Category: Group Dynamics

The subject of workplace romance is hardly a new one; Robert E. Quinn published his groundbreaking article on the formation, impact, and management of workplace romances in 1977. In 2004 it was estimated that nearly 10 million workplace romances develop annually in organizations throughout the United States. Highly publicized examples include the illicit relationship between… Continue reading Workplace Romance

Organizations seeking to promote productivity, better service, fewer errors, and improved safety as well as remain competitive in changing environments are turning to work teams and groups. Work groups have become a preferred performance improvement intervention in the last decade. So now we have a plethora of theories, methodologies, tools, and strategies to understand and… Continue reading Work Groups

Virtual teams are groups of individuals who work interdependently, are located at a distance from each other, and conduct most of their collaboration through communications technology (rather than face-to-face). A “pure” virtual team is one in which each member is geographically distant from each other member, but more often, at least some of the members… Continue reading Virtual Teams

Rewards for performance are commonly used to maximize work output and productivity. With the increased use of team-based work, a variety of team-based reward systems have been developed, with the intent of maximizing performance and satisfaction in work teams. Team-based rewards are commonly defined as any formal incentives provided to a work team or at least… Continue reading Team-Based Rewards

The notion of a team mental model was introduced in 1990 to account for the fluid, implicit coordination frequently observed in effective teams and to advance the understanding of how teams function in complex, dynamic, and ambiguous situations. For example, the seemingly effortless execution of a blind pass in basketball illustrates a well-known situation in… Continue reading Team Mental Model