The effect of interdependence on the results of work team performance has been defended on grounds of the theoretical model proposed by Guzzo and Shea (1992). In the present study the adequacy of this proposal was investigated by adopting a multilevel model. The effect of task interdependence results interdependence and beliefs on team effectiveness was investigated. Satisfaction with the work team was chosen as an indicator of team effectiveness. The collected data consisted of a sample of 113 individuals, who belonged to 28 work teams. The results of this study confirmed the adequacy of the model, since it was capable to explain differences between individuals and teams. More in specific, a direct relationship between results interdependence and satisfaction was shown to exisit. Task interdependence was shown, in some cases, to modify this direct relationship. Besides this, higher satisfaction was observed of those individuals who reported to depend on other team members to attain their results. However, this was the case only for those individuals who developed positive beliefs on the effectiveness of work teams. In the case individuals did not believe in team effectiveness, a high degree of results dependency was found to be associated with lower levels of satisfaction.
work teams; interdependence in teams; satisfaction with teams; multilevel model
