Applying Self Efficacy Theory to Increase Interpersonal Effectiveness in Teamwork

Effective teamwork is a key element of today's healthcare environment, affecting everything from morale to patient outcomes. The increasing facility in interpersonal skills can enhance one's ability to be an effective collaborator within a healthcare team. For those individuals working in teams, effective interpersonal skills facilitate demonstration and sharing expertise, maximize individual contributions, minimize burnout, and foster autonomy in professional practice. The foundational concept of this paper is that in healthcare practice, competence is necessary but not sufficient to sustain ongoing effectiveness in interpersonal interactions. This article offers a framework describing how key skills necessary in developing effectiveness in teamwork can be developed using Bandhura's construct of self-efficacy theory (1997). Interpersonal effectiveness requires negotiating the complex interactions at the intersection between the four sources of influence identified in self-efficiency theory (mastery, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and physiological response awareness) and two primary domains of interpersonal effectiveness (individual and group).