Presentations

Student Author Information

Kimberly Butler, Lynchburg CollegeFollow

Location

Sydnor Performance Hall

Access Type

Campus Access Only

Entry Number

98

Start Date

4-4-2018 9:30 AM

Abstract

The strategies behind organizing and leading a successful team have been developed for many different fields in accordance to their specific needs. This thesis will examine team building strategies as they fit in a business environment, centered on a group working towards a common goal. While teams can be created successfully with a mutual objective, this project will examine if it is possible to have an effective team when individual incentives are present, specifically, when only one team member is seen as the winner. Game theory studies how individuals make decisions that conflict or cooperate with others, and can be applied to the attempt to create a successful team when there is an individual champion at the end.

To merge team building and game theory, the reality show Survivor will be used as a way to analyze how successful the contestants are at creating a team to carry them to the end of the game, even though only one contestant is chosen as the ‘sole survivor’. Contestants are forced to work together at the start of the game against another team, but the game becomes an individual one at the halfway point. This is representative of a type of game in game theory: a zero-sum game. The competitors must work with each other to eventually vote the other contestants out of the game, meaning that one player benefits at the expense of another.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Maria Nathan, Beth Savage

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Apr 4th, 9:30 AM

Individualism in Team Building: How Teams Remain Successful When An Individual Triumphs

Sydnor Performance Hall

The strategies behind organizing and leading a successful team have been developed for many different fields in accordance to their specific needs. This thesis will examine team building strategies as they fit in a business environment, centered on a group working towards a common goal. While teams can be created successfully with a mutual objective, this project will examine if it is possible to have an effective team when individual incentives are present, specifically, when only one team member is seen as the winner. Game theory studies how individuals make decisions that conflict or cooperate with others, and can be applied to the attempt to create a successful team when there is an individual champion at the end.

To merge team building and game theory, the reality show Survivor will be used as a way to analyze how successful the contestants are at creating a team to carry them to the end of the game, even though only one contestant is chosen as the ‘sole survivor’. Contestants are forced to work together at the start of the game against another team, but the game becomes an individual one at the halfway point. This is representative of a type of game in game theory: a zero-sum game. The competitors must work with each other to eventually vote the other contestants out of the game, meaning that one player benefits at the expense of another.