Proxy and Toxicity

I was reading Robin’s post and was wondering about a concept that may not actually be a thing.  Does proxy efficacy exist as a foundation for proxy agency?  If I don’t believe in my ability to affect outcomes, but I believe that the government by and large takes care of things for me, then do I have proxy efficacy rather than collective efficacy?  My perception of collective efficacy is that my contribution, along with that of others in the system, is important to accomplish the task at hand.  I’m clearly making this up…

To add to the discussion from the Exercise of human agency¹ article, I appreciated the point that collective efficacy is not the sum of individual efficacies of those who make up the group.  But also, the collective efficacy can impact the individual efficacy of a group member.  I am a part of a research group essentially made up of two teams.  One team serves as an encouragement for me.  While there have been notable challenges in our work, the team collectively discuss these issues, accepting that problems are part of the gig.  When I feel low self-efficacy (I am a newbie on the team), they give support and encouragement that builds my confidence.  I believe that I will develop and grow new skills mostly because they have told me that I will.  The second team, on the other had, has members who have high individual self-efficacy for the work that they do and the skills that they bring, but our collective efficacy (or at least my perception of it) is not only bad, but getting worse.  On our own, we get our piece of the work done, but when there is a teaming aspect, there is conflict, frustration, avoidance behaviors, and dissent.  There is blaming and angry emailing.  People take sides and throw others under the proverbial bus.  These experiences contribute to a downward spiral of collective efficacy, while pushing us toward more siloed work.

I suppose I wonder:

1.     Once trust is eroded, can collective efficacy be re-gained?

2.     Within a toxic group, can individuals with aspirations for greater collective efficacy affect change for the group as a whole?

Bandura A. Exercise of human agency through collective efficacy. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2000;9(3):75-78.