Leadership and climate for innovation in teams

The use of teamworking is common in many organizations. More or less self-directed teams are organized, often with the aim to achieve continuous improvements at work beyond the daily activities. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relation between leader behaviour and team climate for innovation in teams. The Team Climate Inventory devised by Anderson and West and Ekvall and Arvonen's leadership questionnaire Were-used to capture the leadership pattern and the team processes characterizing a team climate for innovation in 14 manufacturing teams (N = 98). The results indicate a positive relation between a leadership style that combines employee- and change-orientation and a team climate for innovation as a whole. However, innovative team processes such as participation and clarity of objectives were more associated with team membership than leadership in this setting.