Three research associates (graduate students) and I collected
and coded the data. At the time of entry, the researchers
knew only which teams in the district they
would be studying, and not their nomination category.
Two researchers collected data for each team, spending
two hours or more conducting a structured team interview
that elicited collective descriptions of significant events
in the team's life, the team's structure and organizational
context, and typical daily interactions with the team's
manager. Interviews with managers provided further data
about team history, structure, and context, as well as
about the tnanager's own view of his or her interactions
with the team. The interview questions, adapted from
Hackman (1982). asked for straightforward descriptions
of various organizational features, not for interviewees"
opinions about whether a teatn was well or poorly designed.
The tliiee research associates and I test-coded the
first six interviews, and discrepancies were discussed and
resolved to increase interrater reliability for the remaining
coding. All subsequent interviews were coded by two
members of the research team.
Team members also completed a 108-item survey that
assessed team design, quality of group interaction processes,
perceived task interdependence, use ol' problemsolving
tools, and member satisfaction with the team and
its work. The survey was sent to metnbers by mail and
collected at the team interview. Each survey was given a
unique code to identify the respondent's team, and teams
sealed their completed surveys together in an envelope
before handing them to the researchers. Thus, individual
team member responses were not identifiable either to the
team's leader, the team members, or the researchers. Response
rate to the survey was 92%, and I had at least
three-fourths of the team members' responses from each
team in the research. Finally, organizational records were
consulted for information about team membership, distribution
of financial rewards, and objective team performance.