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What are real life examples -- contemporary companies or historical projects -- of Connie Gersick's punctuated equilibrium model of group development?
Hello and thanks for requesting real life examples of Connie Gersick's punctuated equilibrium model of group development. The most helpful resources I found in researching this topic were ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. In short, Apple is one of the most cogent and successful examples of a company that employs the punctured equilibrium model. I broke down the answer into two separate sections: General Research Findings, and Case Studies. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
GENERAL RESEARCH FINDINGS
According to my research, the studies concerning the punctuated equilibrium model are highly theoretical. An article outlining the differences between disruptive and evolutionary companies suggests that a “punctuated equilibrium effect brought about by new leadership, product advancements, or technology breakthroughs" has the power to create long-term sustainable success without necessarily having the term "disruptive" attached to it. The argument continues: "Companies that innovate via evolution are just as successful, if not more so, than their disruptive counterparts," and mentions the fact that Twitter actually evolved into the micro-blogging platform from a podcast-syndication platform just by being aware and observing. "With the amount of available data and almost instant feedback loop between businesses and our customers, we have no excuse for not evolving."
Another book-length work on developing teamwork in organizations states that "teams cycle in accordance with internal rhythms, goals, and external factors that punctuate the experience of the members. As such, the performance of real-world teams must be modulated over time, an important challenge for team leaders." On the case of Gersick in particular, the book explains that she "changed the focus of team performance to be more coincident with the environment, postulating that externally set tastes punctuate a team's equilibrium through deadlines and intermediary targets, such that task-oriented behavior is more likely to occur close to those deadlines."
CASE STUDIES
Organizations are constantly encountering problems and surprises with regards to regularity. A study of two organizations which constantly encounter such conditions - a police SWAT team and a film production crew - found that "individuals engage in organizational bricolage, restructuring their activities by role shifting, reorganizing routines, and reassembling the work. Organizational bricolage depends on the sociocognitive resources that group members develop by drafting agreement on the work, reinforcing and elaborating task activities, and building cross-member expertise."
A formal case study of German software engineering students that use the punctuated equilibrium model in conjunction with other teamwork theories explains how the model is implemented. In the case of project groups with clearly defined deadlines, the team uses punctuated equilibrium because "projects can be divided into two phases which are separated by a midpoint (i.e. phase 1 - midpoint - phase 2). The first phase is characterized by inertia and little visible progress in team work. The midpoint serves as a temporal marker, that is 'an alarm clock [that increases] members' awareness that their time is limited.' At midpoint, project teams start to increase their pace and revise their strategy by taking multiple perspectives into account and also by focusing on task completion." Research suggests that the punctuated equilibrium model allows teams to become more aware of time constraints when the deadline approaches. The report also explains that the firm integrates the "feeling-as-information" theory with the punctuate equilibrium model, because the PE theory suggests that "project work becomes more complex after midpoint," the research in this case study consequently shows that team performance is strong in the second half of the project.
Apple is a prime example of the success of the PE model. According to Glenn Fleischmen, "Apple makes its living through punctuated equilibrium, not through disruption," because small, significant changes are easier than starting revolutions. "The all-in-one iMac, the MacBook Air, the iPod, the iPhone, and iPad all changed the way in which the entire industry created similar products. Those were released at years-long intervals, not every year."
Fleischmen's article details the necessary tweaks that Apple has made to its products over the years: "The MacBook Air, after being ridiculed and after necessary improvements in various features, became the model for "ultrabooks," a category into which Intel poured hundreds of millions of dollars to help PC makers produce their own versions with varying levels of success." Apple has introduced new models year-after-year, most of which didn't include major or groundbreaking improvements from the previous year. "Apple waits until features, cost, and the ability to deliver to tens of millions of people are there; then they pull the trigger."
But every couple of years they drop a game-changing feature that sets the bar for competitors. Apple is so successful because of its "incremental improvements that appeal to people who bought their last version of whatever it is Apple offered two to four years previously."
Another case study explains the lifecycle, dynamic, and usage of the punctuated equilibrium principle for the company FOODCO. It is a modern case study for a company that uses a virtual team for project development. The study explains what it considers the 4 stages of virtual project team development as it pertains to Gersick. Those stages are Forming, Storming, Normal Midpoint and Performing. Forming and Storming make up Phase 1, while Performing makes up Phase 2. In Forming, "Team members get to know each other, exchange information about themselves and the task at hand, establish trust among group members, and clarify group goals and expectations." In storming, "Similarities and differences are revealed and conflicts surface as the group attempts to identify appropriate roles and responsibilities among the members. In the Midpoint Transition, "Team members recognize and agree on ways of sharing information and working together; relationships are strengthened, and team members agree on member obligations and team strategy." And finally, in Performing, "Team members work toward project completion, actively helping and encouraging each other."
A report on project-based companies from China and Sweden observed that "the ambidexterity of stability and flexibility create a punctuated equilibrium in the sense of Gersick (1991) (where longer periods of stability alternate with shorter periods of change), by alternating between stable states, where flexibility can be applied due to stability, and change states (when flexibility should not be applied because the underlying elements are under reconfiguration)." Ultimately, this model was successful, as it found that stability often lead to flexibility which then lead to alignment. The study found that stability and flexibility are perpetually reinforcing each other. On the theme of organization and governance within a project-based group, findings show that "During stable states, stability and flexibility jointly allow for the adjustment of governance and governmentality in organizations to its context, such as organization structures, markets, or strategies."
SUMMARY
In the report above, I have provided some general points and findings on the usage and efficacy of Gersick's punctuated equilibrium model as well as a few case studies which illustrate those points. The case studies are mostly modern examples. The most significant of the group is Apple, which has been employing the PE method since the late 1990s.
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