10Performanc

e

People join with others in groups to get things done. Groups are the world’s workers, protectors, builders, decision makers, and problem solvers. When individuals combine their talents and energies in groups, they accomplish goals that would overwhelm individuals. People working collectively inevitably encounter problems coordinating their efforts and maximizing effort, but groups are the crucible for creativity.

What processes promote group performance, and what processes inhibit it?

Do people work as hard when in groups as they do when working by themselves?

When do people give their all when working in a group?

When do groups outperform individuals?

What steps can be taken to encourage creativity in groups?

10

Working in Groups

Groups with a

PurposeWhen to Work in Groups

The Process Model of

Productivity

Social Facilitatio

n

Performance in the Presence of Others

Why Does Social

Facilitation Occur?

Conclusions and

Applications

Social Loafing

The Ringelmann Effect

Causes and

CuresCollective

Effort Model

Groups vs. Individual

s

Additive Tasks

Compensa-tory Tasks

Disjunctive Tasks

Conjunctive Tasks

Discretion-ary Tasks

Process Gains in Groups

Group Creativity

Brain-storming

Improving Brain-storming

Alternatives

Groups with a Purpose

When to Work in Groups

The Process Model of

Productivity

•What happens when people join with others on the most simple of tasks?

•Do many hands make light the work?

•Are people prone to “free ride?”

•Are we better (smarter, more clever, more creative) together?

Working in Groups

The tasks groups complete are numerous and varied.

Groups with a

Purpose

McGrath’s task circumplex model

distinguishes between generating, choosing,

negotiating, and executing tasks. These tasks differ along two

dimensions: conceptual-behavioral

and cooperation-conflict.

When Groups?Collective Intelligence

How difficult is the task?

How complex is the task?

How important is the task?

How monotonous/dull is the task?

Groups working on many different types of tasks performed better when: They included more

women Members where higher

in social sensitivity Members contributed

at relatively equal rates to the task

When to

Work in

Groups

Steiner’s Theory of Process and Productivity

Ivan Steiner (1972), in his classic work Group Process and Productivity, drew on the concept of process loss to predict when groups will perform well or poorly.

Process loss: 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.

Steiner’s Law of

Productivity

AP = PP – PL

Actual productivity is equal to Potential Productivity Less Process Loss

Working in Groups

Groups with a

PurposeWhen to Work in Groups

The Process Model of

Productivity

Social Facilitatio

n

Performance in the Presence of Others

Why Does Social

Facilitation Occur?

Conclusions and

Applications

Social Loafing

Groups vs. Individual

s

Group CreativitySocial Facilitation

Social facilitation: improvement in performance in the presence of others (both audience and coaction)

Triplett’s (1898) early study of the influence of other people on performance of simple tasks

Zajonc’s motivational analysis of social facilitation (1965)

Performance in the Presence of Others

Social facilitation occurs on simple tasks that require

dominant responses

Social interference occurs for complex tasks that require

nondominant responses

Task requires nondominant

responses

Social interference

Performance loss

Presence of others

Dominant responses

increase and nondominant responses decrease

Task requires dominant responses

Performance gain

Social facilitation

Empirical Examples: Zajonc’s Cockroach

Study

Simple Complex0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Coact...

Speed in seconds

Type of Maze

Performance in the Presence of Others

Markus (1978): Donning familiar and unfamiliar

garb

Familiar Unfamiliar0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

AloneWatchedPresent

Seco

nd

s

Type of Task

Performance in the Presence of Others

Theories of social facilitationWhy Does

Social Facilitation

Occur?

Two types of responses in performance settings• Challenge response• Threat response

Theories of social facilitationWhy Does

Social Facilitation

Occur?

Theories of social facilitationWhy Does

Social Facilitation

Occur?

Harkin tested his mere-effort model using the Remote Associates Test (RAT)

StarGlassStampCarpetHigh

Theories of social facilitationWhy Does

Social Facilitation

Occur?

Eating in groups

Prejudice as a dominant response

Electronic performance monitoring (EPM)

Learning in groups • Cross-cultural differences

Conclusions and Applications

Social Loafing

The Ringelmann Effect

Causes and

CuresCollective

Effort Model

Working in Groups

Social Facilitatio

n

Groups vs. Individual

s

Group Creativity

Steiner’s Law of Productivity

AP = PP – PL

Actual productivity is equal to Potential Productivity Less

Process Loss

How

productive

are people

when they

work on

simple

group

tasks?

The Ringelmann Effect

People become less productive when they

work with othersRingelmann effect: The

tendency, first documented by

Max Ringelmann, 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.

The loss of productivity in

groups working on simple,

additive tasks is caused by two

types of process loss:

• Coordination losses—people cannot combine their efforts with maximum efficiency

• Social loafing--the reduction of individual effort exerted when people work in groups compared to when they work alone.

Causes and Cures

Latané, Williams, and Harkins disentangled

the effects of both coordination loss and social loafing in their studies of groups and

“pseudo-groups” generating sound.

Motivation loss

Obtained output

Coordination loss

PotentialProductivity

Pseudogroups

Actual groups

Ways to Increase

Social Motivation

Increase identifiability

Minimize free-riding by making the group as small as possible (6 ± 2)

Set goals (specific, clear)

Increase engagement by building in interdependence

Increase identification with the group (self < group)

Social compensation processes also work, in some cases, to reduce process loss by increasing the level of effort expended by others in the group

Collective Effort Model

Karau & William’s CEM applies motivation theory to motivation in

groups

Expectations

Performance Rewards

Motivation

Valence

Even if you work hard other group members may not

Must share the rewards with others

Group rewards not as valued as personal rewards

Loss of motivation in groups

Groups vs. Individual

s

Additive Tasks

Compensa-tory Tasks

Disjunctive Tasks

Conjunctive Tasks

Discretion-ary Tasks

Process Gains in Groups

Working in Groups

Social Facilitatio

n

Social Loafing

Group Creativity

Divisibility

Can the task be broken

down into sub-tasks?

Quantity or Quality?

Is quantity produced

more important than the quality of

the performanc

e?

Interdependence

How are individual

inputs combined to

yield a group

product?

Task demands are defined by divisibility, the type of output desired, and the social

combination rule used to combine individual members’ inputs.

How well will a group perform? Steiner suggests it all depends on the type of task the

group is attempting.

Steiner’s Analysis of Task Demands

Additive Tasks

Groups outperform individuals on additive tasks, but at a decreasing rate of

gain.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Group Size

Rela

tive

Perf

orm

an

ce

PotentialProductivity

Projected Productivity

Compensatory Tasks

The “Wisdom of Crowds” effect occurs (sometimes) if

members’ judgments are averaged

Even a small group (8 members) was wiser than an above-average single member.

Once the group reached 40 members, it became wiser than the best members.

Compensatory Tasks

The “Wisdom of Crowds” effect did not occur if

problem was very difficult

Individuals routinely outperformed the ignorant crowd.

Disjunctive Tasks Groups perform well on

disjunctive tasks if the group includes at least one

individual who knows the correct solution.

• The truth-wins rule usually holds for groups working on Eureka problems

• The truth-supported-wins rule holds for groups working on non-Eureka problems.

• Groups are better at problems that have a known solution (intellective tasks) rather than problems that have no clear right or wrong answer (judgmental tasks).

Conjunctive Tasks

Groups perform poorly on conjunctive tasks since the

group’s outcome is substantially influenced by

its “weakest link.”

Group improve at such tasks if they can be subdivided and each task assigned to the person most capable of performing it.

When the Kohler effect occurs, the poorest performing member improves his/her performance to keep up with the others.

Discretionary Tasks

The effectiveness of groups working on discretionary tasks covaries with the method chosen to combine

individuals’ inputs.

Process Gains in Groups

The search for synergy--achieving collectively results that could not be achieved by any member working

alone –continues, but synergy is VERY

rare.

Synergy is so rare that Steiner’s Law does not include a “Process Gain”

element:AP = PP – PL + PG

Working in Groups

Social Facilitatio

n

Social Loafing

Groups vs. Individual

s

Additive Tasks

Compensa-tory Tasks

Disjunctive Tasks

Conjunctive Tasks

Discretion-ary Tasks

Process Gains in Groups

Group Creativity

Brain-storming

Improving Brain-storming

Alternatives

Brainstorming rules

Be expressivePostpone

evaluationSeek

quantityPiggyback

ideas

Problems with

BrainstormingAlternatives

Social loafing

Production blocking

Social matching

Illusion of productivity

brainwritingsynecticsnominal‑group

technique (NGT)electronic

brainstorming (EBS)DelphiBuzz groups

Maximizing Creativity in Groups

Working in Groups

Groups with a

PurposeWhen to Work in Groups

The Process Model of

Productivity

Social Facilitatio

n

Performance in the Presence of Others

Why Does Social

Facilitation Occur?

Conclusions and

Applications

Social Loafing

The Ringelmann Effect

Causes and

CuresCollective

Effort Model

Groups vs. Individual

s

Additive Tasks

Compensa-tory Tasks

Disjunctive Tasks

Conjunctive Tasks

Discretion-ary Tasks

Process Gains in Groups

Group Creativity

Brain-storming

Improving Brain-storming

Alternatives