A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams
Psychological safety (PS) is a shared belief among team members that it is safe to take interpersonal risks. It can enhance team learning, experimentation with new ideas, and team performance. Considerable research has examined the positive effects of PS in diverse organizational contexts and is now...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.765793/full |
| _version_ | 1811208382832443392 |
|---|---|
| author | Rebecca Gerlach Christine Gockel |
| author_facet | Rebecca Gerlach Christine Gockel |
| author_sort | Rebecca Gerlach |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Psychological safety (PS) is a shared belief among team members that it is safe to take interpersonal risks. It can enhance team learning, experimentation with new ideas, and team performance. Considerable research has examined the positive effects of PS in diverse organizational contexts and is now shifting its focus toward exploring the nature of PS itself. This study aims to enhance our understanding of PS antecedents and development over time. Based on the model of team faultlines and research on team diversity, we examined the effects of demographic faultlines, team member personality, and member competencies on the development of PS. Over 5 months, 61 self-managed teams (N = 236) assessed their PS at the beginning, midpoint, and end of a research project. Results of a multilevel growth curve model show that PS decreased from project beginning to end. Initial levels of PS were especially low when teams had strong demographic faultlines and when team members differed in neuroticism. PS decreased more strongly over time when team members were diverse in agreeableness and assessed their task-related competencies to be relatively high. Our study identifies time and team composition attributes as meaningful predictors for the development of PS. We present ideas for future research and offer suggestions for how and when to intervene to help teams strengthen PS throughout their collaboration. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T04:20:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9fffa2b2a717453e808814d1b2d3f308 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T04:20:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-9fffa2b2a717453e808814d1b2d3f3082022-12-22T03:48:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-09-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.765793765793A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teamsRebecca Gerlach0Christine Gockel1Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, GermanyBerlin School of Management, SRH University Berlin, Berlin, GermanyPsychological safety (PS) is a shared belief among team members that it is safe to take interpersonal risks. It can enhance team learning, experimentation with new ideas, and team performance. Considerable research has examined the positive effects of PS in diverse organizational contexts and is now shifting its focus toward exploring the nature of PS itself. This study aims to enhance our understanding of PS antecedents and development over time. Based on the model of team faultlines and research on team diversity, we examined the effects of demographic faultlines, team member personality, and member competencies on the development of PS. Over 5 months, 61 self-managed teams (N = 236) assessed their PS at the beginning, midpoint, and end of a research project. Results of a multilevel growth curve model show that PS decreased from project beginning to end. Initial levels of PS were especially low when teams had strong demographic faultlines and when team members differed in neuroticism. PS decreased more strongly over time when team members were diverse in agreeableness and assessed their task-related competencies to be relatively high. Our study identifies time and team composition attributes as meaningful predictors for the development of PS. We present ideas for future research and offer suggestions for how and when to intervene to help teams strengthen PS throughout their collaboration.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.765793/fullpsychological safetydevelopmentteam member personalitycompetencygrowth curve modelingdemographic faultlines |
| spellingShingle | Rebecca Gerlach Christine Gockel A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams Frontiers in Psychology psychological safety development team member personality competency growth curve modeling demographic faultlines |
| title | A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams |
| title_full | A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams |
| title_fullStr | A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams |
| title_full_unstemmed | A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams |
| title_short | A question of time: How demographic faultlines and deep-level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams |
| title_sort | question of time how demographic faultlines and deep level diversity impact the development of psychological safety in teams |
| topic | psychological safety development team member personality competency growth curve modeling demographic faultlines |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.765793/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rebeccagerlach aquestionoftimehowdemographicfaultlinesanddeepleveldiversityimpactthedevelopmentofpsychologicalsafetyinteams AT christinegockel aquestionoftimehowdemographicfaultlinesanddeepleveldiversityimpactthedevelopmentofpsychologicalsafetyinteams AT rebeccagerlach questionoftimehowdemographicfaultlinesanddeepleveldiversityimpactthedevelopmentofpsychologicalsafetyinteams AT christinegockel questionoftimehowdemographicfaultlinesanddeepleveldiversityimpactthedevelopmentofpsychologicalsafetyinteams |