On the Impact of Multiple Team Membership on a System of Teams’ Performance

In this study, we investigate the complex and conjoint effects of Multiple Team Membership and other related system design characteristics on the performance of a system composed of teams. This is particularly relevant as organizations increasingly make use of teamwork to achieve their goals and most knowledge workers experience a situation of multi-teaming. In particular, we focus on the concurrent effects of the number of concurrent membership, and teams’ size and overlap. Results indicate that at the system of teams level the relationship between MTM and performance follows a curvilinear, inverted U-shaped relationship. Moreover, team size and team overlap show an effective, negative role in affecting performance. Following this, we propose a topology for MTM systems based on system design characteristics.