Managing information overload in virtual teams: Effects of a structured online team adaptation on cognition and performance

Information overload (IO) indicates the exchange of too much low-quality information in virtual teams. When being overloaded with information, teams need to adapt and to change communication behaviour. This study introduces and tests a structured online team adaptation (STROTA) procedure that enable...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of work and organizational psychology Vol. 24; no. 5; pp. 812 - 826
Main Authors: Ellwart, Thomas, Happ, Christian, Gurtner, Andrea, Rack, Oliver
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Hove Routledge 03.09.2015
Psychology Press
Subjects:
Adaptability
Adaptation
Cognitive models
Communication
Information management
Information overload
Organizational behavior
Studies
Team adaptation
Team mental models
Virtual teams
ISSN:1359-432X, 1464-0643
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Information overload (IO) indicates the exchange of too much low-quality information in virtual teams. When being overloaded with information, teams need to adapt and to change communication behaviour. This study introduces and tests a structured online team adaptation (STROTA) procedure that enables virtual teams to reduce IO by improving their team mental model quality. STROTA, built from team adaptation models, is a moderated intervention consisting of three stages: (1) individual situation awareness, (2) team situation awareness, and (3) plan formulation. STROTA was tested in the context of an experimental problem-solving task. Participants (N = 363) worked in virtual teams of three and were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: no STROTA, incomplete STROTA (step 1, steps 1-2), and complete STROTA (steps 1-2-3). We found teams that followed a complete STROTA procedure experienced lessened IO over time. Teams with complete STROTA showed the largest development of TMM immediately after STROTA. Finally, multilevel mediation analyses showed that TMM are mediators that explain the influence of STROTA on IO.
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ISSN:1359-432X
1464-0643
DOI:10.1080/1359432X.2014.1000873