Accession Number:

AD0276428

Title:

INCREASING TEAM PROFICIENCY THROUGH TRAINING. 3. DECREMENTAL EFFECTS OF REINFORCEMENT IN TEAMS WITH REDUNDANT MEMBERS

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH PITTSBURGH PA

Personal Author(s):

• EGERMAN,KARL
• KLAUS,DAVID J.
• GLASER,ROBERT

Report Date:

1962-06-01

Pagination or Media Count:

1.0

Abstract:

This study investigates the effects of the feedback of team output on perf rmance in redundant teams. Analysis of the experimental results indicate that the initial addition of a redundant member to the original team increases the team output. With continued performance, however, substantial decrement in team performance was observed in five of the six teams studied. This degradation of performance can be explained in terms of the unique feedback conditions in a redundant team even though only one of the parallel members contributes to team success, group reinforcement is presented indiscriminately to all team members. Such a feedback contingency often strengthens the incorrect behavior of redundant members. If individual proficiency is not at a sufficiently high level, this condition produces a decrement in the redundant members performance and a consequent decrement in the over-all team output which is below that initially obtained from the two-man series team. Author

Descriptors:

• *GROUP DYNAMICS
• *LEARNING
• *TRAINING
• BEHAVIOR
• MEASUREMENT
• REACTION(PSYCHOLOGY)
• TEST METHODS
• THEORY

Subject Categories:

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE