Faculty Collaboration Database

Self-organization and leadership emergence in emergency response teams. Nonlinear Dynamics Psychol Life Sci 2010 Apr;14(2):179-204

Date

03/30/2010

Pubmed ID

20346262

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-77953088264 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   30 Citations

Abstract

Emergency response (ER) teams can be formal or ad hoc citizen groups that respond to natural disasters or sentient attackers. This article examines the emergence of leaders in ER teams as a nonlinear dynamical process by which a group that is in a high state of entropy self-organizes into a social structure containing primary and secondary leaders and non-leaders. The empirical study involved 228 undergraduates who were organized into groups of 4 to 12 participants; groups worked against an adversary in a board game simulation. The analysis illustrated the swallowtail catastrophe structure, defined three control parameters, and explored the curious relationship between leadership emergence and performance. Group size, group performance, and competitive behavior contributed to the control parameters in the swallowtail model for ER Teams.

Author List

Guastello SJ

Author

Stephen Guastello BA,MA,PhD Professor in the Psychology department at Marquette University

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Civil Defense
Communication
Competitive Behavior
Disasters
Entropy
Female
Games, Experimental
Group Processes
Group Structure
Hierarchy, Social
Humans
Leadership
Male
Models, Statistical
Nonlinear Dynamics
Relief Work
Young Adult