Perspectives on Team Dynamics: Meta Learning and Systems Intelligence

Losada (1999) observed management teams develop their annual strategic plans in a lab designed for studying team behavior. Based on these findings he developed a dynamical model of team interaction and introduced the concept of Meta Learning (ML) which represents the ability of a team to avoid undesirable attractors. This paper analyzes the dynamic model in more detail and discusses the relationship between meta learning and the new concept of Systems Intelligence (SI) introduced by Saarinen and Hämäläinen (2004). In our view, the meta learning ability of a team clearly represents a systems intelligent competence. Losada's mathematical model predicts interesting dynamic phenomena in team interaction. However, our analysis shows how the model also produces strange and previously unreported behavior under certain conditions. Thus, the predictive validity of the model also becomes problematic. It remains unclear whether the model behavior can be said to be in satisfactory accordance with the observations of team interaction.