The Effects of Alignments: Examining Group Faultlines, Organizational Cultures, and Performance

By integrating literature on group faultlines, organizational cultures, and value congruence, this research presents a framework that explains how cultural alignment across organizational levels may influence the relationship between faultlines and performance. The hypotheses were tested using repre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied psychology 2012-01, Vol.97 (1), p.77-92
Main Authors: Bezrukova, Katerina, Thatcher, Sherry M. B., Jehn, Karen A., Spell, Chester S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Automatic Data Processing - manpower
Automatic Data Processing - organization & administration
Biological and medical sciences
Congruence
Corporate culture
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Goals
Group Dynamics
Group performance
Group Processes
Groups
Human
Human performance
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Models, Psychological
Multisource
Occupational psychology
Organizational analysis
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Climate
Organizational Culture
Organizational research
Psychological effects
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Quantitative data
Studies
Teams
Technology - manpower
Technology - organization & administration
Work condition. Job performance. Stress
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Summary:By integrating literature on group faultlines, organizational cultures, and value congruence, this research presents a framework that explains how cultural alignment across organizational levels may influence the relationship between faultlines and performance. The hypotheses were tested using representatively sampled multisource qualitative and quantitative data on 138 teams from a Fortune 500 company. The present findings demonstrate that although informational faultlines were detrimental for group performance, the negative relationship between faultlines and performance was reversed when cultures with a strong emphasis on results were aligned, was lessened when cultures with a weak emphasis on results were aligned, and remained negative when cultures were misaligned with respect to their results orientation. These findings show the importance of recognizing alignments not only within groups (group faultlines) but also outside groups (cultural alignments between the group and departments) when considering their implications for group performance.
ISSN:0021-9010
1939-1854
DOI:10.1037/a0023684