PhD Defence Mayssa Rishani

Abstract

Multiple team membership (MTM)—defined as working on more than one team at a time—represents the daily reality of many employees around the world. Organizations increasingly adopt multiteaming with the hopes that their employees work faster, do more, and achieve better results and deliverables. However, whether MTM truly manifests in these desired effectiveness outcomes remains a separate, unanswered question. Though scholarly interest in MTM has recently gained momentum, much remains unknown about the complexities of multiteaming and its implications on individuals, teams, and organizations. This dissertation directs attention to the influences and experiences of MTM in three chapters, studying them using different theoretical perspectives and methods (i.e., integrative review, time-lagged surveys, and interviews). The first chapter focuses on how MTM influences effectiveness and the reasons underlying this complex relationship in the literature, showing that existing inconsistencies in findings are rooted in three sources of variance: the aspects and nature of MTM, the processes through which MTM transforms into effectiveness, and the characteristics of multiteamers. The second chapter examines how team-level MTM alters team asynchronous communication and information processes, revealing that team asynchronicity is both a more common and costly remedy for teams of multiteamers. The third chapter delves into knowledge workers’ MTM experiences to explore their rationales and approaches for MTM, presenting a pluralistic understanding of MTM and its application. Taken together, this dissertation contributes to the scholarly discussion on MTM and offers relevant insights for practice.