ABSTRACT
Although the motto of “better teamwork, better performance” (Siassakos, D., Fox, R., Crofts, J. F., Hunt, L. P., Winter, C., & Draycott, T. J. (2011). The management of a simulated emergency: better teamwork, better performance. Resuscitation, 82(2), 203–206) has strong theoretical and empirical support in the extant literature, the concept of the teamwork may also have a darker side. In this chapter, we aim to discuss major factors that may lead to counterproductive teamwork behavior. Firstly, we investigate social and psychological mechanisms of intragroup relations relying on the assumptions of social comparison theory. The theory offers a viewpoint to understand intra-team interactions and team members’ cognitive inferences about themselves, as well as their teammates. We present how upward and downward comparisons made by team members shape their perception of reality. Secondly, we explore the potential negative impacts of social comparison process on the relationship between the team leader and team members, briefly touching on the leader–member exchange dynamics. Then, again utilizing the assumptions of social comparison theory, we aim to explain under what conditions team members lower their performance although they exhibit more effort and higher performance while working individually. In doing so, we investigate the concept of social loafing, its extrinsic and intrinsic sources, and preventive measures to mitigate its effects. Finally, we discuss groupthink phenomena in detail to understand how team members collectively make poor decisions that may result in irreversible consequences.
