A Sense of Responsibility
As I mentioned before, specialization helps promote efficiency and productivity of teamwork. When each member is doing what they are best at, both the overall product and member satisfaction are ensured. However, specialization can be tricky as well. When we are responsible for a part of the task, we tend to focus only on the part we cover. In today’s blog, I want to emphasize the importance of a sense of responsibility in teamwork.
People are more or less self-serving. When it comes to teamwork, that’s when psychology has an impact on our mind and behaviors. In social psychology, there’s a term called “self-serving bias”, which refers to a tendency to take credit for positive outcomes but deny responsibilities for negative outcomes. (Franzoi, 2016) We are under the influence of self-serving bias, especially in team-working. Have you ever experienced a situation where you and other people were responsible for a task and there was an error in the final outcome? Notice how all members tried to argue that the error was definitely not in their part of the responsibility.
When we express self-serving bias, it means the outcome of the teamwork is under optimal. We need to actively take the whole task as part of our responsibilities instead of just a part of it. Having a sense of responsibility for a grand picture drives team members to put all their effort into reaching their common goal while avoiding denying responsibilities. This idea is similar to the theory of Larry Davis, the CEO of Organizational Effectiveness Consulting, who has great insights on teamwork in organizations. He wrote, “The optimal teamwork is an attitude of mutual commitment in which everyone takes responsibility for the overall results, not just for their individual contributions or those of their workgroups” (2000). In other words, when everyone considers the overall outcome of their teamwork instead of only the part they are responsible for, they can reach their full potentials to achieve their common goal.
When cooperating with others, we need to conquer the self-serving bias inside of all of us. Try care more for members and the grand picture because when you do, you will receive the same from your partners in return.
Reference
Franzoi, S. L. (2016). Social psychology. Redding, CA: BVT Publishing.
Davis, L. (2000). Pioneering organizations. Provo, UT: Executive Excellence Pub.
