Originally published in Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. .听
Groups are a given in the modern organization, but they also fall short of expectations when they鈥檙e not, as some like to say, 鈥渋n flow.鈥� What does that mean? And how does a group step into the flow of effective collaboration?
Associate Professor and Hillenbrand Family Faculty Fellow Elizabeth (Bess) Rouse, together with collaborators, has devised a theoretical framework for investigating group flow. Things flow when members work seamlessly together and quickly add to each other鈥檚 contributions, as opposed to, say, dwelling on their own ideas and critiques. In their paper, 鈥�,鈥� published recently in Academy of Management Review, the scholars parse out the core elements of this process, including the timing of contributions and their afterflow.
Think of an SNL writing room where one writer floats a wild idea and another writer听gamely keeps the thought in motion, adding to it and spurring momentum toward a successful script. Rouse et al. go beyond previous research by spotlighting such moment-by-moment interactions rather than just the overall patterns and outcomes of teamwork. These 鈥渢emporal dynamics鈥� give rise to group flow, which the authors conceptualize as 鈥渁 state characterized by full, seemingly effortless attention, shared positive emotional arousal, and additive, swift contributions.鈥澨�
