Group Communication and Decision-Making Performance A Continued Test of the Functional Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to demonstrate that group decision-making performance is contingent on the effective or ineffective satisfaction of important decisional functions. The investigation involved three related studies. In the first study, an attempt was made to confirm the existence of systematic relationships between the quality of group decisions and the satisfaction of four functional requirements. The results supported the existence of significant positive relationships between group decision-making performance and the satisfaction of these decisional functions. In the second study, an attempt was made to establish the independent main effects of each of those four functions. Using a three-dimensional interaction coding scheme, it was found that variations in group decision quality can be independently accounted for by the quality of interaction in regards to three functions—problem analysis, evaluation of positive qualities, and evaluation of negative qualities. In the third study, an attempt was made to demonstrate that the quality of group decisions can be traced to the effective or ineffective satisfaction of decisional functions. The results provide conclusive evidence (at least at the level of primary reasoning), that the quality of a group's decision is a direct result of the group's ability (or inability) to perform important decisional functions. Taken as a whole, the studies thus offer continued support for the functional perspective.