How to spot if your team members are playing "games" with each other

Back in 2008 I wrote an article "Games Teams Play"  where I attempted to adapt some of the ideas of  Dr. Eric Berne published in his seminal book Games people play to work teams.

Berne identified the different games people play, often unwittingly, in social situations based on his concept of transaction analysis. Berne defines a game as: "an ongoing series of complementary ulterior transactions progressing to a well-defined, predictable outcome and a concealed motivation."

I contend that people in teams play "games" all the time and identified 9 common types of unhelpful team games -  Freeloader, Pseudo-engager, Chase-me, Senior Partner, Inquisitor, Stop-Starter, Overcommunicator, Email Fixater and Attachmentitis.

To explore what each game involves read the full article Games Teams Play.

Ken Thompson (aka The BumbleBee) blogs about bioteams, virtual collaboration and business simulation at www.bioteams.com.

Follow @kenthompson