Stressful working conditions lead to a breakdown in group co-operation which can damage effectiveness and productivity, a study has found. Psychologists have discovered that when employees work in crisis (21) they are less willing to work together. The study showed that when workers are under stress, they have a strong (22) to concentrate on their own personal (23) to the detriment of their colleagues.
In the study, 100 naval personnel worked in groups of three, and each group was given a computer (24) of a naval decision-making task. Under a high (25) of stress, they had to monitor a radar screen with their own ship at the centre and numerous unidentified contacts around the ship.
As (26) participants operating in this highly stressful situation performed worse than those operating under normal circumstances. But the results also showed that under stress, the workers’ (27) of attention shifted from group involvement to a more narrow individual perspective, which led to a severe breakdown in team performance.
The author of the study concludes that it is possible that, for many team tasks, the importance of teamwork behavior such as co-ordination and communication may be (28) as secondary to basic individual demands. In his opinion, the (29) to achieve efficiency under stress is by delegation. Simplifying tasks by delegating parts of them, making them less demanding, is one of the best ways of (30) the effectiveness of the group.

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