MSU Team Effectiveness Laboratory
The MSU Team Effectiveness Laboratory, co-directed by Eli Broad Professor of Management John Hollenbeck and John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management Daniel R. Ilgen, opened its doors in 1990 thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established to examine basic psychological issues related to how teams make decisions under stress. This work evolved into the recent studies on the effects of team structures on performance and the ability of teams to adjust and restructure as situational demands shift. Professors Hollenbeck and Ilgen conduct their research at MSU and in conjunction with a larger team made up of members from several other universities. Together they work on modeling and conducting research on command-and-control team structure and performance.
The lab is a state-of-the-art facility with three dedicated five-person computer networks that are loaded with a program called DDD.
Over the last 12 years, the Team Lab staff has run more than 1,000 teams and published 30 research papers. Their most recent paper, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, is titled “Structural Contingency Theory and Individual Differences: Examination of External and Internal Person-Team Fit.”
In addition to its research aspects, this lab has been utilized for team-skill-development purposes in the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management's top-ranked MBA program. Through the combination of traditional lecture-based classes and the team simulation, students are able to gain greater insight into both leadership and team processes. In fact, Michigan State University’s Broad School is the only non-military institution that is using the DDD simulation for both teaching and research purposes.