THE EFFECT OF GENERAL COGNITIVE ABILITY, TEAMWORK KSA'S, AND THE "BIG FIVE" PERSONALITY FACTORS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN TEAMS: WLICATIONS FOR THE SELECTION OF TEAMS A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Business McMaster University O Copyright by Susan Kichuk, December 1996 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliogi aphic SeMces services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington OiGawaON K t A W OnawaON K 1 A W canada Canadg The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seil reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/tilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de ceileti ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. THE SELECTION OF TEAMS DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1 997) McMaster University (Business Administration) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Effect of Geneml Cognitive Ability, Teamwork KSA's, and The "Big Five" Personality Factors on the Perfionnance of Engineering Design Teams: Implications for the Selection of Teams. AUTHOR: Susan Leigh Kichuk, B.E.Sc. (University of Western Ontario) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Willi H.W iesner NUMBER OF PAGES: ix, 130 ABSTRACT General cognitive ability, Teamwork KSA's, and the "Big Five" personality factors (Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Openness to Expenence) were examined as potential selection measures for three-person Engineering design teams. This study used objective product evaluations as the performance critena for the teams rather than measures of satisfaction and self-reported performance which had been used as proxies for performance in past studies. Self-reports of satisfaction and performance were rneasured in order to test the validity of using these measures as proxies for objective performance. In the short penod of tirne over which this study took place, it was apparent that some teams were able to perform at a minimally acceptable level, and some were not. Successful tearns were characterized by higher composite levels of general cognitive ability, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stabiiity, and Teamwork KSA scores than their unsuccessful counterparts. However, from a selection standpoint, only general cognitive ability and Neuroticism provided unique variance in differentiating successfûl fiom unsuccessful teams. The heterogeneity of Conscientiousness was negatively related to the performance of successful teams. Team member self-reports of satisfaction and performance were moderately reiated to the team's product performance, although the relationships were not wflicientiy large to suggest that a proxy relationship exists. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks goes to my advisor Dr. Willi Wiesner for his guidance throughout the dissertation process and to the Innovation Research Centre at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada for the hancial support required to make this research possible. Thanks also goes to my cornmittee members Dr. Rick Hackett, Dr. Naresh Agarwal, and Dr. Ken Deal for their insightfùl comments on earlier drafts of this dissertation. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii . LIST OF TABLES . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 2. LITERATURE REVIEW . Context of the Review The Dependent Variable The Independent Variables 3. METHOD. Subjects Engineering Product Design Task Procedure . Measures Analyses 4. RESULTS ANDD II FOR THE PRIMART Results Discussion - CONTENTS Ch apter 5. SUPPLEMEIWARY ANALYSIS, RESULTS, AND DISCUSSlON . Introduction . Q 1: Self-Reported Performance Measures as a Proxy for Objective Performance 42: Possible Deterrninants of Longevity . 43: The Relationship Between the Tearnwork KSA test and Self-Reponed Performance Appendix 1. SUPPLEMENTARY ILLUSTRATIONS 2. SUPPLEMENTARY ANALYSES REFERENCES vii TABLES Table Descriptives and inter-correlations for the Independent Variables - Descriptives for the Independent Variables NZS and ZS Subsets Correlations Between the Independent Variables and Performance for the NZS Subset . Self-Reported Outcome Measures and Performance - Group Levei . Individual Level Dependent Variables for the NZS Subset . Correlations Among the Independent Variables at the Individual Level Correlations Between the Independent and Dependent Variables Possible Determinants of Longevity . Possible Determinants of Satisfaction .