This thesis explores how a strengths-based approach is applied in multidisciplinary teams to enhance team performance. Multidisciplinary teams are composed of professionals from diverse functional backgrounds, and those teams are vital for innovation. However, they often face challenges such as communication issues, unclear role division, and conflicting priorities. A strengths-based approach can help overcome these challenges, because this approach focuses on identifying and utilizing the unique strengths of employees. Managers who implement the strengths-based approach, they recognize these strengths through informal observation and personal conversations, and assign tasks accordingly. This approach leads to increased motivation, greater ownership, improved collaboration, and ultimately, stronger team performance. The central research question is: How do line managers apply a strengths-based approach in multidisciplinary teams to enhance team performance?
A qualitative research design was used in this investigation, involving five semi-structured interviews with line managers of multidisciplinary teams. Participants were selected based on their experience in managing those teams. The interviews were thematically analyzed using a combination of inductive and deductive coding in Atlas.ti. From the data, three main themes emerged, namely: recognizing strengths, utilizing strengths, and the effects on team performance. Managers identified the strengths of their employees mainly through informal observations and having one-on-one conversations with them. Hereby, managers tailored tasks based on the strengths of the employees, created greater autonomy, and built mutual trust. These practices led to increased motivation, greater ownership, improved collaboration, and ultimately, stronger team performance.
The conclusion is that a strengths-based approach positively impacts team performance, particularly in multidisciplinary teams. Managers can reduce friction and enhance collaboration in multidisciplinary teams, when they leverage the strengths of the individuals in their team. Previous researches show that the strengths-based approach individual well-being and engagement supports, while this study highlights how it helps line managers in multidisciplinary teams.
These findings are relevant for organizations and HR professionals, because those findings show that focusing on strengths is beneficial for the employee well-being and is also a strategic tool for improving performance. One limitation of this study is that the data only reflects the perspective of line managers. Including team members in future research could offer a more complete understanding of how strengths-based practices are seen and felt within multidisciplinary teams. Additionally, most managers were unfamiliar with the term "strengths-based approach" itself, which may have limited the theoretical depth of the findings.