Theoretical Foundation and Qualitative Analysis of Resilience in Multiteam Systems

Lauren N. P. Campbell

Advisor: Stephen Zaccaro, PhD, Department of Psychology

Committee Members: Graziella Pagliarulo McCarron, Seth Kaplan, Matt Cronin

Online Location, https://gmu.zoom.us/j/7596466798
September 25, 2024, 09:00 AM to 11:00 AM

Abstract:

Multiteam systems (MTSs) are complex networks of teams that must work within and among themselves to accomplish interdependent goals, and are often formed to address situations and contexts that are extreme, urgent, or high stakes. To succeed, MTSs must demonstrate resilience to the many goal threats they are likely to face. To understand what is the nature of resilience in multiteam systems, and how the nature of multiteam systems influences their resilience, I derive a conceptual framework of MTS resilience from multidisciplinary literature. I empirically examine the proposed relationships through a collective case study of two sets of multi-source, longitudinal, real-world MTS data, concurrently analyzed with a mixed-methods approach, and resulting in a set of descriptive themes. Theme 1 suggests that as goal threat urgency increases, MTSs are more likely to employ active resilience, which in turn leads to better viability outcomes, compared to passive resilience enactment, especially for high-urgency goal threats. Theme 2 states that MTSs with higher cognitive and social resilience capacities use active resilience enactment more often than passive enactment and have formal learning processes. MTSs use affective resilience capacity to offset opposing levels of cognitive and social resilience capacities, and those with lower cognitive and social resilience capacities also have either informal or no learning processes. Finally, theme 3 shows that MTS differentiation, especially from between-team functional diversity, hurts social and affective resilience capacities and, in turn, resilience effectiveness outcomes.