The concept of "collective intelligence" is simple — it asserts that if a team performs well on one task, it will repeat that success on other projects, regardless of the scope or focus of the work. While it sounds good in theory, it doesn't work that way in reality, according to an Iowa State University researcher.
Marcus Credé, an assistant professor of psychology, says unlike individuals, group dynamics are too complex to predict a team's effectiveness with one general factor, such as intelligence. Instead, there are a variety of factors — leadership, group communication, decision-making skills —that affect a team's performance, he said.
Anita Woolley's research supporting collective intelligence quickly gained traction in the business world when it was first introduced in 2010. The attention was not surprising to Credé. Because organizations rely heavily on group work, managers are always looking for a "silver bullet" to improve team performance, he said. However, after re-analyzing the data gathered by Woolley and her colleagues, Credé and Garett Howardson, an assistant professor at Hofstra University, found the data didn't support the basic premise of collective intelligence. Their work is published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
[Source]: You would not ask a firefighter to perform open-heart surgery
Do you agree with this premise?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:12AM (5 children)
Collective intelligence - when none of us is as dumb as all of us.
It invariably happens when we have a manager.
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:48AM (1 child)
My concern is when I am under orders to do it the wrong way.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by srobert on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:58PM
Happens to me frequently. I do it comforted by the knowledge that inefficiency is perpetuating the need for my employment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:20AM
Dang! You beat me to the "none of us is as dumb as all of us" quote.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:26AM (1 child)
That would be a "series resistance/attenuation" topology of a group organization. Obviously, there are other topologies as well.
But, in worse case, yes, wrong type of organization would make all of us dumber more than any one of us, and given that there are tasks which are far too complex and large for any single one of us, that exactly is the reason to study and improve the collective intelligence of groups.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:04PM
I always liked the quote: