior. However, the shift from the individual level of analysis to goal orientation as a factor in team composition introduces another dimension yet unexplored in goal orientation research – diversity in goal orientation (i.e., differences between team members in goal orientation). In view of the evidence that diversity on a host of dimensions affects group process and performance (van Knippenberg and Schippers, 2007 and Williams and O’Reilly, 1998), it is important for our understanding of goal orientation in teams to also study the influence of goal orientation diversity. Moreover, in view of the evidence that main effects are unable to capture the effects of team diversity (van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007), we develop our analysis of diversity in goal orientations so that we are able to identify a moderator of its influence – team reflexivity (West, 1996).
Thus, we contribute to the literature in several important ways. Our main contribution lies in the demonstration of the importance of goal orientation diversity for team performance. We, thereby, further develop the goal orientation framework as well as extend research in diversity in at least two ways. By integrating insights from research in socially shared cognition with more traditional perspectives on diversity we extend research in diversity conceptually (cf. van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007). Furthermore, our findings suggest that diversity in individual differences more proximal to behavior in achievement settings may be more influential than the personality factors most often studied in this area (i.e., the Big Five; Bell, 2007). Finally, by identifying team reflexivity as a moderator of the relationships between goal orientation diversity and group performance we both substantiate the shared cognition perspective underlying our analysis and point to a moderator variable that provides clear opportunities for the management of goal orientation diversity.
As organizations make more and more use of teams as their basic units, the study of what affects team functioning and performance is gaining in importance. Recent research has shown the important role of team composition in goal orientation for team functioning. The present study extends and develops this emerging literature by establishing the influence of diversity in goal orientation on team processes and performance. In addition, the identification of a means to counteract these effects opens up promising future research opportunities.
