Group Dynamics for Activating a Professional Group

A case study of the 48th Antarctic Research Expedition

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the activating factors of a professional group in a non-routine work. The research subject was a project team of the 48th Antarctic Research Summer Expedition. All members of the project participated a base construction operation. Since they were far away from Japan and isolated from the modern society, they were not influenced by the ordinary incentives, such as monetary reward, promotion, and evaluation by supervisors. Thus I thought it was possible to sort and clarify factors which activated a group excluding those external incentive factors in such special circumstances. I introduce Activity theory of Engeström(1999) on Group dynamics theory as a theoretical framework. Antarctic Research Expedition is a national project in which many ministries, government offices and companies participate. There are two missionary group, summer crop and winter crop, both of which include professionals in research and construction. The 48th Expedition was able to complete summer construction operations through collaboration among various professionals beyond their expertise fields in a limited period as two months. Eight interviewees, who had experienced both summer and winter operations, were selected from members of the 48th Antarctic Research Expedition. Data was collected through one to one non-structured interviews.The result showed that the daily non-planed rotation of works activated ability of a professional group. Group members rotated their works frequently, and engaged in works different from their expertise fields. Their applied skills were enhanced as they tried to adapt to the situation where their “rules of thumb” did not hold, and eventually their expertise and personal ability were also enhanced. This result suggests that the coordination system of the whole group as well as personal activities changed through members’ engaging in works of unfamiliar fields, which resulted in activation of ability of the entire group.