Teamwork: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

There are many walks of life in which teamwork is found and in which, by common consent, it could be better. Yet even the most basic questions about teams remain unresolved. What makes a group of individuals a team? Does teamwork involve a special type of reasoning? What makes teams successful? How do we learn to be team players? This volume brings together, for the first time, contemporary research from across the social sciences, addressing such questions from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 13 List of Tables......Page 14 List of Figures......Page 15 Acknowledgements......Page 17 Notes on Contributors......Page 18 Foreword: Teamwork......Page 22 Introduction: Teamwork in Theory and in Practice......Page 28 1 Rational choice and the need for teamwork......Page 29 2 Teams outside the rational choice model......Page 32 3 Research questions......Page 35 3.1 What is a team?......Page 36 3.2 What is the evolutionary basis of teamwork?......Page 38 3.3 What makes teamwork work?......Page 40 3.4 Which is my team?......Page 41 3.5 Can we learn to be team players?......Page 43 Notes......Page 45 References......Page 46 1.1 A note on the word 'team'......Page 49 1.2 Some background......Page 50 1.3 What is joint commitment?......Page 51 1.4 Sketch of a joint commitment account of team action......Page 52 1.5 Why invoke joint commitment?......Page 54 1.6 Team phenomena other than team action: goals, beliefs, emotions, values......Page 55 1.7 Are there good reasons not to invoke joint commitment?......Page 56 Notes......Page 57 References......Page 59 2 Cognitive Cooperation: When the Going Gets Tough, Think as a Group......Page 60 2.1 The experiments......Page 62 2.1.1 Experiment 1: The standard game of Twenty Questions......Page 63 2.1.2 Experiment 2: Partial Twenty Questions game in a brainstorming format......Page 68 2.2 Discussion......Page 71 2.3 Cognitive cooperation and evolutionary psychology......Page 73 2.4 Cognitive cooperation and traditional psychology......Page 75 References......Page 81 3.1 The evolution of teamwork and team reasoning......Page 83 3.1.1 How might teamwork evolve?......Page 85 3.1.2 The origins of human teamwork......Page 88 3.1.3 From teamwork to team reasoning......Page 89 3.2 Cooperation and environmental risk......Page 90 3.2.3 Social feeding of worms......Page 91 3.2.5 Mole-rat societies......Page 92 3.2.7 The role of communication......Page 93 3.3 Environmental risk and cooperation: a model......Page 94 3.3.1 Model 1......Page 96 3.3.2 Model 2......Page 99 3.4 Risk, trust and teamwork......Page 100 Acknowledgements......Page 101 References......Page 102 4.1.1 Public-good provision in teams......Page 105 4.1.2 Game theory and the equilibrium-selection problem......Page 106 4.1.3 The evolution of team contributions......Page 107 4.2.1 The game......Page 109 4.2.2 The dynamic......Page 111 4.2.3 Analysis......Page 112 4.2.4 Discussion......Page 117 4.3 Extensions and simulations......Page 120 4.4 Conclusions......Page 123 Appendix: Omitted proofs......Page 124 Notes......Page 125 References......Page 127 5 Cooperation and Communication: Group Identity or Social Norms?......Page 129 5.1 Experiments......Page 130 5.2 Group identity......Page 133 5.3 Cheap talk......Page 138 5.4 Creating identities......Page 142 5.5 Keeping promises......Page 146 5.6 Talking to machines......Page 151 5.7 Cognitive misers......Page 152 Appendix......Page 156 Notes......Page 157 References......Page 159 6 The Psychology of Effective Teamworking......Page 163 6.1 What is a team?......Page 164 6.2.1 Inputs......Page 165 6.2.2 Group processes......Page 171 References......Page 179 7 Teams over Time – a Logical Perspective......Page 188 7.1.1 Logical properties of cooperation......Page 190 7.1.2 Dynamic team interaction......Page 192 7.1.3 Team design and system verification......Page 195 7.1.4 Individuals vs. teams......Page 199 7.2 Cooperation over time......Page 201 7.3 Cooperation, time and knowledge......Page 204 7.4 Conclusions and further topics......Page 206 References......Page 207 8.1 The Footballers' Problem and the Prisoner's Dilemma: an introduction to team reasoning......Page 208 8.2 Two problems......Page 210 8.3 The logic of reason to believe......Page 212 8.4 Team maximizing......Page 215 8.5 Team satisficing......Page 218 8.6 Assurance......Page 220 8.7 Conclusion......Page 223 Notes......Page 224 References......Page 225 9.1 Rationality does not require individualism......Page 227 9.2 The formation of collective units of activity: local vs. global processes......Page 232 9.3 The role of mind-reading in collective activity......Page 234 Notes......Page 239 References......Page 241 10 Evolution of Cooperation Without Awareness in Minimal Social Situations......Page 243 10.1 Two-person minimal social situation......Page 244 10.2 Intuitive background......Page 246 10.3 Experimental findings......Page 247 10.4 Formalization of dyadic MSS......Page 249 10.5 Multi-person MMSS......Page 251 10.6 Predictions and conclusions......Page 255 Appendix......Page 257 Notes......Page 259 References......Page 260 11 Learning in Robot Teams......Page 263 11.1 Learning to play robot football......Page 264 11.1.1 Learning to play football from rewards......Page 265 11.1.2 The reinforcement learning algorithm......Page 266 11.1.4 The results......Page 268 11.2.1 The task and the fitness sharing method......Page 271 11.2.2 The robot controllers......Page 273 11.2.3 The results......Page 275 11.3 Discussion......Page 276 References......Page 277 L......Page 279 U......Page 280 Teamwork Is Studied In Many Disciplines, But There Is As Yet No Comprehensive Theory Of Teams. This Collection Brings Together Perspectives On Teamwork From Evolutionary Biology, Psychology, Economics, Robotics, Philosophy, Management And Artificial Intelligence. They Introduce The Reader To State-of-the-art Research Methods As Diverse As Laboratory Experiments And Evolutionary Modelling, Epistemic Logic And The Programming Robots.--book Jacket. Foreword : Teamwork / Michael Bacharach -- Introduction : Teamwork In Theory And In Practice / Natalie Gold -- 1. A Theoretical Framework For The Understanding Of Teams / Margaret Gilbert -- 2. Cognitive Cooperation : When The Going Gets Tough, Think As A Group / David Sloan Wilson, John J. Timmel And Ralph R. Miller -- 3. Cooperation, Risk And The Evolution Of Teamwork / Peter Andras And John Lazarus -- 4. Evolution Of Teams / David P. Myatt And Chris Wallace -- 5. Cooperation And Communication : Group Identity Or Social Norms? / Cristina Bicchieri -- 6. The Psychology Of Effective Teamworking / Carol S. Borrill And Michael A. West -- 7. Teams Over Time -- A Logical Perspective / Wiebe Van Der Hoek, Marc Pauly And Mike Wooldridge -- 8. The Logic Of Team Reasoning / Robert Sugden -- 9. Rational Agency, Cooperation And Mind-reading / Susan Hurley -- 10. Evolution Of Cooperation Without Awareness In Minimal Social Situations / Andrew M. Colman -- 11. Learning In Robot Teams / Jeremy Wyatt, Yoshiyuki Matsumura And Matthew Todd. Edited By Natalie Gold. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.