SOCIAL NETWORK–DRIVEN AGILE TEAM DESIGN: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY, COLLABORATION, AND TEAM PERFORMANCE

Abstract

This paper examines whether a dedicated social network intervention can help enhance the psychological safety of agile teams by forming and reconfiguring team communication ties. Agile teams are central to organizational adaptiveness, and their success depends not only on technical competency but also on psychological safety—the mutual belief that team members can voice their concerns without fear of retribution (Edmondson, 1999). Although leadership and culture are commonly identified as main enablers of psychological safety (Carmeli et al., 2010; Newman et al., 2017), we know relatively little about the role of team composition and social network structures. In a mixed-method quasi-experimental study of 220 employees in three global technology companies,we examined. Intervention teams were restructured, using social network analysis to increase relational diversity and balance expertise, control teams remained the same. Results Intervention teams reported significantly greater psychological safety in comparison to the control group (p<. 01), as well as an increase in collaborative performance and product innovation compared to controls. These results now together previous work in showing that structural interventions, independent of cultural mechanisms, could build psychological safety and improve team performance. Theoretical impacts are on management science, while practical implications are for organizations to improve their opportunities of strengthening agile forms of working by evidence-based team composition strategies.

Keywords: Agile teams, psychological safety, social networks, team composition, organizational behavior.