Edmonson 1999 - Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams

Google Scholar Link

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative science quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.

This paper utilizes qualitative and quantitative methods in a very complementary fashion (what Chatman calls “full-cycle research”).

Summary

Team psychological safety is the “shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” These risks could include disagreeing, learning, and experimentation (both of which pose a risk for failure). If team psychological safety is present, team members are more likely to learn, disagree, or experiment because they are confident “that the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish someone for speaking up.” In this way, team learning behavior mediates the relationship between team psychological safety and team performance. Team psychological safety results in increased learning behavior which results in increased team performance. Additionally, team leader coaching and context support (“access to resources and information”) both positively correlate with psychological safety in a team.

Application

Speaking anecdotally and from personal experience, team psychological safety is rarely something that happens organically. Managers need to specifically plan for and structure environments to create psychological safety. Also, once gone – it is a very difficult thing to regain (perhaps impossible).