10

Performance
People join with others in groups to
get things done. Groups are the
worlds 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.

10

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?

Working in
Groups
Groups
with a
Purpose
When to
Work in
Groups
The Process
Model of
Productivity

Social
Facilitation
Performance
in the
Presence of
Others
Why Does
Social
Facilitation
Occur?
Conclusions
and
Applications

Social
Loafing
The
Ringelmann

Effect

Causes and
Cures
Collective
Effort
Model

Groups vs.
Individuals
Additive
Tasks
Compensatory Tasks

Group
Creativity

Brainstorming

Disjunctive
Tasks

Improving
Brainstorming

Conjunctive
Tasks

Alternatives

Discretionary Tasks
Process
Gains in
Groups

Working in
Groups

What happens when

Groups
with
a others
people
join
with
Purpose
on the most simple of
tasks?
Do
manytohands
When
Workmake
Groups
lightinthe
work?
Are people prone to
freeThe
ride?
Process
Model of
Productivity

Are we better (smarter,

more clever, more
creative) together?

Groups
with a
Purpose

McGraths task circumplex

model distinguishes
between generating,
choosing, negotiating, and
executing tasks. These
tasks differ along two
dimensions: conceptualbehavioral and
cooperation-conflict.

The tasks groups complete are

numerous and varied.

When to Work
in Groups

Collective Intelligence

When Groups?
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

Steiners
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.

Steiners Law
of Productivity
AP = PP PL
Actual productivity
is equal to Potential
Productivity Less
Process Loss

Working in
Groups
Groups
with a
Purpose
When to
Work in
Groups
The Process
Model of
Productivity

Social
Facilitation

Social
Loafing

Groups vs.
Group
Social
Facilitation
Creativity
Individuals

Performance
in thefacilitation: improvement in
Social
Presence of in the presence of others (both
performance
Others

audience and coaction)

Why Does
Social
Tripletts
(1898) early study of the influence of
Facilitation
other
people on performance of simple tasks
Occur?
Conclusions
and
Applications

Performance
in the
Presence of
Others

Zajoncs motivational analysis of social facilitation (1965)

Social facilitation occurs

on simple tasks that
require dominant
responses

Presenc
e of
others

Social interference
occurs for complex
tasks that require
nondominant responses

Dominant
responses
increase
and

Task
requires
dominant
responses

responses
decrease

Task
requires
nondomina
nt
responses

nondominan
t

Social
facilitation

Social
interference

Performan
ce gain

Performan
ce loss

Empirical Examples:
Zajoncs Cockroach
Study

Performance in the
Presence of Others

Speed in
seconds

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

Simple

Complex

Type of Maze

Seconds

Performance in the
Presence of Others

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Markus (1978): Donning

familiar and unfamiliar garb

Alone
Watche
d

Familiar

Unfamiliar
Type of Task

Why Does
Social
Facilitation
Occur?

Theories of social facilitation

Two types of responses in

performance settings
Challenge response
Threat response

Why Does
Social
Facilitation
Occur?

Theories of social facilitation

Why Does
Social
Facilitation
Occur?

Harkin tested his

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

Theories of social facilitation

Star
Glass
Stamp
Carpet
High

Why Does
Social
Facilitation
Occur?

Theories of social facilitation

Conclusions and
Applications
Eating in groups
Prejudice as a dominant response
Electronic performance monitoring
(EPM)
Learning in groups
Cross-cultural differences

Working in
Groups

Social
Facilitation

How
productive
are people
when they
work on
simple
group
tasks?

Social
Loafing

Groups vs.
Individuals

Group
Creativity

The
Ringelmann

Effect

Causes and
Cures
Collective
Effort
Model
Steiners Law of
Productivity
AP = PP PL
Actual productivity is equal to
Potential Productivity Less Process
Loss

The Ringelmann
Effect
Ringelmann
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.

People become less

productive when they
work with others

Causes and Cures

The loss of productivity in groups

working on simple, additive tasks
is caused by two types of process
loss:
Coordination lossespeople 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.

Latan, Williams, and

Harkins disentangled the
effects of both
coordination loss and
social loafing in their
studies of groups and
pseudo-groups
generating sound.

Motivatio
n loss
Coordinatio
n loss

Obtaine
d
output

Potential
Productivity
Pseudo
groups
Actual
groups

Ways to Increase
Social Motivation

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

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)

Karau & Williams CEM applies motivation

theory to motivation in groups

Collective Effort
Model

Must share
the rewards
with others

Expectations

Performance

Even if you
work hard
other group
members may
not

Rewards

Valence

Loss of
motivation
in groups

Motivation
Group rewards
not as valued as
personal rewards

Working in
Groups

How
well will aSocial
group perform?
suggests
Social
GroupsSteiner
vs.
Group
it all depends
on the type
of task theCreativity
group is
Facilitation
Loafing
Individuals
attempting.
Additive
Tasks

Task demands are defined by divisibility, the

Compensatype of output desired,
and the social
tory Tasks
combination rule used to combine individual
Disjunctive
members inputs.
Tasks
Divisibility

QuantityConjunctive
or
Interdependenc
Tasks
Quality?
e
Discretionary Tasks

Can the task

be broken
down into
sub-tasks?

Is quantity
produced Process
more Gains in
important Groups
than the
quality of the
performance?

How are
individual
inputs
combined to
yield a group
product?

Steiners Analysis of Task

Demands

Groups outperform individuals

on additive tasks, but at a
decreasing rate of gain.

Additive
Tasks

Potential
Productivity

100
90
80
70 Performance
Relative
60

Projected
Productivity

50
40
30
20
10
0

5
6
Group Size

10

Compensatory
Tasks

Even a small group (8

members) was wiser
than an above-average
single member.

The Wisdom of Crowds effect

occurs (sometimes) if members
judgments are averaged

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 nonEureka 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
groups 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 Steiners Law does

not include a Process Gain element:
AP = PP PL + PG

Working in
Groups

Social
Facilitation

Social
Loafing

Brainstorming
rules

Be expressive
Postpone
evaluation
Seek quantity
Piggyback
ideas

Groups vs.
Individuals
Additive
Tasks
Compensatory Tasks

Group
Creativity

Brainstorming

Disjunctive
Tasks

Improving
Brainstorming

Conjunctive
Tasks

Alternatives

Discretionary Tasks
Process
Gains in
Groups

Maximizing Creativity in Groups

Problems with Brainstorming

Alternatives

Social loafing

brainwriting

Production blocking

Social matching

synectics

Illusion of productivity

nominalgroup

technique (NGT)
electronic
brainstorming (EBS)
Delphi
Buzz groups

Working in
Groups
Groups
with a
Purpose
When to
Work in
Groups
The Process
Model of
Productivity

Social
Facilitation
Performance
in the
Presence of
Others
Why Does
Social
Facilitation
Occur?
Conclusions
and
Applications

Social
Loafing
The
Ringelmann

Effect

Causes and
Cures
Collective
Effort
Model

Groups vs.
Individuals
Additive
Tasks
Compensatory Tasks

Group
Creativity

Brainstorming

Disjunctive
Tasks

Improving
Brainstorming

Conjunctive
Tasks

Alternatives

Discretionary Tasks
Process
Gains in
Groups