Individual differences in cognitive style and their effects on task and social orientations of self-managed work-teams

Many organisations wishing to become more flexible are attempting to push decision making to the front lines by implementing selfmanaging work teams. These teams are usually assembled according to the skills and knowledge required but other important characteristics of team composition are often overlooked the principle variables of which include the personalities of team members. One personality variable known to be critical for effective decision-making in teams is cognitive style. Using the AllinsonHayes Cognitive Style Index (Allinson & Hayes, 1996) this study, involving 100 subjects working across 11 teams, sought to examine how differences in cognitive style affected the behaviour of team members on the task/emotionallyexpressive dimension identified by Bales (1970). As hypothesised, intuitive individuals were found to initiate more social-emotional acts than analytic individuals. These effects were also evident at the team level where homogeneous intuitive teams were found to initiate more social-emotional acts than either homogeneous analytic teams or heterogeneous teams. However, there was no evidence to support the belief that analytic individuals initiate more task-orientated acts. The study also revealed a tendency for teams to select intuitive individuals as their team leader