How to
cure an egoist

The first design principle – Strong group identity and understanding of purpose– is the entire foundation for cooperation in an organization. 

The second design principle – developed by political economist Elinor Ostrom – is based on the need for a balance between the effort it takes to reach a goal and the reward received for this effort.

Design principle three is about fair and inclusive decision-making. Here are three psychological training tips to test how you can create inclusive decision-making in your team.

The fourth design principle – monitoring of agreed behaviors – goes hand in hand with the underlying psychology of positive feedback. National economist Elinor Ostrom’s resource model focuses on observation and monitoring. We know from psychology studies that the effect of observing behavior in a group becomes even stronger when positive feedback is supplied. That is why we have expanded this principle.

The fifth principle, graduated responses to unhelpful behaviors, is about not allowing behaviors that are damaging to the group to survive.

The sixth design principle is about fast and fair conflict resolution.

The seventh design principle – authority to self-govern – concerns the degree of independence for groups within larger groups, such as teams within a larger organization. When there is autonomy, it is easier for the team to learn from their own consequences and face a changing environment; it becomes a team composed of active employees.

All cooperation requires a bit of work. In order to be able to coordinate different groups, it is necessary to establish common goals, make sure that each group benefits from the collaboration, and to clarify how decisions are to be made between the groups. It is also important to encourage those who cooperate, but also to impose modest penalties for those who do not. A platform for conflict management should also be in place. At the same time, the cooperation must not have a detrimental impact on group independence, where, for example, one group determines how another group will solve its work tasks. In brief, the design principles need to be applied to groups and not only to individuals. This is what the eighth design principle is about. A design principle to scale up cooperation and coordinate cooperation between groups.