Planning high performance: Can groups and teams benefit from implementation intentions?
Thürmer, J. L., Wieber, F., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2015). Planning high performance: Can groups and teams benefit from implementation intentions? In M. D. Mumford & M. Frese (Eds.), The psychology of planning in organizations: Research and applications (pp 123 - 145). New York, NY: Routledge.
At the individual level, research shows that if-then planning (i.e., forming implementation intentions) is an effective behavior-change strategy that facilitates goal-attainment. Drawing on a framework of group-level combination of contributions, we argue that groups and teams should also benefit from forming implementation intentions, and that they can refer to the individual (II) or to the group (collective implementation intention, cII) level. We then review recent empirical work showing that IIs and cIIs support teamwork and taskwork performance. Based on these findings, we discuss how forming implementation intentions can support team performance in organizations by helping teams to initiate goal-directed actions, reflect on available information, suppress disruptive experiences, and prioritize focal goals over conflicting goals. Finally, we link our research to existing approaches on planning and motivation in organizational teams and discuss future research.