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Simultaneous Emergent Phenomena: Leadership and Team Synchrony
Stephen J Guastello1, Nicholas R Peters1, Anthony F Peressini1
1Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences
|January 4, 2025
Summary
This study reveals that leadership emergence in teams follows a swallowtail model, while autonomic synchrony evolves into a similar pattern over time. These findings offer insights into team dynamics and development.
Area of Science:
- Complex Systems Science
- Social Psychology
- Organizational Behavior
Background:
- Emergent phenomena in group dynamics are complex.
- Simultaneous emergence of leadership and autonomic synchrony in teams is understudied.
- Panarchy theory suggests leadership emergence (slow) may control autonomic synchrony (fast).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the co-emergence of leadership and autonomic synchrony in teams.
- To determine if these emergent processes share similar dynamics.
- To analyze the temporal evolution of these dynamics using statistical distributions.
Main Methods:
- 136 undergraduates played Counter-Strike in teams of 3-5.
- Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) sensors measured autonomic arousal.
- Leadership behaviors were assessed via peer ratings.
- Autonomic synchrony analyzed using driver-empath scores.
Main Results:
- Leadership emergence followed a swallowtail catastrophe model, consistent with prior research.
- Autonomic synchrony initially simpler, evolved into a swallowtail catastrophe.
- Lognormal distributions were a secondary fit; inverse power laws were least descriptive.
Conclusions:
- Leadership emergence and autonomic synchrony exhibit co-emergent dynamics, both displaying swallowtail configurations.
- The temporal unfolding of these processes has implications for team training and development.
- Understanding these dynamics can enhance team performance and cohesion.
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