Small Assignment 2: Developing A Research Topic

“All-Star” Puzzling Behavior

Team 4

Management and Organizational Behavior

Situation

A highschool divides the number of players interested in playing soccer in batches and makes

them play the whole season within their individual batches. However, for more important

matches against other schools and states, the best players from each batch are assembled to make

one “all star” team.

The school expected the “all star” team to have the best performance possible out of the available

players in the school. However, our group observed that in this situation, all the players’

performance drops considerably in the “all star” team compared to their performance in the

regular batches. In fact, teams with players of mixed skills often outperformed the “all star”

team. Logically, the overall performance of a team should depend on the aggregate of each

individual’s performance, which clearly was not the case here. This situation presents strange

behavior that was influenced by other hidden factors which are puzzling and worth investigating.

Apply a Concept

This particular situation can be explained through an important characteristic, essential within

the team structure: interdependence. Several types of interdependence are linked to a team’s

success, including task, goal, and outcome interdependence.

Firstly, the concept of task interdependence refers to the extent team members are mutually

dependent on one another for a variety of essential components, such as resources and

information. Within the broad framework of task interdependence, researchers have identified

that there are four different branches, each with its own implications for team dynamics and

performance: pooled, sequential, reciprocal, and comprehensive. Pooled interdependence is

where members independently work on a project or task before joining their results together,

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while sequential interdependence is the idea where members engage in specific jobs in a

premeditated order. In reciprocal tasks, members are expected to complete their specialized task

before collaborating with others. Lastly, comprehensive tasks are where members collaborate

extensively to achieve their goal. The ability for teams to understand task interdependence and

its branches can help describe the collaborative reliance found among team members.

Another important stream of interdependence is goal interdependence, which stems from the idea

that everyone in the team has a shared vision or goal of what they want their team to achieve. As

a result, members willingly apply their individual efforts to contribute to reaching that vision or

meeting the goal. High levels of goal interdependence simultaneously allows for teams to

succeed and individuals to fulfill their individual aspirations.

The final type of interdependence is outcome interdependence, where team members depend on

each other to obtain their desired rewards. This means that team achievement depends on how

each member performs, making cooperation and synergy crucial to a team’s processes. Through

cooperation, each and every member will be able to fairly contribute to the team’s processes,

which in turn, will help teams achieve success and receive their allocated rewards.

All in all, interdependence implies that team cooperation and chemistry is needed for the team to

succeed with a smooth process, ensuring that team members are able to trust and depend on each

other if they have any ideas or concerns. This idea of interdependence can be applied to our

situation of the “all star” soccer team not playing at the level that was expected of them. Their

reason for failure is not their skill, but rather their inability to trust each other and have the

synergy and cooperation to succeed. On the other hand, the separate batches made at the

beginning of the year each had the time to build their trust and high interdependence, explaining

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why they demonstrate better performance. Within this situation, the “all star” team’s

underperformance can be attributed to the lack of connection, time, and practice spent together.

Generalization

This concept of interdependence can also be applied in other team settings, especially within

workplaces and schools. For instance, a scenario of students at UBC Sauder. Each student is a

highly accomplished individual that has met the rigorous standards and expectations set by

Sauder. However, when tasked with group projects, these exemplary students often struggle to

effectively work together. This idea can be explained by a lack of understanding of

comprehensive tasks, goal interdependence, and outcome interdependence. Team members will

not take the time to foster cohesion, create and identify their shared vision, or be bothered to

bond with their team. Oftentimes, members will demonstrate the concept of pooled tasks, in

which each person will spend no time working with the group, but instead, will work

individually, only completing their respective parts.

Managers and teams, in any educational or professional setting, can learn from this by

prioritizing efforts to create a collaborative culture. The biggest part is the willingness to invest

company time or an individual’s free time to actively connect, engage, and build or emphasize

shared goals. By doing so, individuals in teams will be able to utilize their individual skills in

working together, depending on one another to reach their full potential and achieve success.

Boundaries/Limitations

In many real-life team situations, this idea of interdependence holds true, but it is not always the

case, especially when teams have a strong emotional connection to their goal. In the “all-star”

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highschool situation above, players struggled because of the lack of interdependence, more

specifically, goal interdependence. These individuals were more focused on showcasing their

personal skills rather than working as a team, displaying their different goals.

However, a team with the best players in a World Cup final is unlikely to fail due to such

reasons. Their professionalism and passion for the shared goal of winning for their nation often

overrides personal ambitions, leading to a more unified and successful team performance. This

limitation could be understood by the concept of interdependence discussed above. Here, players

have a clear understanding of their shared goal. Their advanced expertise also comes into play

with years of comprehensive task and outcome interdependence history, resulting in an enhanced

performance. Even though the personnel remains unchanged, it's the context that elicits distinct

behaviors from the same individuals. Hence, such situations occasionally restrict the occurrence

of such scenarios, leading to exceptional results.

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 References

Colquitt, J., LePine, J. A., Wesson, M. J., & Gellatly, I. R. (2022). Organizational Behaviour:

Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace. McGraw-Hill.