This research explored optimal patterns of team process fulfillment (i.e., those indicative of favorable effectiveness outcomes). Behavioral data were collected from 381 assessment center teams containing a total of 2,092 job applicants. During this study, participants engaged in two mechanical production tasks as part of the employee selection procedure at an American automobile manufacturing company. Trained assessors closely monitored teams during each task and noted the interactions fulfilled by members. These interactions were later sorted into eight team process categories for testing. Based on theoretical and empirical research from the domains of team roles and team processes, hypotheses were formed concerning how each team process should optimally be fulfilled with regard to the total amount of interactions carried out by members as well as the sharing or distribution of that process fulfillment among members. Bivariate correlations served as tests of relationships between the total/sharing of each team process and each outcome; comprehensive multivariate pattern-based analyses tested the relative importances of all team processes simultaneously. Among the results was the finding that the optimal pattern of team process fulfillment depends on the stage of team development (i.e., an initial task versus a subsequent task) and the outcome included in the model (i.e., performance quantity versus performance quality).
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