All in the same boat? Exploring the micromechanics of transition phases in hybrid teams

Abstract

This study examines the micromechanics of transition phases in hybrid teams, focusing on how team behavioral processes and cognitive states evolve over time and how they are influenced by guided team-reflexivity. Drawing on Marks et al.’s team process framework, we conceptualize information-exchange about hybrid teamwork as a key process and hybrid teamwork mental models (HTMM) as an emergent state during transition phases. Using longitudinal panel data from 108 hybrid teams in a randomized field experiment, we investigate how a guided team-reflexivity intervention influences the emergence and within-team consensus of processes and states. Results show that the intervention significantly increases both information-exchange and HTMM levels over time. However, only information-exchange becomes more similar within teams, indicating convergence in collaborative behaviors, while HTMM ratings remain more idiosyncratic across team members. Cross-lagged analyses reveal that stable information-exchange predicts the subsequent development of HTMM, whereas reverse effects are not supported. These findings refine existing notions of stability and reciprocity between processes and states for hybrid teams and highlight the importance of stable behavioral processes in hybrid contexts. This study contributes to hybrid team research by elaborating on the microdynamics of transition phases and offers practical implications for designing interventions that foster sustained behavioral processes.