Failure in Teams: Why Successful Teams Do Not Fail (So Often)

In this paper, we will discuss different processes teams undergo in situations which are difficult to work out because of their dynamic and complexity. There are a variety of requirements to be met to successfully deal with such situations: definition and analysis of the problem, appropriate handling and integration of partially non-available or even contradictory information, generation of solutions but also the prioritization and selection of one or more ‘correct’ solutions. Furthermore, the disciplinary knowledge of the team members play an important role, especially when it comes to heterogenous teams with mixed disciplinary background. Experts often overestimate the importance of their own discipline and thus communicate domain-specific knowledge either simplified or in an overcomplicated way. Both approaches do not reach the aim to arrive at a shared understanding within the team. From the research point of view these situations are of special interest, because it would be very valuable to find out which factors can turn the communication into a successful one and what we can learn to support heterogeneous teams to better reach a mutual understanding in the team on the one hand and derive knowledge of how to teach students to better reach a shared understanding before important decisions are made. However, there are also teams working together and performing well or even better. What are the preconditions? What can we learn from them? Research results indicate that teams can only work together successfully when they invest enough time to go through the necessary stages of team development. Of course, the crucial factor is not the amount of time but the mental models of the team members which need to be at least partially known to each other group member and aligned most efficiently in the first stages of teamwork. Examples show, however, that there is also risk in teams, which know how to communicate in a problem-oriented way but lack team-orientation.