Chapter 10 - Group Dynamics

crew resource management

(CRM): a human factors training program, originally developed in the aviation industry, designed to improve crew coordination and efficiency through structured training in teamwork and communication skills and resource, time, and work-load management.

Electronic Brainstorming

(EBS): generating ideas and solving problems using computer-based communication methods such as online discussions and email rather than face to face sessions.

Electronic Performance Monitoring

(EPM): the use of information technologies such as computer networks, to track, analyze, and report information about workers' performance. EPM may enhance productivity. People responded better to monitoring when they believed they could turn off the monitoring and that only their job-related activities were being monitored.

The Nominal Group Technique

(NGT): a group performance method wherein a face to face group session is prefaced by a nominal-group phase during which individuals work alone to generate ideas. Minimizes blocking and loafing by reducing interdependence among members, it achieves this improvement by starting with a nominal group phase before turning to a group session

nondominant

- Behaviors that are part of the organism's behavioral repertoire but are less likely to be performed are: ______ responses

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-Individuals who worked alone then pooled their ideas together averaged more ideas than those who started in groups. --

The Collective Effort Model

: (CEM) explanation of group productivity that traces losses of productivity in groups to diminished expectations about successful goal attainment and the diminished value of group goals

Nominal groups

: a collection of individuals that meets only the most minimal of requirements to be considered a group and is a group in name only; in studies of performance, a control or baseline group created by having individuals work alone and then pooling their products

The Delphi Technique

: a group performance method that involves repeated assessment of members' opinions via surveys and questionnaires as opposed to face-to-face meetings

Production Blocking

: a loss of productivity that occurs when the group and procedural factors obstruct the group's progress toward its goals, particularly when the individuals in a brainstorming session are delayed in stating their ideas until they can gain the floor and when group members are distracted by others' ideas and so generate fewer of their own.

Brainstorming

: a method for enhancing creativity in groups that calls for heightened expressiveness, postponed evaluation, quantity rather than quality, and deliberate attempts to build on earlier ideas.

intellective tasks

: a project, problem, or other type of task that results that can be evaluated objectively using some normative criterion, such as mathematics problem with a known solution or the spelling of a word. Groups are more superior when performing intellective tasks

Judgmental tasks

: a project, problem, or other type of task with results that can't be evaluated objectively because there are no clear criteria to judge them against. Ex: jury's decision in a trial

Process loss

: a reduction in performance effectiveness or efficiency caused by actions, operations, or dynamics that prevent the group from reaching its full potential, including reduced effort, faulty group processes, coordination problems, and ineffective leadership. ---- predict when groups will perform well or poorly

Discretionary Tasks

: a relatively unstructured task that can be completed by using a variety of social combination procedures, thus leaving the methods used in its completion to the discretion of the group or group leader. Ex: deciding to shovel snow together, choosing to vote on the best answer to a problem

Study group

: a self-organized, self-directed group formed by students for the purpose of studying course material

Additive Tasks

: a task or project that a group can complete by cumulatively combining individual members' inputs. Easiest types of task for groups to complete when larger groups are split into smaller ones, members loaf less. Ex: pulling a rope, shoveling snow, clapping at a concert, cheering at a game

Compensatory Task

: a task or project that a group can complete by literally averaging together (mathematically combining) individual members' solutions or recommendations

Maximizing tasks

: a task or project that calls for a high rate of production. Ex: generating many ideas, lifting weights, scoring the most goals

optimizing tasks

: a task or project that has a best solution and outcome, thus the quality of the group's performance can be judged by comparing the product to a quality-defining standard Ex: developing the best answer, solving a math problem

Disjunctive Tasks

: a task or project that is completed when a single solution, decision, or recommendation is adopted by the group. Ex: picking one answer to a math problem to be the group's answer, letting one art project represent the entire school, juries making decisions about guilt or innocence. Require discussion and decisions. Groups perform disjunctive tasks better than most of the individual members

divisible tasks

: a task that can be broken down into sub-components that can be assigned to individuals or to subgroups within the group (ex: playing a football game, preparing a six-course meal)

Conjunctive Tasks

: a task that can be completed successfully only if all group members contribute. Ex: climbing a mountain, eating a meal as a group

unitary tasks

: a task that can't be performed disconnected because it doesn't break down into any subcomponents; can't be divided ex: pulling a rope, reading a book

Evaluation apprehension theory

: an analysis of performance gains in groups arguing that individuals working in the presence of others experience a general concern for how these others are evaluating them and that this apprehension facilitates their performance on simple, well-learned tasks.

Self-presentation theory

: an analysis of performance gains in groups assuming that social facilitation is caused by individuals striving to make a good impression when they work in the presence of others

Social orientation theory

: an analysis of performance gains in groups suggesting individual differences in social orientation (the tendency to approach social situations apprehensively or with enthusiasm) predict when social facilitation will occur

Social facilitation

: an improvement in task performance that occurs when people work in the presence of other people

Brainwriting

: brainstorming sessions that involve generating new ideas in writing rather than orally, usually by asking members to add their own ideas to a circulating list.

Free riding

: contributing less to a collective task when one believes that the other group members will compensate for this lack of effort

Generating

: groups concoct strategies they will use to accomplish their goals or create altogether new ideas and approaches to their problem

Executing

: groups do things, including taking part in competitions or creating some product or carrying out collective actions

Choosing

: groups resolve differences about issues that have correct solutions or questions that can be answered in many ways

Negotiating

: groups resolve differences of opinion among members regarding their goals or decisions or settle competitive disputes among members

Drive theory

: in general, an analysis of human motivation that stresses the impact of psychological or physiological needs or desires on individuals' thoughts, feelings, and actions; also an explanation of social facilitation that maintains that the presence of others evokes a generalized drive state characterized by increased readiness and arousal

Coaction

: performing a task or another type of goal-oriented activity in the presence of one or more other people who are performing a similar type of activity. --- but not necessarily interacting with them There were gains in performance through coaction or when an audience was watching, but they also documented performance slowdowns. People in groups produced more than isolated individuals, but their products were often lower in quality.

Synergy

: producing an outcome as a group that is superior to the results that could have been achieved by a simple aggregation or accumulation of group members' individual efforts; a gain in performance caused by performance-enhancing group processes.

Social compensation

: tendency for group members to expend greater effort on important collective tasks to offset the anticipated insufficiencies in the efforts and abilities of their co-members

Task demands

: the effect that a problem or task's features, including its divisibility and difficulty, have on the procedures the group can use to complete the task

social loafing

: the reduction of individual effort exerted when people work in groups compared to when they work alone

Illusion of Group Productivity

: the tendency for members to believe that their group is performing effectively

Sucker effect

: the tendency for members to contribute less to a group endeavor when they expect that others will think negatively of those who work too hard or contribute too much (considering them to be a sucker)

Social matching effect

: the tendency for people in brainstorming groups to match the level of productivity displayed by others in the group. High performers tend to adjust their rate downward to match the group's lower norm

Ringelmann Effect

: the tendency for people to become less productive when they work with others; this loss of efficiency increases as group size increases but at a gradually decreasing rate

Some tasks are divisible

: they can be broken down into subtask that can be assigned to different members (building a house, planting a garden or working a series of math problems by assigning one to each member are all divisible tasks)

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Activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex increased in the presence of others and this increase was associated with inhibited performance on complex but not simple tasks --

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Actual productivity will not equal the potential productivity due to social loafing --

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Areas of the brains that are thought to be dedicated to monitoring social information (the medial parietal and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex) showed signs of increased activity, suggesting that simply seeing other human beings triggers a cortical reaction --

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As tasks become more challenging, complex and consequential, the more likely a well-organized group will succeed where an individual will fail --

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Audience triggers increases in cardiac and vascular reactivity. When the task was easier people displayed a challenge response, they appeared to be ready to respond to the challenge that they faced. When the task was difficult, people displayed a threat response; they appeared to be stressed rather than ready for effective action. --

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Changes in heart rate and blood pressure were not associated with increased error rates, prompting investigators to conclude that it is the brain and not the heart, that overreacts to the presence of others. --

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Crowd will not be wise when its members lack the knowledge needed to solve the problem --

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Even though a group outperforms an individual, the group does not usually work at maximum efficiency. --

additive, compensatory, disjunctive, conjunctive, and discretionary

Five basic combinatorial strategies: ACDCD

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Groups become less effective when an authority watches them work--

stepladder technique

Groups can use the -_______ - requires asking each new member of the group to state his or her ideas before listening to the groups' position

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Groups dealing with behavioral tasks produce things or perform services. Groups dealing with abstract tasks exhibit high levels of information exchange, social influence, and process-oriented activity. Conflict tasks put individuals and groups against each other, whereas cooperative tasks require collaboration --

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Groups performed more poorly even when given more time to complete the task. --

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Groups with more women performed better than those with few or none, as did groups with higher average scores on social sensitivity. Best performing groups were also those where members contributed to the tasks more equally --

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If dominant response is most appropriate response, then social facilitation occurs; people will perform better when others are present than when they are alone--

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If the task calls for non-dominant responses, then the presence of other people interferes with performance --

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Improving Brainstorming Stick to the rules: members should be trained to follow brainstorming rules and be given feedback if they violate any of the basic principles. Groups that have not practiced brainstorming methods usually generate mediocre ideas Pay attention to everyone's ideas: the key to brainstorming is exposure to other's ideas, but people tend to focus on their own suggestions and pay little attention to other people's suggestions. Many techniques can be used to force members' attention onto others' ideas, including listing the ideas on a board or asking members to repeat others' ideas. Mix individual and group approaches: members should be given the opportunity to record their ideas individually during and after the session. Take breaks: members should deliberately stop talking periodically to think in silence Do not rush: members should have plenty of time to complete the task. Groups that work under time pressure often produce more solutions initially, but the quality of those solutions is lower than if they had spent more time on the task. Persist: members should stay focused Facilitate the session: members' efforts should be coordinated by a skilled discussion leader Use technology: computers minimize various types of process loss, including production blocking and social matching --

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Increase Identifiability: People are less productive when they work with others When people feel as though their level of effort can't be established because the task is a shared one, then social loafing becomes likely. When people feel that they are being evaluated, they tend to exert more effort and their productivity increases. If the task is an individualistic one and is easy, social facilitation occurs When each person's output was identifiable, loafing was virtually eliminated --

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Increase Identification with the Group: Expend extra effort for their group --

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Increase Involvement: Challenging, difficult tasks reduce loafing. Social loafing is reduced when rewards for successful performance are group-based rather than individual bases, as long as the group is not too large, and the reward is divided equally --

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Loafing was greater among men than women, in western countries compared to eastern countries and for simple tasks rather than complex tasks. --

bug list

Member can jot down a - ______ - of small irritations pertaining to the problem under discussion and the group can discuss solutions for each bug

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Minimize Free Riding: They free ride less in small groups because each person plays a large role in determining the group's outcomes Group members reduce their efforts to match the level they think other group members are expending. --

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Most people prefer to eat with others than dine alone. People eat more when they dine with groups. Social facilitation of eating is weak when co-eaters are strangers or disliked and strongest when people dine with families and friends. Tend to eat less when the person with them isn't eating. --

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People can be distracting during the early phases of learning, learning proceeds more rapidly when learners work alone. When students have learned their skills well, then they should perform with others present if possible --

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People who are highly confident perform better when evaluated by others, whereas those who doubt their ability to perform better when alone. --

weakest link

Performance is determined by the proverbial ________ the slowest, least productive, least skilled, most ineffective member.

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Quality of ideas was lower in groups when the researchers rated each idea on creativity, individuals had better ideas --

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Set Goals: Groups that set clear goals outperform groups that have lost sight of their objectives. Group goals should be challenging rather than too easily attained. --

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Social facilitation is more likely to occur on tasks where speed and quantity matter more than accuracy. As long as the task is simple, people tend to work more quickly in front of others. When the task is complex, other people inhibit both the quantity and quality of their performance. --

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Sometimes the truth will not win out over error unless someone in the group supports the answer - truth-supported-wins rule. Truth can be lost because knowledgeable members had a difficult time persuading the other members to adopt their solutions. --

Be expressive, Postpone evaluation, Seek quantity, piggy back ideas

Technique requires an open discussion of ideas and is guided by four basic rules: ________: express any idea that comes to mind, no matter how strange. Do not be constrained or timid; freewheel whenever possible. _________: do not evaluate any of the ideas in any way during the idea-generation phase. All ideas are valuable. _________: the more ideas, the better. Quantity is desired, for it increases the possibility of finding an excellent solution. _________: because all ideas belong to the group, members should try to modify and extend others' ideas whenever possible. Brainstorming is conducted in a group, so that participants can draw from one another.

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The Nominal Group Technique: Step 1: the group discussion leader introduces the problem in a short statement. Once members understand the statement, they silently write ideas concerning the issue, working for 10 to 15 minutes. Step 2: the members share their ideas with one another in a round-robin; each person states an idea, which is given an identification letter and written beneath the issue statement and the next person adds his or her contribution Step 3: the group discusses each item, focusing primarily on clarification Step 4: the members rank the five solutions they most prefer, writing their choices on an index card --

generating, choosing, negotiating, executing

The Task Circumplex Model: Model has 4 group goals: generation ideas or plans, choosing a solution, negotiating a solution to a conflict or executing (performing) a task

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The group is more likely to perform well when the member who is correct is also the most confident. --

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Two factors determine group member's level of motivation: their expectations about reaching a goal and the value of that goal. --

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When people think they are being evaluated, they exert more effort, but this effort causes them to concentrate more on ideas and information that is readily accessible to them.--

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When tasks overwhelm a single person's time, energy, and resources, individuals turn to groups.--

Dominant

_______ responses: located at the top of the organism's response hierarchy, they dominate all other potential responses.

Buzz groups

___________ - small subgroups that generate ideas that can later be discussed by the entire group

Prejudices, prejudice

_____________ are deeply ingrained negative attitudes about the members of other groups. __________ is often a well-learned, dominant response; the presence of people may lead people to express even more biased opinions when they are in public rather than in private

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group judgment which was an average of all the estimates offered, was more accurate than the judgments made by experts and by most of the individuals. --

Distraction-conflict theory

o : an analysis of performance in groups assuming that when others are present, attention is divided between the other people and the task; this attentional conflict increases motivation and it facilitates performance on simple, well-learned tasks.

Increase Identifiability, Minimize Free Riding, Set Goals, Increase involvement, increase identification with the group

steps that can be taken to reduce the level of social loafing in a group:

The Kohler Effec

t: an increase in performance by groups working on conjunctive tasks that require persistence but little coordination of effort and is likely due to the increased effort expended by the less capable members. The group's most inferior member is most likely to improve when in face to face groups and when information about the quality of other people's performance is readily available

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truth-wins rule - the best solution - truth, when suggested during the group's deliberations, was the one the group adopted (wins).