Collective Value Synergy

Collective Value Synergy A common value shared by a team whose collective acceptance of said value is in turn a shared strength towards completion of a common a goal.
Definitions and usages
The phrase Collective Value Synergy 'CVS' is a recent addition into the project management vocabulary and is regarded as a contrarian approach to group interaction. In the context of organizational behavior, a Collective Value Synergy follows the view that a cohesive group is more than the sum of its parts, and in furtherance a group sharing a single common value is able to achieve collective success. The inference being that a CVS group is much more likely to succeed than a group exhibiting only one of the two attributes. These conclusions are directly contrary to that derived from the studies conducted by Jay Hall on a number of laboratory-based group ranking and prediction tasks. He found that effective groups actively looked for the points in which they disagreed and in consequence encouraged conflicts amongst the participants in the early stages of the discussion. In contrast, the ineffective groups (Note: the CVS approach in contrary to this definition) felt a need to establish a common view quickly, used simple decision making methods such as averaging, and focused on completing the task rather than on finding solutions they could agree on.
In a technical context, its meaning is a construct or collection of different elements working together to produce results not obtainable by any of the elements alone but in contrast to common synergy the criticality of sharing a common value is emphasized. The elements, or parts, can include people, hardware, software, facilities, policies, documents: all things required to produce system-level results. Often a siege mentality is applied to create a negative value which by the synergized groups collective disgust is in fact used a driver of success. The value added by the system as a whole, beyond that contributed independently by the parts, is created primarily by the relationship among the parts, that is, how they are interconnected. In essence, a system constitutes a set of interrelated components working together with a common objective: fulfilling some designated need.
If used in a business application, CVS means that a common thread value binds a group together and will produce a more positive overall result than if each person within the group were working toward the same goal collectively but lacked a shared value. However, the concept of group cohesion needs to be considered. Group cohesion is that property that is inferred from the number and strength of mutual positive attitudes or shared negative attitudes among members of the group. As the group becomes more cohesive, its functioning is affected in a number of ways. First, the interactions and communication between members increase. Common goals, interests and small size all contribute to this. In addition, group member satisfaction increases as the group provides friendship and support against outside threats.
In direct contrast to most group behavioral theory Collective Value Synergies actually embrace the negative aspects of group cohesion. There are two issues arising. The risky shift phenomenon is the tendency of a group to make decisions that are riskier than those that the group would have recommended individually. Group Polarisation is when individuals in a group begin by taking a moderate stance on an issue regarding a common value and, after having discussed it, end up taking a more extreme stance. This behavior is widely encouraged in a Collective Value Synergy setting.
A second, hugely positive consequence of Collective Value Synergies is group think. Group think is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in cohesive group, when the members' striving for unanimity overrides their motivation to appraise realistically the alternative courses of action. Studying the events of several American policy "disasters" such as the failure to anticipate the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (1941) and the Bay of Pigs Invasion fiasco (1961), Irving Janis argued that they were due to the cohesive nature of the committees that made the relevant decisions. And by extension their lack of a shared value.ref>David Buchanan & Andrzej Huczynski: Organizational behavior, introductory text. Prentice Hall,pp 283,Third Edition 1997 ISBN 0-13-207259-9</ref>
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Advocates of Collective Value Synergies
The CVS concept is widely used through the English Premier League by Scottish managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes by applying Collective Value Synergies in their most tribal form they are able to create a common value thread for the respective teams, thus ensuring maximum benefit from established synergies.
Zambian President Micheal Sata is also an adherent to CVS. ""Tribe is not a criterion, is not a qualification for employment. I've got people like Mr Mulasikwanda in Western-Province, and I've got the chiefs in North-Western Province. Those chiefs in North Western Province during the campaigns they were lying to people that Sata will bring war. Then again they came to lie; no, no, no Sata is going to take you to Angola. And now today they say they want to remove everybody who is in North-Western Province and employ their own relatives" by advocating the development of the Zambian nation as the collective value then applying the synergistic qualities of his appointees President Sata is applying CVS in it's most basic form.

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