Does Stress Lead to a Loss of Team Perspective?

Abstract

One of the more well-established findings in the research literature is that stress leads to a restriction or narrowing of attentional focus. In the present study, we extend this research to the group context. We propose that, in a team environment, the narrowing of attention induced by stress may result in a shift in perspective from a broad team perspective to a more narrow or individualist ic self-focus, and this loss of team perspective may result in degraded team performance. The results of an empirical study found that stress resulted in a narrowing of team perspective and that team perspective was a significant predictor of team performance. Moreover, when the effects of team perspective were controlled, the effects of stress on team performance were substantially weakened. These results suggest that one way in which stress impacts team performance is by narrowing or weakening the team-level perspective required for effective team behavior. Research indicates that individuals respond to stress by a restriction or narrowing of attentional focus (Cohen, 1980; Combs & Taylor, 1952; Easterbrook, 1959). For example, Salovey (1992) showed that unexpected events may result in a shift of individual attention from external cues to a more internal self-focus. If we assume that this restriction of attention extends to social cues as well, then we may expect a narrowing of social perspective to occur at the group level. More specifically, we propose that a narrowing of attention at the group level is accompanied by a shift from a broader, team perspective to a more narrow, individualistic focus. Furthermore, in a team task environment, we expect this narrowing of perspective to lead to a degradation of performance. However, although considerable research has examined