Excellence In Teams: How To Achieve Performance Gains In Working Groups

Whereas motivation and coordination losses in teams have been investigated for quite some time, systematic research on performance gains in teams (often called “synergetic effects”) only emerged recently. This e-book aims to clarify the concept of process gains (or synergy) in teams, and to introduce recent findings from basic psychology that can be very valuable for the management of high performing teams. Understanding the preconditions and underlying mechanisms of process gains in teams enables managers to trigger performance levels of teams that exceed what can be expected based on the individual team members’ capabilities alone. Moreover, the estimation of a team’s potential provides a helpful standard for the assessment of the ongoing team performance. Process gains in teams and related laboratory research have been largely neglected in the managerial literature so far. This e-book is among the first to introduce a clear definition of process gains in teams, and to suggest concrete trigger factors of synergetic effects in teams based on systematic research.