Team norms are one of the most frequently used explanations of how teams as a collective entity can influence individual member’s behaviors (Hackman & Walton, 1986; Bettenhausen & Murnighan, 1991; Feldman, 1984). Despite such importance, current theoretical and empirical development of team norms is relatively inadequate. In this dissertation, I view norm strength and norm enforcement as two central pillars of team norms, and specifically examine team norm enforcement from a social network perspective. I first develop a typology based on the existing literature and specify the behavior content of three types of norm enforcement mechanisms: sanction, recognition and learning. Second, I examine the impact of the structural and configural properties on team performance. This model was tested on 799 employees nested in 101 work teams from China. Results from the data analysis have offered partial support that the structural characteristics of norm enforcement network had impacts on team performance above and beyond norm strength.

Following the collapse of Arthur Andersen in the Enron debacle, whistle-blowing within audit firms has taken on greater importance. Given the profession's requirements to be confidential, independent and to act in the public's interest, there is a need for a model that addresses auditors' whistle-blowing intentions. This thesis presents a conceptual model on whistle-blowing intentions among external auditors, where individual-led antecedents influence whistle-blowing intentions, but are moderated by isomorphic and issue-specific factors. Survey questionnaires were administered to 226 external auditors, and 18 individual interviews as well as 2 focus groups were conducted in Barbados. Results indicated that individual antecedents (attitudes, perceived behavioural control, independence commitment, personal responsibility for reporting, and personal cost of reporting) were significantly related to internal whistle-blowing, but only perceived behavioural control was significantly related to external whistle-blowing. Partial support was found for the moderating effects of perceived organizational support, moral intensity, team norms and group cohesion on the relationships between the majority of the independent variables (attitudes, perceived behavioural control, independence commitment, personal responsibility for reporting and personal cost of reporting) and internal whistle-blowing. However, partial support was found for the moderating effects of perceived organizational support, moral intensity, team norms iii and group cohesion on the relationships between fewer independent variables and external whistle-blowing. Overall, respondents preferred anonymous internal channels of reporting, and showed a general reluctance to report externally. The presence of an open-door policy, ethics partners, hotline, on-going training and clearly defined policies could encourage whistle-blowing. Further implications for research and practice are discussed.

Following the collapse of Arthur Andersen in the Enron debacle, whistle-blowing within audit firms has taken on greater importance. Given the profession's requirements to be confidential, independent and to act in the public's interest, there is a need for a model that addresses auditors' whistle-blowing intentions. This thesis presents a conceptual model on whistle-blowing intentions among external auditors, where individual-led antecedents influence whistle-blowing intentions, but are moderated by isomorphic and issue-specific factors. Survey questionnaires were administered to 226 external auditors, and 18 individual interviews as well as 2 focus groups were conducted in Barbados. Results indicated that individual antecedents (attitudes, perceived behavioural control, independence commitment, personal responsibility for reporting, and personal cost of reporting) were significantly related to internal whistle-blowing, but only perceived behavioural control was significantly related to external whistle-blowing. Partial support was found for the moderating effects of perceived organizational support, moral intensity, team norms and group cohesion on the relationships between the majority of the independent variables (attitudes, perceived behavioural control, independence commitment, personal responsibility for reporting and personal cost of reporting) and internal whistle-blowing. However, partial support was found for the moderating effects of perceived organizational support, moral intensity, team norms iii and group cohesion on the relationships between fewer independent variables and external whistle-blowing. Overall, respondents preferred anonymous internal channels of reporting, and showed a general reluctance to report externally. The presence of an open-door policy, ethics partners, hotline, on-going training and clearly defined policies could encourage whistle-blowing. Further implications for research and practice are discussed. / University of the West Indies

La présente recherche a pour objectif principal d’étudier l’effet que peuvent exercer les normes d’équipe sur le leadership partagé au sein des équipes de travail. Nous voulions vérifier les relations entre trois normes proposées par Day (2007) comme influençant de façon significative le partage du leadership dans les équipes. Il s’agit de la distance hiérarchique, de la sécurité psychologique et de l’orientation vers l’apprentissage. Cette recherche vise également à vérifier l’effet modérateur, d’une part, de l’interdépendance au travail et, d’autre part, celui de la complexité de la tâche sur les relations entre les normes d’équipe et le leadership partagé. Cette recherche se base sur des données secondaires qui ont été recueillies par Vincent Rousseau (professeur à l’Université de Montréal) et Caroline Aubé (professeure à HEC Montréal) auprès de 394 membres appartenant à 77 équipes et auprès de 77 supérieurs immédiats de ces mêmes équipes. L’ensemble de ces participants travaille dans une organisation de sécurité publique canadienne. Les données ont été collectées en utilisant la méthode du questionnaire. Des analyses de régressions ont été utilisées pour vérifier les hypothèses de cette étude. Les résultats montrent que la distance hiérarchique, la sécurité psychologique et l’orientation vers l’apprentissage sont significativement liées au leadership partagé. Ces normes d’équipe sont également fortement reliées entre elles. Les résultats n’ont, cependant, pas permis de confirmer l’effet modérateur de l’interdépendance au travail et de la complexité de la tâche sur les relations entre les normes d’équipe et le leadership partagé. Globalement, les résultats montrent que les gestionnaires tireront avantage à encourager les normes d’équipe associées à une faible distance hiérarchique, à une forte sécurité psychologique et à une orientation davantage axée sur l’apprentissage afin de faciliter l’exercice du leadership partagé et ce, en vue d’améliorer la performance des équipes et de l’organisation. / This research mainly aims to study the effect of team norms on shared leadership within work teams. We wanted to check the relationship between three norms proposed by Day (2007) as significantly influencing the sharing of leadership within teams. This refers to hierarchical distance, psychological safety and learning orientation. This research also aims to test the moderating effect of the interdependence to the task and of the task complexity on the relationship between team norms and shared leadership. This research is based on secondary data that was collected by Vincent Rousseau (Professor at University of Montreal) and Caroline Aubé (Professor at HEC Montreal) among 394 members from 77 teams and among 77 immediate supervisors of these teams. All these participants work in a Canadian public safety organization. Data was collected using the questionnaire method. Regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses of this study. The results show that hierarchical distance, psychological safety and learning orientation were significantly related to shared leadership. These team norms are also strongly interconnected. The results did, however, fail to confirm the moderating effect of task interdependence and task complexity on the relationship between team norms and shared leadership. Overall, the results show that managers will benefit from promoting team norms related to a low power distance, a strong psychological safety, and a strong learning orientation to facilitate the exercise of shared leadership and in order to improve team and organization performance.