Justice Fosters the Effect of Team-Building Interventions on Viability and Performance

Abstract

Building viable teams provides a sustainable organizational culture and supports efforts to overcome challenges and maintain a long-lasting and growing business. This study analyzed the role of organizational distributive justice on the relationship between team-building interventions and team viability, alongside team performance. As we understand the underlying concepts of viability and performance better, we can build more resilient teams. An empirical study was conducted on a sample of 402 employees in different teams in organizations. A research model was built with viability and performance as the dependent variables and team-building as the independent variable. The perception of distributive justice was the mediator. Team-building was measured by four variables, where the results of the factor analysis suggested that problem-solving and interpersonal relationships converged into one variable, whereas goal-setting and role clarification represented the second factor of team-building. Regression and mediation analysis showed that problem-solving and interpersonal relationships had a stronger influence on teams’ viability and performance. More remarkably, distributive justice mediated this strong relationship. Throughout the challenging business environment, improving the problem-solving abilities of our teams and encouraging them to build strong interpersonal relationships integrated with a perception of justice would improve the teams’ sustainability significantly. Independent of the strength of the relationship between the team-building factors of viability and performance, organizational distributive justice fosters performance and sustainability. The observed influence of distributive justice was stronger on the goal-setting and role clarification components, whereas direct effects were relatively weaker. The high correlation between team viability and performance should encourage leaders to give equal importance to these concepts when building and motivating their teams, measuring the outcomes, and taking necessary actions.