In the context of team problem-solving interactions, these previous findings suggest behavioral contingencies between leaders and followers, such that leaders' solution-focused behaviors could invite subsequent solution-focused behaviors by team members.

According to interpersonal theory, any specific behavior in an interaction process between two or more people invites specific responses (e.g., Kiesler, 1996, Sadler and Woody, 2003). Consequently, interacting parties tend to adjust their communicative expressions to one another during their interaction process (e.g., Hale & Burgoon, 1984). In... See more

The contemporary perspective of team processes argues for a central focus on team temporal dynamics unfolding in a proximal task and social context as teams work toward task accomplishment (e.g., Cronin et al., 2011, Ilgen et al., 2005, Kozlowski et al., 2013). Specific behaviors such as coming up with new ideas are embedded not only within the... See more

Studying actual behavioral instances between leaders and their followers allows us to capture the dynamic temporal contingencies that characterize leader–follower interactions (cf. Shamir, 2011). In other words, we aim to study leader and follower behaviors as they happen and affect each other in real time and at the micro-level of conversational... See more

Some studies suggest that such contagion effects can also take place in the context of verbal behaviors (Cheshin, Rafaeli, & Bos, 2011). Thus, when followers notice that their (transformational) leader comes up with ideas and solutions, they will likely adapt and follow suit with similar verbal behavior.

according to social learning theory, the way in which humans learn new behavior is through the imitation of role models (e.g., Bandura, 1977). In situations of ambiguity, role models can set norms for appropriate behavior, thus triggering behavioral imitation. In team interaction settings such as team meetings, which are often held for... See more

Second, solution-focused leader behaviors can be subsumed under the general notion of sensemaking (e.g., Jacobs and Jaques, 1987, Zaccaro and Klimoski, 2001, Maitlis, 2005, Scott et al., 2015). Sensemaking is “about such things as the placement of items into frameworks, comprehending, redressing surprise, constructing meaning, interacting in the... See more

transformational leadership can foster functional communicative team behaviors such as solution communication, and inhibit counterproductive communicative behaviors by team members during team interactions. We therefore hypothesize:

socioemotional communication area, criticizing others (i.e., disparaging or offending comments about other team members or other organizational members external to the team) can be similarly harmful for team problem-solving interactions.