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Complexity: an alternative paradigm for teamwork development

Michael Bokeno (Professor, College of Business and Public Affairs, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, USA)

Development and Learning in Organizations

ISSN: 1477-7282

Article publication date: 3 October 2008

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to suggest an understanding of teamwork from a complexity perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Complexity principles of nonlinearity, emergence, holism, and engagement are applied to conventional teamwork practice.

Findings

The complexity principles offer ways of thinking about teamwork that inspire a more genuine collaboration, especially for decision‐making teams who must be able to alter conventionally linear, cybernetic thinking patterns.

Originality/value

Thinking in complexity terms is an unfamiliar but necessary practice for decision‐making teams, enabling team members to think and act in collaborative ways, see the big picture, resist managing deviations that seems like errors, and develop interpersonal relationships that do so.

Keywords

Citation

Bokeno, M. (2008), "Complexity: an alternative paradigm for teamwork development", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 7-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777280810910285

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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