PACK to CHAIN to TEAM?

The initial motivation for Teams, Packs and Chains was to provide substantive meaning for solutions to the problem of non-physical concatenation (RMT 9:2 432-433). Once posited, it is intriguing to ask how Teams, Packs and Chains relate and progress.

A Pack succeeds when any member succeeds. It works best when everyone tries something different -- like hunting for food in the Artic. Any new project begins as Pack searching, abduction, intuitive leaps, wild hypotheses, anything goes,brainstorming. The only agreement is in what the core problem most likely,probably, might be.

A Chain relies on solidarity. It works when everyone is in lock step, but it fails when any member stumbles -- like a link of a chain breaking. As projects develop,as possibilities are separately, accidentally encountered, the need for coordination emerges. Only Chain-building can weave a cooperating work force. Chain-building is deduction, if there is a single break, gap, disagreement in the chain, then there is no future for the project.

A Team relies on consensus. Nothing happens till all agree -- like a well-functioning jury. Disagreement paralyzes. The aim of Chain-building is a workingTeam. As agreement develops, not only does the problem become sharply defined,but so also does its seemingly best solution. A Team emerges when members become united in the induction they are to undertake, in the experiment that will test the wild Pack hypothesis that was abducted, and in the Chain deductions which follow from it.

The core sequence is Pack to Chain to Team. Each time a challenge is faced by a Team, its solution may succeed, encouraging the Team to continue cooperation. Or its solution may fail. In failure, there are two options:

a) become defensive, circle the wagons, regress to a previous Chain in desperate hope of weathering the storm and regaining the Team mentality of "good old days". If this strategy fails, the Chain disintegrates destroying the Team, and the former members are forced to fend for themselves.

b) become aggressive, send out scouts, progress to new Pack behavior in ambitious hope of constructing a better project, leading to a better Chain and thence a betterTeam. If this fails, members may fall back into a defensive Chain or disintegrate.

Only a Pack can solve hard problems. Darwinian evolution and the human immune system are Pack processes. Only when problems can be made easy, because we have become better able to manage them, can Team-work succeed. In betweenTeams and Packs, there is the necessity of Chain building and maintenance, but also the danger of Chain breakage.

Benjamin D. Wright

Wright B.D. (1996) Pack to Chain to Team. Rasch Measurement Transactions 10:2 p. 501.


Pack to Chain to Team. Wright B.D. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1996, 10:2 p. 501



Rasch Publications
Rasch Measurement Transactions (free, online) Rasch Measurement research papers (free, online) Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch Applying the Rasch Model 3rd. Ed., Bond & Fox Best Test Design, Wright & Stone
Rating Scale Analysis, Wright & Masters Introduction to Rasch Measurement, E. Smith & R. Smith Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement, Thomas Eckes Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, George Engelhard, Jr. Statistical Analyses for Language Testers, Rita Green
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar Journal of Applied Measurement Rasch models for measurement, David Andrich Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences, Boone, Stave, Yale
in Spanish: Análisis de Rasch para todos, Agustín Tristán Mediciones, Posicionamientos y Diagnósticos Competitivos, Juan Ramón Oreja Rodríguez

To be emailed about new material on www.rasch.org
please enter your email address here:

I want to Subscribe: & click below
I want to Unsubscribe: & click below

Please set your SPAM filter to accept emails from Rasch.org

www.rasch.org welcomes your comments:

Your email address (if you want us to reply):

 

ForumRasch Measurement Forum to discuss any Rasch-related topic

Go to Top of Page
Go to index of all Rasch Measurement Transactions
AERA members: Join the Rasch Measurement SIG and receive the printed version of RMT
Some back issues of RMT are available as bound volumes
Subscribe to Journal of Applied Measurement

Go to Institute for Objective Measurement Home Page. The Rasch Measurement SIG (AERA) thanks the Institute for Objective Measurement for inviting the publication of Rasch Measurement Transactions on the Institute's website, www.rasch.org.

Coming Rasch-related Events
May 17 - June 21, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
June 12 - 14, 2024, Wed.-Fri. 1st Scandinavian Applied Measurement Conference, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden http://www.hkr.se/samc2024
June 21 - July 19, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Further Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
Aug. 5 - Aug. 6, 2024, Fri.-Fri. 2024 Inaugural Conference of the Society for the Study of Measurement (Berkeley, CA), Call for Proposals
Aug. 9 - Sept. 6, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (E. Smith, Facets), www.statistics.com
Oct. 4 - Nov. 8, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
Jan. 17 - Feb. 21, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
May 16 - June 20, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
June 20 - July 18, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Further Topics (E. Smith, Facets), www.statistics.com
Oct. 3 - Nov. 7, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com

 

The URL of this page is www.rasch.org/rmt/rmt102s.htm

Website: www.rasch.org/rmt/contents.htm