When do bad apples not spoil the barrel? Negative relationships in teams, team performance, and buffering mechanisms.

Abstract

The study of negative relationships in teams has primarily focused on the impact of negative relationships on individual team member attitudes and performance in teams. The mechanisms and contingencies that can buffer against the damaging effects of negative relationships on team performance have received limited attention. Building on social interdependence theory and the multilevel model of team motivation, we examine in a sample of 73 work teams the team-level attributes that foster the promotive social interaction that can neutralize the adverse effect of negative relationships on team cohesion and, consequently, on team performance. The results indicate that high levels of team-member exchange as well as high task-interdependence attenuate how team cohesion and team performance suffer from negative relationships. Implications for research and practice are discussed.