Abstract

Many organisations wishing to become more flexible are attempting to push decision making to the front lines by implementing selfmanaging work teams. These teams are usually assembled according to the skills and knowledge required but other important characteristics of team composition are often overlooked the principle variables of which include the personalities of team members. One personality variable known to be critical for effective decision-making in teams is cognitive style. Using the AllinsonHayes Cognitive Style Index (Allinson & Hayes, 1996) this study, involving 100 subjects working across 11 teams, sought to examine how differences in cognitive style affected the behaviour of team members on the task/emotionallyexpressive dimension identified by Bales (1970). As hypothesised, intuitive individuals were found to initiate more social-emotional acts than analytic individuals. These effects were also evident at the team level where homogeneous intuitive teams were found to initiate more social-emotional acts than either homogeneous analytic teams or heterogeneous teams. However, there was no evidence to support the belief that analytic individuals initiate more task-orientated acts. The study also revealed a tendency for teams to select intuitive individuals as their team leader.