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Fixation on established paradigms and practices can severely limit the capability of organizations to change, thereby jeopardizing the ability of organizations to keep up with changes in their environment and new technological developments. Overcoming organizational fixation is therefore a requirement for any organization that strives to achieve sustained success. Based on a discussion of individual, social and organizational causes of organizational fixation, a framework for overcoming organizational fixation and establishing an innovation culture is presented. Elaborating on the important role of leaders in creating an innovation culture, competencies and behaviors of innovation leaders are discussed, and a comprehensive leadership development strategy is outlined.

In social psychology, much research has been conducted with regard to small groups, focusing on a few recurrent themes. Questions of group structure and group composition, however, have been widely neglected in social psychology research, although their importance is being recognized (Barrick, Stewart, Neubert, & Mount, 1998; Moreland, Levine, & Wingert, 1996). The following study focuses on explaining the emergence of a task role distribution in self-organizing work groups. A theory of task role distribution in work groups is being proposed capable of predicting the distribution of task roles in a team based on group members’ skills and preferences. The basic assumption behind the theory is that teams will strive to organize themselves in a functional way, taking into account both external demands (tasks that are assigned to the team) and internal demands (needs and preferences of the team members). A case study has been conducted on a self-organizing team of 15 student software developers working on a project task over a period of three weeks. The theory has been applied to the student project team. For the majority of team members the task role each team member was going to be assigned was predicted correctly by the theory.

Der vorliegende Artikel ist der erste Teil einer dreiteiligen Artikelserie, in deren Rahmen eine integrative Theorie des Problemlösens in Gruppen auf der Basis von Theorien und Befunden aus der Kleingruppenforschung, der Problemlöseforschung und der Entscheidungsforschung vorgestellt wird. Der Theorie liegt eine Differenzierung der Arbeit von Problemlösegruppen in die drei grundlegenden Handlungsbereiche der Aufgabenorientierung, der Gruppenorganisation und der sozio-emotionalen Regulation zugrunde. Der Schwerpunkt in dem vorliegenden Artikel liegt auf Aspekten der Gruppenorganisation. Es werden theoretische Vorstellungen über den Aufbau mentaler Modelle von Problemlösegruppen formuliert. Hierbei wird ein Arbeitsgedächtnis und ein Langzeitgedächtnis unterschieden, unter denen jeweils eine Reihe verschiedener Instanzen postuliert werden, in denen deklaratives und prozedurales Wissen über das zu bearbeitende Problem und die Gruppe gespeichert ist. Ausgehend von dem grundlegenden Postulat, dass der Problemlöseerfolg von Gruppen sich aus dem Erfolg der Gruppe bei der Lösung einer Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Teilprobleme zusammensetzt, werden Empfehlungen für die Gestaltung von Problemlöseprozessen abgeleitet. Hierbei wird vorgeschlagen, im Rahmen einer anfänglichen Orientierungsphase alle anstehenden Teilprobleme zu erfassen, auf ihren Handlungsbedarf hin einzuschätzen und im Arbeitsgedächtnis abzuspeichern. In der darauf folgenden Handlungsphase wird empfohlen, die erfassten Teilprobleme in der Reihenfolge ihres Handlungsbedarfs abzuarbeiten. Es werden zudem aus Merkmalen der zu bearbeitenden Teilprobleme und situativen Bedingungen Aussagen bezüglich des Ressourcenbedarfs für die Bearbeitung der Teilprobleme abgeleitet. Hieraus ergeben sich Konsequenzen für den Arbeitsmodus der Gruppe. This paper is the first paper in a three-part article series presenting an integrative theory of problem solving in groups on the basis of theory and research on group processes, problem solving and decision making. Group problem solving is differentiated into three main focuses of action, namely taskwork, group organisation and socio-emotional regulation. The present paper focuses on aspects of group organization. A theory of the structure of group mental models is developed. The mental model of problem solving groups is differentiated into a short-term and a long-term memory system. Under each memory system, several memory units are proposed containing declarative and procedural knowledge on aspects of the problem at hand and aspects of the group. Based on the assumption that success in problem solving results from the group's success in solving various subproblems, recommendations for structuring the problem solving process are being drafted. It is suggested that during an initial orientation stage all occurring subproblems be rated according to their need for action and stored in the short term memory system. In the following action stage, the various subproblems stored in the short term memory system should be worked off in the or...

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