Group Climate Research: Where Do We Go From Here?

Abstract

We review the articles by Bakali, Wilberg, Klungsøyr, and Lorentzen (this issue) and Bonsaksen, Borge, and Hoffart (this issue) that examine different aspects of group Climate using the Group Climate Questionnaire. Both articles build on the previous group climate literature and both provide important new insights into the relationship between individual group members’ perceptions of group climate and their treatment outcome (Bonsaksen et al., 2013) and the development of group climate across time. Our comments focus on how these two areas of research can be extended. Specifically, we recommend that group development researchers use new statistical techniques that describe patterns in how group climate changes across time. In addition, we encourage researchers examining the relationship between group climate and outcome to use the Actor Partner Interdependence Model to include other groups members’ perceptions of group climate as a predictor of an individual group member’s treatment outcome.