Group outcomes can exceed or fall short of members’ individual qualities

Evidence

In emergence, constituent elements are transformed into new physical and functional properties that are not reducible to those elements. For example, the novel emergent properties of water, such as fluidity and viscosity, are not simply the combined properties of its hydrogen and oxygen microcompo-nents (Bunge, 1977). Through their interactive effects, the constituents are transformed into new phenomena. Thus, for example, members of a group may not be all that impressive as individuals, but collectively they work in ways that bring out the best in each of them to great effect. A transformative leader can turn a failing group into a successful one. However, the emergent collective agency is not always better. It is not uncommon for groups with members who are highly talented individually to perform poorly collectively because the members cannot work well together as a unit. In such a case, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 130

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines emergence as a concept the whole human agency framework rests on — irreducibility of collective to individual properties.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 130
• XREF: connects to: Individual capabilities are often only realized within groups — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 156