Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.
School of Management, University of South Australia.
J Appl Psychol. 2018 Aug;103(8):813-827. doi: 10.1037/apl0000305. Epub 2018 Apr 16.
Voice, or the expression of work-related suggestions or opinions, can help teams access and utilize members' privately held knowledge and skills and improve collective outcomes. However, recent research has suggested that sometimes, rather than encourage positive outcomes for teams, voice from members can have detrimental consequences. Extending this research, we highlight why it is important to consider voice centralization within teams, or the extent to which voice is predominantly emanating from only a few members rather than equally spread across all members. We argue that, under certain circumstances, voice centralization is harmful to the utilization of members' expertise in the team and, thereby, to team performance. Specifically, we propose that voice centralization is likely to have negative effects when it occurs around members who are more socially dominant or are less reflective. We find support for our arguments in a sample of 78 teams (319 team members) working on graduate student projects in a business school over a semester. Overall, through our theory and results, we showcase why it is important for future studies to examine the distribution of voice among team members. (PsycINFO Database Record
声音，或表达与工作相关的建议或意见，可以帮助团队利用成员私下持有的知识和技能，并提高集体成果。然而，最近的研究表明，有时，成员的声音非但不会为团队带来积极的结果，反而可能产生不利的后果。为了进一步扩展这一研究，我们强调了为什么要考虑团队内部的声音集中化，即声音主要来自少数几个成员而不是平均分布在所有成员中的程度。我们认为，在某些情况下，声音集中化对团队成员专业知识的利用以及团队绩效是有害的。具体来说，我们提出，当声音集中在更具社会支配地位或反思性较低的成员周围时，它很可能产生负面影响。我们在一个商学院的研究生项目中，对 78 个团队（319 名团队成员）进行了为期一个学期的研究，发现了对我们观点的支持。总的来说，通过我们的理论和结果，我们展示了为什么对于未来的研究来说，检查团队成员之间的声音分布是很重要的。
