Solidarity through networks. The effects of task and informal interdependence on cooperation within teams
| Pages | 117-137 |
| Published date | 09 January 2007 |
| Date | 09 January 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450710719978 |
| Author | Ferry Koster,Frans Stokman,Randy Hodson,Karin Sanders |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Solidarity through networks
The effects of task and informal
interdependence on cooperation within teams
Ferry Koster
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Frans Stokman
Department of Sociology and Interunivesity Center of Social Science Theory and
Methodology (ICS), University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Randy Hodson
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA, and
Karin Sanders
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of task and informal networks and their
interaction on cooperative types of employee behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach – Two studies are used to examine the research question. The
first dataset consists of book-length ethnographies providing information at the team level. The
second dataset is gathered through a survey across ten different organisations and provides
information at the employee level. Both datasets are analysed using OLS regression.
Findings – Cooperative behaviour is positively affected by task and informal interdependence
relationships. However, when employees have task and informal interdependence relationships with
co-workers, they may show less cooperative behaviour.
Research limitations/implications – A major limitation of this study is that it was not possible to
include information about the structure of the networks in which the employees are embedded. The
study provides evidence for the existence of exchange relationships between the employee and the
team. Besides that, the study shows the importance of including formal and informal networks to
study cooperative behaviour of employees.
Practical implications – The findings provide practical information about how to manage
cooperation within teams. Cooperative relationships can be created by either creating task or informal
interdependence. Besides that, managers should strike a balance between task and informal
interdependence.
Originality/value – Existing research tends to focus on the effects of one type of network on
behaviour. This research shows that different networks may affect employee behaviour at the same
time.
Keywords Employee behaviour,Team working, Competences, Responsibilities
Paper type Research paper
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors thank Werner Raub (Utrecht University) for his constructive comments on earlier
drafts of this paper. Financial support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
(NWO/PBB9817) is gratefully acknowledged.
Solidarity
through
networks
117
Received 15 June 2005
Revised 10 April 2006
Accepted 12 April 2006
Employee Relations
Vol. 29 No. 2, 2007
pp. 117-137
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425450710719978
Introduction
Many modern organisations are characterised by the use of teams to produce goods
and services (Appelbaum and Batt, 1994; Cohen and Bailey, 1997). It is assumed that
these teams enable organisations to quickly adjust to changing circumstances, which
are caused by product market fluctuations and demanding costumers, for instance.
Within teams, employees have a shared responsibility for the quality and the quantity
of the team’s output (Alderfer, 1977; Hackman, 1987; Sundstrom et al., 1990; Guzzo and
Dickson, 1996). Individual team members are dependent on each other to finish a
common task and this requires mutual adjustment of individual actions and
cooperation between individual team members (Thompson, 1967; Van de Ven et al.,
1979). Teams perform their tasks by joining individual competences based on mutually
agreed responsibilities. The formal authority structure is only present in the
background and will be activated only if the team does not perform well or is faced
with internal problems. The interactions are therefore primarily perceived as tak ing
place in the horizontal relationship between the team members (Mohrman et al., 1995;
Wittek, 1999; Flynn and Brockner, 2003). Empirical research shows that the
functioning of teams depends on the quality of intra-team processes such as
communication, coordination, balance of member contributions, mutual support, effort,
and social cohesion (Hoegl and Gemuenden, 2001). Such processes require
contributions of all individual team members. Nevertheless, for each individual
member not contributing is the best option if everyone else in the team is already
contributing because then the individual actor can reap the benefits from teamwork
without putting effort into it.
Because there is a tension between individual and team interests, solidary types of
behaviour within a team may be problematic (March and Simon, 1958). Solidary
behaviour refers to individual contributions to the common good (Hechter, 1987;
Lindenberg, 1998) and is affected by interpersonal cooperative behaviour between two
or more actors. The relational structure in which individual actors are embedde d may
well increase their solidary behaviour toward each other because they offer
possibilities for learning and monitoring to ensure individual contributions to the
common good (Raub, 1997). Such networks may be formal or informal (e.g. Podolny
and Baron, 1997) and we investigate the effects of two types of networks and their
interaction on solidarity between team members: To what extent do task
interdependencies and informal network embeddedness generate solidarity toward
co-workers?
Two different studies are used to answer this question. Study 1 uses a dataset
consisting of data that are drawn from book-length ethnographies (Hodson, 1998). The
ethnographies are coded by a standardised procedure to enable statistical
computations and comparisons. The data that are created through this methodology
are examined at the team level. Study 2 uses a dataset that is gathered at the
employee-level. In both studies, the same hypotheses are tested. The outcomes of the
two studies and their implications are discussed.
Networks and solidarity toward co-workers
Organisation Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) is a form of cooperative employee
behaviour that is studied extensively. However, OCB consists of rather global types of
behaviour. Since employees can show solidarity toward their co-workers and toward
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