The Key Role of Visual Coordination in the Formation of Collective Routinized Actions

We argue that routine formation can be conceptualized as a form of joint action, by which visual coordination and task complexity regulate routine formation. Hence, we conducted a laboratory experiment wherein we manipulated the availability of visual information and the complexity of routinization.

The results showed that in absence of visual coordination participants’ performances were accurate but slow, hence missing the goal; conversely, when visual coordination was allowed, performance was extraordinarily fast, but less accurate, nevertheless reaching the goal. Task complexity, on the other hand, had only a limited impact. Overall, visual coordination seems to act as a regulator of the speed-accuracy trade-off of collective actions and plays a pivotal role in complex forms of joint action.