EAP: The Relational Set

 How is this different from the “Direct Set”?

 Relational strategies emphasize participating in group goals and helping other people with

their tasks.

 “Relational” in this context does not mean liking people or even personally knowing people

(although people applying the relation model may like and need the people they are working

with).

 Team members who can identify with one another sharing the sweetness of the team’s

success and the bitterness of its defeats, are using relational style regardless of their affection

for one another.

Collaborative

 Prefer to accomplish their tasks within the context of a group.

 They believe that two heads are better than one.

 When they are given a task, their first response is to make a team or join one.

 Believe their best efforts are stimulated by the group’s interaction.

 They find satisfaction, motivation, and excitement in brainstorming with others.

 The synergy generated by group efforts acts as motivation and reward for them.

 They want good relationships in the group but are not afraid to debate.

 They easily accept or help form group goals (direct and instrumental achievers define their

goals)

Collaborating is valued over competing

Successful achievement demands appropriate allocation of resources, including ideas, labor, and

material

A growing body of research indicates that collaboration leads to greater success than

competition.

The University of Minnesota compared competitive, cooperative, and individualistic classrooms

and found the following.

 Cooperation led to higher achievement than did competition.

 Cooperation was more likely than independence to be linked to higher achievement.

On all four types of problem solving (linguistic, nonlinguistic, well defined problems, and ill-

defined problems) members of cooperative teams outperformed individuals competing against

each other.

In addition to learning more about the topic they are studying , students in cooperative learning

environments:

 Feel more positive about learning

 Feel better about themselves

 Improve their capacity to take the emotional and cognitive perspective of others.

We were created to be part of community.

Collaboration Vs Competition: reducing aggression and violence

A recent field study conducted with Singaporean hotel managers and workers has confirmed that

cooperative and competitive goals similarly affect the dynamics and outcomes of conflict in non-

Western organizations.

Resolving Conflicts and Advancing Shared Visions

 Collaboration can be a useful strategy when trying to resolve conflicts.

 In this process each collaborator gives up some degree of sovereignty (control) while still

maintaining some power.

 It involves 2 related processes for solving complex problems:

1. Resolving conflicts

2. Advancing a shared vision (allows stakeholders to discover common values which

help participants develop plans for future joint responsibility for common policy

issues)

 The different parties involved in resolving conflicts approach the problem from different

perspectives and are able to find innovative solutions that go beyond each member’s

individual visions.

 The quality of solutions is usually superior for the following reasons:

1. Different parties make solutions only after in-depth analysis

2. They bring complementary perspectives and resources in creating a solution.

 Collaboration brings participants and additional longer-term gains because:

 1. They begin to see each other as real people, with real concerns, rather than as stereotyped

opponents.

2. This new perception of one another leads to identification and empathy which lays the

foundation for ongoing relationships and future collaboration.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Logically, the best possible outcome is not to confess and go to the jail for one year.

Some conclusions from Game Theory as it relates to the necessary conditions for cooperation

1. Expectation of an enduring relationship – like work relationships and family groups.

However, the intensity does not need to remain constant.

2. When one member takes the initiative to cooperate and the other member responds

positively, cooperative behavior can begin to flourish.

3. Understanding that noncooperation leads to more noncooperation which will hurt the

group. However, one must be prepared for noncooperation and therefore use competitive

or power strategies (from the direct set).

4. Once established, the cooperative group can withstand the attack of a hostile,

noncooperative group. However, a single individual trying to cooperate with a

noncooperative group has very little chance of succeeding.

5. Successful cooperation requires assembling a large enough group of people with the

cooperative collaborative and contributory skills to withstand a hostile assault.

 6. Fostering continued cooperation requires that the members have a reputation for mental

toughness; they will respond appropriately to noncooperation. This is why direct-

achieving strategies must always be available to back up cooperative relationships.

7. A willingness to entrust one’s tasks to others and permit relationships to develop into a

stable (if intermittent) system of reciprocity is a key ingredient in the recipe for sustained

cooperation. There is a connection here between individualism and instrumentalism (next

lecture) which requires social interaction, system savvy, and the ability to entrust and

contribute to others. Achieving goals through trusted relationships that result into

alliances being formed is a valuable skill.

The Contributory Style

 These achievers accept as goals that are defined by others.

 They feel comfortable helping others achieve their goals.

 There is a mutual recognition that the overall accomplishment is appropriately attributed not

to the leader, but to the person being helped.

 They recognize that identifying with other’s goals and contributing actively to their tasks

lead to an important path to achievement.

 Helping others achieve their goals plants the seeds of reciprocity which is the foundation of

long-term cooperation.

 When leaders help other’s desires without egotistically taking either charge or credit, they

build a reservoir of goodwill and indebtedness available for the future.

 This prevents egomania by allowing them to see the needs and desires of their supporters.
 These leaders experience a genuine sense of achievement by contributing to someone else’s

successful performance.

The Vicarious Style

 Closely related to contributory achieving styles so expectation that some leaders will merge

both

 The difference is vicarious achievers do not participate directly in the actual role tasks of the

other achiever (they will offer encouragement and praise) – the contributory achiever takes

responsibility for a specific action

 Encourage and guide others to achieve their goals – take pleasure in the accomplishment of

others, as if the success were their own.

 They understand and identify with the dream and goals of other leaders as well as their

followers (employees, customers, voters, etc.)

 The vicarious style is similar to ‘altruism’, that willingness to give or even sacrifice the self

to help others or a cause larger than ourselves.

 These leaders build loyalty and appreciation.

 This style helps facilitate the capacity to serve as mentor for aspiring successors. Identifying

with the triumphs of others and feeling pride and a genuine sense of achievement from

another’s success help the leader to groom other leaders, including their own replacements.

Conclusion

 The collaborative, contributory, and vicarious achieving styles allow leaders to contribute

actively or passively to a group goal or to another’s task. In a world marked by great

 diversity, relational achieving style generate a politics of commonalities to replace the

politics of differences.

 Relational styles are infused with altruism, mutual commitment, and moral sympathy. They

offer exhilaration of collaborating on a shared goal, contributing to others’ dreams, and

mentoring the next generation of leaders. They enlarge the leader’s repertoire for nurturing

successors, for building community, and for strengthening the long-term health of a healthy

society.