Getting From ‘Me’ to ‘We’: Role Clarity, Team Process, and the Transition From Individual Knowledge to Shared Mental Models in Employee Dyads

• Author: Scott A. Cassidy,David J. Stanley
• Date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1493
• Published date: 01 June 2019

Getting From ‘Me’to ‘We’: Role Clarity, Team

Process, and the Transition From Individual

Knowledge to Shared Mental Models in

Employee Dyads

Scott A. Cassidy

University of Guelph

David J. Stanley*

University of Guelph

Abstract

Shared mental models are crucial for team functioning;

however, little research to date has focussed on uncovering

the predictors of shared mental models. The present study

investigates the effect of role clarity on shared mental

models by means of its indirect effects via team process.

Two hundred and two undergraduate students participated

in a dyadic f‌iref‌ighting simulation in which their role clarity,

team process, and mental model similarity were measured.

Analyses conducted at the dyadic level suggest that role

clarity predicts mental model similarity via its effects on

team process. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John

Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: shared mental models, shared cognition, dyads,

role clarity, small group dynamics

Résumé

Les recherches précédentes suggèrent que les modèles

mentaux partagés sont essentiels pour le fonctionnement

d’une équipe; cependant, peu de recherches à ce jour ont

mis l’accent sur la découverte des prédicteurs de modèles

mentaux partagés. L’étude présente examine l’effet de la

clarté de rôle sur les modèles mentaux partagés par ses

effets indirects via le processus d’équipe. Deux cent deux

étudiants de premier cycle ont participés à une simulation

de lutte contre les incendies dyadique dans laquelle la clarté

de leur rôle, leur processus d’équipe et le modèle de

similarité mentale ont été mesurés. Les analyses ont été

effectuées au niveau dyadique. Les résultats suggèrent que

la clarté de rôle prédit le modèle de similarité mentale par

ses effets sur le processus d’équipe. Copyright © 2018

ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés: modèles mentaux partagés, cognition partagée,

dyades, clarté du rôle, dynamique des petits groupes

Introduction

Many industries are shifting toward organizational struc-

tures that emphasize the need for individual employees to

work as highly coordinated units (Wageman, Gardner, &

Mortensen, 2012). To achieve this level of coordination,

work team members often need to develop common, unspo-

ken schemas for the tasks that they’re completing (often re-

ferred to as shared mental models). By developing these

shared mental models, team members are better equipped to

anticipate one another’s needs, and seamlessly coordinate

their work together (see for instance Guchait & Hamilton,

2013; DeChurch, & Mesmer-Magnus, 2010b; Espevik,

Johnsen, Eid, & Thayer, 2006; Smith-Jentsch, Mathieu, &

Kraiger, 2005). Indeed, shared mental models among team

members have been found to be an important predictor of task

performance (for instance DeChurch & Mesmer-Magnus,

2010a; Zhou & Wang, 2010; Lim & Klein, 2006; Mathieu,

Heffner, Goodwin, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 2000).

Although most researchers recognize the importance of

fostering shared mental models in work teams, relatively few

studies have investigated the ways in which managers can

encourage shared mental models to form (for instance

McIntyre & Foti, 2013; Kozlowski, Watola, Jensen, Kim,

& Botero, 2009; Xie, Zhu, & Wang, 2009; Rentsch &

Klimoski, 2001). The extant literature on shared mental

This research was conducted at the University of Guelph and supported by

the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The au-

thors would like to acknowledge the work of Maeve Buckley (Department

of Psychology, University of Guelph) for translating the article’s abstract

and keywords into French.

*Please address correspondence to: David Stanley, Department of Psychol-

ogy,University of Guelph, Canada, N1G 2W1. Email:dstanley@uoguelph.ca

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

36: 208–220 (2019)

Published online 26 April 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1493

Can J Adm Sci

36(2), 208–220 (2019)Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 208