Developing affect regulation strategies to prevent collective team collapse

• Applicant: Dr. Vivian Vanessa Wergin
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 460447311

The main goal of the proposed project will be to investigate the impact of individual and interpersonal affect regulation strategies on collective team collapse in order to develop effective prevention and intervention strategies to prohibit the occurrence of the team collapse phenomenon. The Walter Benjamin fellowship will be conducted at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, for a period of 24 months, under the supervision of Professor Cliff Mallett, PhD. The phenomenon of collective team collapse occurs when the performance of a team suddenly drops dramatically and unexpectedly and thus constitutes an integral part of team success. Research has shown collective team collapse to be caused and maintained by the transfer of negative affect in teams. Therefore, interpersonal affect regulation of team members is expected to have an impact on the occurrence of collective team collapse. In an initial field study (Study 1), sports teams’ affect regulation strategies will be analysed descriptively using observation and video-assisted recall to identify differences in coping with critical events distinguishing teams experiencing collective collapse from those not experiencing it in a similar situation. A second laboratory study (Study 2) then aims to explain the results of Study 1 by manipulating individual and interpersonal affect regulation and assess its impact on team performance in a sport specific (Study 2a) and a sport unspecific cognitive (Study 2b) task. Therefore, the main objective of the second study is to explain the relation between affect regulation and collective team collapse and to identify cognitive strategies associated with it.The results of the study are crucial not only in the sports context, but also for other teams, whose collective performance can make the difference between life and death, such as teams of fire departments, police teams, medical teams, or military teams. Furthermore, the results can be transferred to teams working in all types of organisations and industries. Therefore, the study further aims to make the knowledge, gathered through the studies, available to teams and practitioners working with teams.The project is furthermore intended to move the scientific field of collective team collapse forward and support the researcher in gaining professional maturity and independence in order to qualify for a tenure track position in the future.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Australia
• Host: Professor Clifford Mallett, Ph.D.