What’s in a team: a dynamic perspective on intragroup conflict and team turnover

This PhD dissertation focuses on group processes that may affect the performance of teams, and especially on conflicts that may arise within a team, diversity in teams and changes in the team’s composition (team turnover). The research was carried out over a four-year period in a health care facility for people with intellectual disabilities.

This dissertation introduces a customised method of measuring team turnover. Traditionally, it has only been measured quantitatively; here it is expanded with a qualitative component based on the employees’ competencies.

The results of this dissertation show that team turnover can lead to task-related conflicts, which can negatively influence team performance. Teams with experienced employees are the only sort of teams in which turnover does not lead to conflicts and therefore also does not influence performance.