Background: communication is important for project teams. There is a need to better understand how members respond to communication at project meetings, and how this affects the team roles the participants adopt.
Methods: observational data were collected from (a) two engineering organisations and (b) five university engineering student teams. A mixed methods approach was used, comprising observations (recorded with the interaction diagram method), questionnaires and interviews.
Results: participants adjusted their communication style to the behaviour of other people and to different communication settings. This happened with three different dynamics: micro-level (grounding processes in conversation), mezzo-level (emotional and rational regulation) and macro-level (over a period of time). Originality: a new theory was presented for the process of team behaviour during project meetings; specifically, role adoption and communication behavioural changes. Participants change their team roles within three different dynamics: at the macro-, mezzo- and micro-levels, corresponding to the organisation, project and meeting, respectively. The changing of team roles in project meetings arises from rational and emotional regulation. The findings have the potential to assist managers and supervisors to better understand and manage the team dynamics on their projects.
Keywords: communication adjustment; organisational development; project communication; team roles.