Marcial Losada
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Marcial Losada is the founder and executive director of Meta Learning, a consulting organization that develops high performance teams. As director of the Center for Advanced Research (CFAR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he developed a novel approach to study working teams. At CFAR laboratories, time series that showed the interaction patterns of hundreds of teams were generated that allowed him to develop a nonlinear dynamics model, the meta learning model, which shows the dynamical patterns achieved by high, medium and low performing teams. The state variables in the meta learning model are positivity-negativity, inquiry-advocacy and internal-external orientation. The control parameter of the model is connectivity.
Marcial Losada's findings can be summarized as follows: If a team is highly connected, it will tend to maintain an equilibrium between internal and external orientation as well as between inquiry and advocacy. It will also keep a positivity/negativity ratio above 2.9 (see Losada line) but not higher than 11.6 (see Losada Zone). If connectivity is low, the team will be more internally focused, it will advocate strongly and its positivity/negativity ratio will be below 2.9. Losada found that high levels of connectivity lead to high performance in business teams (Losada, 1999; Losada & Heaphy, 2004). Performance is defined by three criteria: profitability, customer satisfaction and 360-degree evaluations.
Marcial Losada has worked in developing high performing teams at several major corporations in the United States, as well as Europe and Latin America. He currently is developing high performance teams at BHP Billiton's mining operations.
He received a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan.
[edit] References
- Losada, M. (1999). The complex dynamics of high performance teams. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 30 (9-10), 179-192.
- Losada, M., & Heaphy, E. (2004). The role of positivity and connectivity in the performance of business teams: A nonlinear dynamics model. American Behavioral Scientist, 47 (6), 740-765.
- Fredrickson, B. L., & Losada, M. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist, 60 (7), 678-686.
