Group personality composition and performance in military service teams

A field study of intact military teams tested hypotheses about group personality composition on conscientiousness and agreeableness. Members of 47 intact military service teams completed questionnaires assessing individual personality traits, and their supervisors rated team performance. Group average agreeableness and conscientiousness correlated positively with group performance ratings, as did the group minimum score for both traits. Variance for group agreeableness correlated negatively with group performance. Groups with high scores on both conscientiousness and agreeableness received higher performance ratings than all other group compositions, pointing to the possibility of synergy of complementary, collective personality traits in work teams. Results carry implications for theory, application, and future research