How groups and technology work together to tackle complex problems

Imagine a group of students working on a complex project. Some students are brainstorming, some are doing research, and some are planning presentations. Each student has a unique role to play, but they all work together.

This classroom scene inspired research at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business in a new paper titled “Understanding Collective Intelligence: Exploring the Role of Collective Memory, Attention, and Reasoning Processes.” explained. Psychological science perspective. This article is part of a special issue on group psychology.

This paper introduces the Transactional Systems Model of Collective Intelligence (TSM-CI). It's a new way to see how groups, whether students or professionals, manage their knowledge, focus, and decision-making processes to ensure everyone's strengths are effectively utilized. Just as a doctor assesses whether a body is healthy based on how its various systems are functioning, a doctor uses her TSM-CI framework to assess whether a team is healthy or not. We will clarify the system by which we can determine whether or not it exists.

“Our framework gets to the heart of how teams work well together,” said Anita Williams-Woolley, associate dean for research and professor of organizational behavior at the Tepper School, who led the research underlying the framework. he said. “It's not just about people coming together, it's about how they use what they know, stay focused and make decisions as a team.”

Woolley emphasized that this will help build better teams and tools, especially now that people are working more with technology and different environments. He says, “It's all about understanding that the key to a great team is not just the members of the team, but how everyone works together.”

The TSM-CI framework revolves around the idea that successful teamwork relies on collective intelligence. Intelligence within any system is based on three interrelated functions: memory, attention, and reasoning. Effective teams develop a transactive memory system (TMS) that allows them to identify which team members have different information or expertise. This facilitates the efficient sharing and retrieval of information, ensuring access to the right knowledge at the right time.

The Transactional Attention System (TAS) then ensures that everyone on your team is properly aligned and distributed. It's like a conductor directing an orchestra and making sure each musician plays his part at the right time. Finally, the Transactive Reasoning System (TRS) aligns teams around common goals and priorities, guides decision-making, and reflects how sports teams strategize to win games.

“As the amount of collaboration that occurs in digital environments increases, we are able to develop metrics of healthy team functioning that computers can understand,” said Pranab Gupta, associate professor of business administration at the Gies School of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I will.” Authors regarding research. “This opens up new possibilities for integrating AI ‘teammates’ into human teams, potentially revolutionizing the way we collaborate.”

This research has implications for strengthening teamwork across a variety of domains, from the classroom to the corporate boardroom. Future work will explore how technology can enhance these collective cognitive systems and develop tools to further enhance collaboration.