The Promise and Perils of Collaboration for Performance and Learning

Abstract

Effective collaboration is essential and ubiquitous in the modern workplace, whether between teammates, managers and their subordinates, or mentors and their mentees. All of these situations bring together individuals with diverse experiences and specialized skills who need to work together to achieve shared goals in performance and development. While collaboration would seem like an ideal environment for individuals to grow and learn, it also brings unique tensions that can undermine not only learning, but group success. In this symposium, we will explore the promises and challenges that collaboration presents for performance and learning, focusing on how group performance and individual learning can be easily helped or hindered by tensions that reside at the individual and collective levels. These papers provide new insights and tools for organizations to foster both performance and learning outcomes from collaborations, so that organizations can help individuals and teams reach their full potential. Familiar Faces in New Places: How Pre-Existing Relationships Affect Individual and Team Performance Presenter: Emma Zhao; U. of Virginia - McIntire School of Commerce Presenter: Catherine Shea; Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business Presenter: Seth Li; William and Mary, Mason School of Business Paying it Forward: How Previous Protégé Experiences Contribute to Social Class Gaps in Mentorship Presenter: Kathy Vo; Emory U., Goizueta Business School Presenter: Andrea Dittmann; Emory U., Goizueta Business School Leader Care as a Relational Driver for Employee Learning and Development Presenter: Grace Cormier; Harvard Business School Presenter: Ting Zhang; Harvard Business School Presenter: Bradley R. Staats; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Presenter: Francesca Gino; Harvard Business School Crooked Teams: Coordination for Deviant Purposes Presenter: Marlys K. Christianson; U. of Toronto Presenter: Katherine Ann DeCelles; U. of Toronto Presenter: Rebecca Hinds; Stanford U. The Takeover Toll: When Taking Over for Teammates Hurts Task Performance Presenter: David Levari; Harvard Business School Presenter: Adam Mastroianni; Columbia Business School Presenter: Jacob Verrey; Harvard U. Presenter: Daniel Gilbert; Harvard U.