The Effect of Leader Rapport-Management Feedback on Leader–Member Relationship Quality and Perceived Group Effectiveness in Student Teams

Kim Sydow Campbell University of North Texas ; Chris Lam University of North Texas

Abstract

Background: Preparing students to work on teams in the workplace is both important and challenging. The transfer of learning from school to work requires that faculty provide guidance to support teamwork processes, including team communication. Literature review: Leader communication, especially when nondirective, has been associated with team success. Nondirective leaders influence others and develop quality relationships through personal rather than position power. Personal power is created partly through interactions in which a leader's linguistic behavior effectively manages rapport with team members. Research questions: We wanted to explore the influence of team member feedback on leader rapport management, leader-member relationship quality, and perceived team effectiveness. Research methodology: We designed a feedback intervention that was delivered to team leaders within multidisciplinary student teams in a technical writing course. The study was a traditional, intervention-based, between-subjects quasi-experiment. Results/discussion: Despite its singular focus on team leader behavior, the intervention resulted in higher perceived group effectiveness. Although leader rapport management and leader-member relationship quality were higher in teams with feedback intervention, the effects were not statistically significant. Conclusion: We discuss several potential causes of our results, including several options for future research. Ultimately, because the intervention is simple to create and efficient to share, we conclude that it can supply instructors with one useful tool for intervening in student teamwork processes to improve team outcomes and for emphasizing the importance of interpersonal communication and leadership in teams.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2019-09-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2019.2913238
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  5. Technical Communication Quarterly

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