infonet-economy

Bootlegging-Projekte sind dezentrale Innovationsvorhaben, die zunächst im Verborgenen ohne Wissen des Top-Managements begonnen werden. Bei der AUDI AG haben solche Projekte eine lange Tradition. In der Vergangenheit haben sie zu bahnbrechenden Innovationen wie dem quattro-Antrieb geführt. Als Teil eines dreieinhalbjährigen Kooperationsprojekts der Universität St.Gallen mit der Technischen Entwicklung von Audi untersuchten die Autoren in einer Interviewstudie (mit 20 Mitgliedern von Forschungs- und Entwicklungsteams und sechs Vertretern für das höhere Management) bezugnehmend auf das Konzept der Kreativen Devianz, was diese dezentralen Innovationsprojekte erfolgreich macht.

Past research on team boundary work has focused on a “cold,” information-exchange perspective to explain why boundary activities affect team innovation. Although the theory is widely accepted, empirical studies on the actual mechanism are scant and produce inconsistent results. Drawing from Interaction Ritual Theory (Collins, 2004), we propose a “warm,” affective perspective that emphasizes team emotional energy – a shared feeling of enthusiasm among team members – as a mechanism linking boundary work and team innovation. Moreover, we examine a theory-driven contextual factor –team role overload – that modifies the hypothesized mediated relationship. Based on field data from four different sources of 89 automotive research and development teams (comprising 724 employees, 89 direct supervisors and 18 managers), we found that both team boundary-spanning and boundary-buffering activities are associated with higher levels of team emotional energy, which, in turn, are related to greater levels of team innovation. Moreover, the mediated relationship of boundary-buffering activities, team emotional energy and team innovation is moderated by team role overload, such that the mediated relationship is stronger when team role overload is higher. Our study contributes to the literature by broadening our understanding of why boundary work is effective and when it matters most.

Die Automotive-Branche steht unter Innovationsdruck. Führungskräfte spielen eine entscheidende Rolle, wenn es darum geht, Mitarbeiter im Umfeld von radikalem Wandel zu motivieren und zu begleiten.
Mitarbeiterbefragungen und Führungskräfte-Workshops können hierfür Grundlagen legen. Ein Praxisfall.

Prior team research has almost exclusively conceptualized team boundary management from a perspective of information processing. This paper approaches the issue of team boundary buffering, an external process by
which teams protect themselves against uncertainty and disturbances from the outside, from a conservation of resources perspective. We test whether the effect of team boundary buffering on innovative team performance is
better explained by an instrumental path of gained team information processing or by an expressive path of gained team energy, that we define as the extent to which a team mobilizes the collective resources of its members.

Design/Methodology
In a field setting in a cross?sectional sample of 89 functional RD?teams from the automotive industry, comprising 724 employees and 89 team leaders, we tested a dual mediator model with OLS regression.

Results
Our dual mediator analysis supported the occurrence of an expressive path via team energy and only partly confirmed the existence of an instrumental path via team information processing.

Limitations
The cross?sectional data does not allow to draw any causal inferences. The generalizability of our conclusions is limited by the specific type of teams (R&D).

Research/Practical Implications
Our results suggest that the impact of team boundary buffering on the innovative performance is better explained by the expressive motivational state of team energy than the instrumental team process of information elaboration. Besides the instrumental reach for their goals, R&D teams should thrive for an
expressive, energetic team environment to gain innovative performance.

Originality/Value
This study challenges the assumption that team boundary management is primarily an instrumental issue of information processing.

Past research has found ample evidence that high-performance work systems (HPWSs) positively affect organizational performance (Combs, Liu, Hall, & Ketchen, 2006). However, this research has scarcely considered absenteeism as a focal outcome of interest. Drawing upon social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and the literature on positive social interactions (Heaphy & Dutton, 2008), we develop a theoretical model for why HPWSs may have beneficial and detrimental effects on organizational-level absenteeism. Using a multi-source study with time-lagged field data, comprising 163 organizations with 15,440 employees, we found full support for our hypothesized model. Our paper challenges the assumption that HPWSs are always beneficial, and extends prior literature on HR practices, absenteeism, and positive organizational scholarship.