Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes
Whether it be a rugby team or a rescue crew, ensuring peak group performance is a primary goal during collective activities. In reality however, groups often suffer from productivity losses that can lead to less than optimal outputs. Where researchers have focused on this problem, inefficiencies in...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-09-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01462/full |
| _version_ | 1818155368886304768 |
|---|---|
| author | Jamie S. Allsop Tomas Vaitkus Dannette Marie Lynden K Miles |
| author_facet | Jamie S. Allsop Tomas Vaitkus Dannette Marie Lynden K Miles |
| author_sort | Jamie S. Allsop |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Whether it be a rugby team or a rescue crew, ensuring peak group performance is a primary goal during collective activities. In reality however, groups often suffer from productivity losses that can lead to less than optimal outputs. Where researchers have focused on this problem, inefficiencies in the way team members coordinate their efforts has been identified as one potent source of productivity decrements. Here we set out to explore whether performance on a simple object movement task is shaped by the spontaneous emergence of interpersonally coordinated behavior. Forty-six pairs of participants were instructed to either compete or cooperate in order to empty a container of approximately 100 small plastic balls as quickly and accurately as possible. Each trial was recorded to video and a frame-differencing approach was employed to estimate between-person coordination. The results revealed that cooperative pairs coordinated to a greater extent than their competitive counterparts. Furthermore, coordination, as well as movement regularity were positively related to accuracy, an effect that was most prominent when the task was structured such that opportunities to coordinate were restricted. These findings are discussed with regard to contemporary theories of coordination and collective performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T14:41:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-04099292d4c6486b8be6147a010897fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T14:41:18Z |
| publishDate | 2016-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-04099292d4c6486b8be6147a010897fe2022-12-22T01:01:54ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782016-09-01710.3389/fpsyg.2016.01462213465Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomesJamie S. Allsop0Tomas Vaitkus1Dannette Marie2Lynden K Miles3University of AberdeenUniversity of AberdeenUniversity of AberdeenUniversity of AberdeenWhether it be a rugby team or a rescue crew, ensuring peak group performance is a primary goal during collective activities. In reality however, groups often suffer from productivity losses that can lead to less than optimal outputs. Where researchers have focused on this problem, inefficiencies in the way team members coordinate their efforts has been identified as one potent source of productivity decrements. Here we set out to explore whether performance on a simple object movement task is shaped by the spontaneous emergence of interpersonally coordinated behavior. Forty-six pairs of participants were instructed to either compete or cooperate in order to empty a container of approximately 100 small plastic balls as quickly and accurately as possible. Each trial was recorded to video and a frame-differencing approach was employed to estimate between-person coordination. The results revealed that cooperative pairs coordinated to a greater extent than their competitive counterparts. Furthermore, coordination, as well as movement regularity were positively related to accuracy, an effect that was most prominent when the task was structured such that opportunities to coordinate were restricted. These findings are discussed with regard to contemporary theories of coordination and collective performance.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01462/fullcooperationcompetitionCoordination DynamicsproductivityTeamworkInterpersonal synchrony |
| spellingShingle | Jamie S. Allsop Tomas Vaitkus Dannette Marie Lynden K Miles Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes Frontiers in Psychology cooperation competition Coordination Dynamics productivity Teamwork Interpersonal synchrony |
| title | Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes |
| title_full | Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes |
| title_fullStr | Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes |
| title_short | Coordination and collective performance: Cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes |
| title_sort | coordination and collective performance cooperative goals boost interpersonal synchrony and task outcomes |
| topic | cooperation competition Coordination Dynamics productivity Teamwork Interpersonal synchrony |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01462/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jamiesallsop coordinationandcollectiveperformancecooperativegoalsboostinterpersonalsynchronyandtaskoutcomes AT tomasvaitkus coordinationandcollectiveperformancecooperativegoalsboostinterpersonalsynchronyandtaskoutcomes AT dannettemarie coordinationandcollectiveperformancecooperativegoalsboostinterpersonalsynchronyandtaskoutcomes AT lyndenkmiles coordinationandcollectiveperformancecooperativegoalsboostinterpersonalsynchronyandtaskoutcomes |