Thinking outside the black box: Outcomes of team decisions with third-party intervention

Despite the widespread involvement of third parties in organizational team decision making, little empirical research has explored the effect of these individuals on team outcomes. Expanding literature on team decision making to include the role of external third parties, this study investigates the effects of the interaction between type of third-party input (direction, devil's advocacy, or expert advice) and team cultural values heterogeneity on team decision outcomes. Using an experimental design, the authors find that input type interacts with team cultural values heterogeneity on individualism- collectivism to predict decision effectiveness. With no third-party input, teams homogeneous and heterogeneous on individualism-collectivism were equally effective. With devil's advocacy or expert advice, homogeneous teams were more effective than were heterogeneous teams. However, importantly, when an external third party provided direction, heterogeneous teams were more effective than were homogeneous teams. The findings contribute to the theory regarding team composition and decision making. The article concludes with suggestions for practice and future research.