Temporary Teams: Contextual Factor Effects on Task Performance vs. Relational Cohesion

Temporary teams are defined by their transience, but their members are usually drawn from a common social context. This context gives their task and purpose legitimacy and a common ground. This study utilizes 247 university seniors and professional MBA students arranged into groups performing interdependent, contextually relevant and consequential tasks. Findings indicate that organizational contextual factors have differential and separate effects on group task performance and group cohesiveness. Relational moderators of prior connections among group members and rich communication media do not alter the relationships between organizational oversight, deadline pressures, individual performance and group task performance. Organizational oversight and deadline pressures have negative effects on group task performance while individual performance has a positive effect on both group task performance and group cohesion. The richness of the communication medium and deeper prior connections among group members reduces the positive impact that strong individual performers have on group cohesion.