The effect of individual and team goals on team coordination

The authors present a normative-descriptive study involving empirical and analytic efforts to examine the effects of different goals in a distributed task processing context. This study concentrates on the effects of goals, and the interaction of goal structure with task processing requirement and resource availability for a team of two human decision-makers (DMs). A computerized testbed was utilized to create a laboratory task processing environment where two DMs with limited renewable resources were involved in either sequential or parallel activities. The DMs´ decision-making and coordination functions involved getting those interrelated activities to occur at the right time and in sequence. In the experiment, team vs. individual goals were operationalized through team vs. individual reward structures. Under a team reward structure, the DMs were rewarded based on team performance, and were motivated by a team goal. Under an individual reward structure, they were rewarded based on their individual performance, and were motivated by their individual goals. Experimental results, hypothesis validation, and implications of the results are outlined