A Management Model for Effective Team Communication in Business Simulation Games

摘要

The scientific aim of this research is to define how to manage communication effectiveness in teamwork in highly complex and dynamic problemsolving settings. Existing studies on communication processes and teamwork effectiveness are quite numerous but do not offer any coherent results nor precise conclusions regarding communicative effectiveness in teams for business games contexts. This stems not only from the variety of scientific fields examining this matter but also from the differences in paradigms and methods employed. Also important is the fact that the relationship between group processes and teamwork effectiveness derives from highly complex and multileveled phenomena and processes. Thus, there is a need to embrace a dynamic, process-oriented approach. Previous research in this field is based on static diagnosis, meaning: on observation or diagnosis of states at different time-points and comparison between the two. There is very little research on teamwork effectiveness focusing on tracking (1) the "waving" of communication processes in time and (2) the adaptive dynamics in the teamwork course. This research was aimed at testing a method that would make it possible to develop such an approach, and it resulted in the emergence of a behavioral pattern in the examined teams. Based on that, the authors elaborate a management model for an effective communication management process at the team level.