Summary
Objective:
UK fund managers face constant pressure to produce above average
financial returns for investors. Fund management companies
increasingly use (and market) teamwork to risk manage staff
turnover and to improve decision making with some companies
actively avoiding the development of ‘star’ managers. The
objective, therefore, was to discover the impact of the topical
factor of teamworking on the investment performance of UK
fund managers. The hypothesis was this: Teamworking and team
decisions improve the performance of UK retail fund managers.
Design and Methods: The research was designed as a quantitative
analysis using an online survey as sample size and generalisability
were deemed to be important. Benton’s (2001) Bpsy model was
operationalised to provide a coherent approach for identifying
variables. A number of independent variables were identified
with investment performance being the dependent variable.
A 100-item survey asked factual questions to begin with (following
the conversational approach advocated by Nardi, 2003) and
then probed for matters of opinion regarding teamwork (operationalised
with 30 questions relating to the Team Organization Model
(Tjosvold, 1991)). To operationalise personal preferences
the survey included a 36-item test of Jungian personality
which was developed and tested in advance. Decision-making
was operationalised with specific relevance to the subject
(ie team/individual/combination) and conflict resolution was
operationalised partly by the teamwork measure plus some additional
items. The sample was selected on the basis of the manager
being identifiable as managing a fund rated by a well known
rating system for retail funds (‘retail’, as compared to ‘institutional’,
was a variable to be controlled.) 54 fund managers participated.
Results: The results were analysed using descriptive and inferential
techniques with Microsoft Excel and SPSS being the packages
used to analyse data at nominal, ordinal and interval levels.
Whilst differences in teamworking appeared to be unrelated
to performance, team size correlated negatively with performance
and with feelings of control as well as non-significantly
with other factors including satisfaction and enthusiasm.
Additionally, team decision making was found to add less performance
value than decisions taken individually or in combination
with the team. Personal preferences and conflict made no significant
differences although the predominance of Keirsey’s “rational”
type was noted.
Conclusions: The results did not provide clear proof or refutation
of the hypothesis. However, aspects of teamworking such as
team size and decision-making appeared to be important. The
findings about team size are consistent with the literature
and best practice (Tjosvold, 1991; Handy, 1999; Katzenbach
and Smith, 2003; West, 2004; Furnham, 2005; CIPD, 2006). Decision-
making was self-reported and this, along with other aspects
of teamworking, would be well-served by observation and interviews
in future research. Teamworking was inadequately measured,
mostly by one individual in the team: teamworking in the sense
of Tjosvold’s model cannot therefore be dismissed as a factor.
Other variables have since come to light such as the historical
nature of the study (recent economic conditions supposedly
supporting risk-taking) and fund mandates within a team with
competing performance rewards. Fund management companies were
advised to examine their processes and not to use teamworking
solely as a business continuity alternative to talent management
practices.
References:
Benton, S., (2001). The Bpsy Model: A Snapshot. London: University
of Westminster.
Furnham, A., (2005). The Psychology of Behaviour at Work:
The Individual in the Organization. 2nd ed. Hove: Psychology
Press.
Handy, C., (1999). Understanding Organizations. 4th ed. London:
Penguin.
Katzenbach, J.R and Smith, D.K., (2003). The Wisdom of Teams:
Creating the High-Performance Organization. New York: Harper
Business Essentials.
Keirsey, D. (2007). The Rationals. Available from: <http://www.keirsey.com/personality/nt.html>
[Accessed 20 July 2007].
Nardi, P.M., (2003). Doing Survey Research: a guide to quantitative
methods. London: Allyn and Bacon.
Tjosvold, D., (1991). Team Organization: An Enduring Competitive
Advantage. Chichester: Wiley.
West, M.A., (2004). Effective Teamwork: practical lessons
from organizational research. 2nd ed. Oxford: BPS Blackwell.
Biography
Jim
Hunter BSoc.Sc MSc is the founder of teamsight, a business
psychology consultancy. His early assignments include: working
as an associate to help develop role profiles at a global
bank and commercial research and media liaison to support
the publicity campaign of an executive recruitment website.
He will shortly be presenting his Master’s research to a roundtable
of European Chief Investment Officers in Brussels.
Jim has a wealth of experience in financial services, particularly
in Ecommerce, Sales & Marketing and IT in the investment
management and mortgage lending industries. His last role
was Head of Ecommerce for Platform, a subsidiary of the Britannia
Building Society. Previously, he worked for Aberdeen Asset
Management and the Association of Investment Companies in
a variety of roles.
In 2006, Jim trained as a business psychologist to build on
his experience and become a consultant to share his expertise.
As well as a first degree, Jim holds a Master's degree in
Business Psychology and is additionally qualified to administer
ability, motivation and personality psychometrics according
to the requirements of the British Psychological Society (Level
A and Level B). Jim is also a member of the Association of
Business Psychologists.
Outside of work, Jim enjoys family, great food and great company,
novels, cricket (now watching only!) and noisy music.
