Effects Of Group Performance Research Articles

The Role of Cohesion and Productivity Norms in Performance and Social Effectiveness of Work Groups and Informal Subgroups.

The study addresses the direct and indirect relationship of group cohesion and productivity norm with the perceived performance effectiveness (plan and current tasks implementation and performance success in challenging conditions) and social effectiveness (satisfaction with the group/subgroup and psychological comfort in the group/subgroup) at the levels of work groups and informal subgroups. Thirty-nine work groups from fifteen Russian organizations of different activity profiles, namely services, trade, and manufacturing, took part in the study. The vast majority of them were characterized by relatively low task interdependence. Within the work groups, informal subgroups (from one to three per group) were identified. The cohesion of groups and subgroups was positively and significantly stronger associated with their social effectiveness than with performance effectiveness. The cohesion of subgroups was also indirectly related to social effectiveness of the work groups, i.e., this association was mediated by the subgroup social effectiveness. The index of productivity norm was positively related to perceived performance effectiveness only at the subgroup level, but not at the group level. The productivity norm of the subgroups was also indirectly related to the perceived performance effectiveness of the groups, i.e., this association was mediated by the subgroup performance effectiveness. The indirect relationship between subgroup productivity norm and group performance effectiveness was more complex when cohesion within subgroups was taken into account.

Interindividual and intraindividual variability in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) measured with an online cognitive assessment

ABSTRACT Introduction Mean cognitive performance is worse in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) compared to control groups. However, studies on variability of cognitive performance in aMCI have yielded inconclusive results, with many differences in variability measures and samples from one study to another. Methods We examined variability in aMCI using an existing older adult sample (n = 91; 51 with aMCI, 40 with normal cognition for age), measured with an online self-administered computerized cognitive assessment (Cogniciti’s Brain Health Assessment). Our methodology extended past findings by using pure measures of variability (controlling for confounding effects of group performance or practice), and a clinically representative aMCI sample (reflecting the continuum of cognitive performance between normal cognition and aMCI). Results Between-group t-tests showed significantly greater between-person variability (interindividual variability or diversity) in overall cognitive performance in aMCI than controls, although the effect size was with a small to moderate effect size, d = 0.44. No significant group differences were found in within-person variability (intraindividual variability) across cognitive tasks (dispersion) or across trials of a response time task (inconsistency), which may be because we used a sample measuring the continuum of cognitive performance. Exploratory correlation analyses showed that a worse overall score was associated with greater inter- and intraindividual variability, and that variability measures were correlated with each other, indicating people with worse cognitive performance were more variable. Discussion The current study demonstrates that self-administered online tests can be used to remotely assess different types of variability in people at risk of Alzheimer`s. Our findings show small but significantly more interindividual differences in people with aMCI. This diversity is considered as “noise” in standard assessments of mean performance, but offers an interesting and cognitively informative “signal” in itself.

Does processing speed mediate the effect of pediatric traumatic brain injury on working memory?

Processing speed (PS) and working memory (WM), core abilities that support learning, are vulnerable to disruption following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Developmental increases in WM are related to age-related changes in PS. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether WM deficits in children with TBI are mediated by PS. The performance of children with complicated mild, moderate, and severe TBI (n = 77) was examined relative to an orthopedic injury (n = 30) and a healthy comparison group (n = 40) an average of 4 years after injury (range 8 months to 12 years). Coding was utilized as a measure of PS, while the WM measures included complex verbal and visual-spatial span tasks with parallel processing requirements. Mediation analysis examined whether TBI might have an indirect effect on WM through PS. Children in the TBI group performed more poorly than the combined comparison groups on coding and visual-spatial WM. Verbal WM scores were lower in TBI and the healthy comparison relative to the orthopedic group. TBI severity group differences were found on coding, but not WM measures. The relation between coding and both the WM tasks was similar. Bootstrap regression analyses suggested that PS, as measured by coding, might partially mediate the effect of group performance on WM. TBI disrupts core PS and WM abilities that scaffold more complex abilities. Importantly, slowed PS was associated with WM deficits commonly identified following pediatric TBI. Implications of our findings regarding the relation between PS and WM may suggest interventions for children and adolescents following TBI.

Impact of Intra-group Conflict on Group Performance-moderating Role of Cultural Diversity

In the present study, a model was developed to describe relationships between impacts of intra-group conflict on group performance-moderating role of cultural diversity. Data from 170 employees working in teams of GSM cellular companies located in Pakistan support our hypothesis. Findings indicated that intragroup conflict had direct negative effects on group performance effectiveness. Furthermore, our findings suggest that reducing intragroup conflict and providing team members with the abilities to manage conflict effectively is a way to increase group performance and implement strategies to decrease a stressful work environment and increase team-building activities.

The effects of winning and losing on perceived group variability

Previous research has shown that the people in low status, negatively-valued groups are perceived to be more homogeneous than the people in high status, positively-valued groups. The present research investigated the possibility of an opposite effect in which people perceive positive groups to be more homogeneous than negative groups. The researchers hypothesized that winning groups would be perceived to be more homogenous than losing groups because group homogeneity is associated with group cohesiveness, and group cohesiveness has a positive value in the context of an intergroup competition. In a first experiment (N=175), target groups varied according to their objective group variability and whether they won or lost a competition. As predicted, winning groups were perceived to be significantly more homogenous than losing groups regardless of their objective variability. In a second experiment (N=186), these effects were replicated using different social groups, and the effect of group performance on homogeneity judgments was mediated by perceptions of group cohesiveness.

Psychological and Performance Effects of Chemical-Biological Protective Clothing and Equipment

Civilian emergency response personnel who assist at chemical or biological disaster scenes are likely to be novices at functioning in chemical-biological (C-B) protective clothing (CBC) meant for use on contaminated battlefields. Such teams must be aware that CBC imposes numerous physiological, psychophysiological, and biomechanical effects on performance, and significant declines in individual and group performance effectiveness can be anticipated. Cumbersome protective suits, gas masks, rubber gloves, and protective overboots worn to clean up chemical spills or to respond to terrorist use of weapons of mass disruption, produce performance slow-downs requiring up to 30% more time to accomplish tasks, compromise communications, and raise the risk of dehydration, heat injuries, and other environmental and psychological stresses that impinge upon task completion. First-response workers who will wear cumbersome CBC need realistic, confidence-building, mission-related training in the C-B uniforms, clothing, and equipment available to them.

The Impact of Ingroup vs Outgroup Performance on Personal Values

Two experiments explored the effects of ingroup vs outgroup performance on the extent to which individuals value an attribute. Self-appraisals of personal standing on the attribute were examined as a potential mediator of this relationship. In both experiments, members of two groups (either experimentally created or gender groups) took a test of a bogus personality trait and received feedback about the performance of their ingroup relative to an outgroup. Feedback about personal performance was not provided. Results of both studies demonstrated that individuals valued the attribute less when their ingroup scored lower than the outgroup compared to when the ingroup scored higher than the outgroup. Relative ingroup performance also affected participants' self-appraisals of their own standing on the attribute. These self-appraisals, however, only partially mediated the effects of group performance on personal valuing. The implications for selective devaluing as a self-protective strategy used by stigmatized groups are discussed.

Effect of Group Performance on Subsequent Individual Performance: Does Influence Generalize Beyond the Issues Discussed by the Group?

Does group discussion and deliberation on one issue or task influence the members' decisions or opinions on other issues? In contrast to past research looking solely at changes in responses to the same item discussed by the group, this study examined whether group interaction results in members changing the way they make judgments on related items in the future The results show that group discussion and consensus on one set of judgments led to a significant convergence of judgmental strategies that extended to a related (but different) set of judgments the members made later as individuals

Perceived Facilitators and Inhibitors of Effectiveness in Organizational Work Teams

This study investigated the factors that members of organizational work teams believe facilitate and inhibit group performance effectiveness. This objective was pursued via two research questions: (1) What do group members identify as facilitative and inhibitive influences on group progress? and (2) Are these perceived factors associated with actual group effectiveness? The study found that compatible work schedules, motivated group members, adequate informational resources, competent group leadership, and organizational assistance were the factors that best distinguished volunteer-based, work-team effectiveness. The findings of this study suggest that management must pay attention to a variety of individual, group, and organizational factors in order to facilitate the progress and effectiveness of organizational work teams.

The Effects of Group Performance on Cognitions, Satisfaction, and Behavior: A Process Model

A model was developed and tested that traces the process by which group task performance influences individual cognitive and affective responses and the ways that these factors in turn influence subsequent effort and performance. The results indicated that initial performance influences attributions which in turn affect effort-reward expectancies. It was also found that attributions and expectancies had direct influences on satisfaction and indirect influences on subsequent effort and performance. With regard to intragroup processes it was found that high-cohesive groups outperformed low-cohesive groups. Individuals shared credit for success with their teammates while blaming members of opposing teams for their failures.

The Female Leader and the “High-High” Effective Leader Stereotype

Summary Previous research conducted on male leaders developed a stereotype of the effective leader as “high-high” in behavior, i.e., high in both initiating structure for subordinates and consideration demonstrated towards them. This view has been branded a myth in recent studies. The present study (N = 537) investigated the applicability of the high-high effective leader stereotype to female leaders, following the attribution theory approach of Powell and Butterfield. High group performance was associated with perceptions of a high-high leadership style and high evaluations of the leader, no matter whether the leader actually exhibited a high-high or low-low leadership style. The results suggest that attributional effects of group performance apply to female leaders across a wide range of leadership styles.

Small groups in programmed environments. Behavioral and biological interactions.

This paper reviews a research program undertaken within a laboratory environment that was designed and constructed to support behavior analyses of individual and group performance effectiveness viewed conceptually within the context of a small-scale human microsociety. Summarized are previous research emphases and findings in relationship to (1) conditions that sustain group cohesion and productivity and that prevent social fragmentation and performance deterioration, (2) motivational effects resulting from the programmed consequences of individual and group performance requirements, and (3) behavioral and biological effects resulting from a change in group size. A more detailed description is presented of the results of a recent series of experiments that were conducted to assess performance and hormonal effects of replacing an established group participant with a novitiate member. The significance of these investigative undertakings is to be understood in terms of emergent environmental, motivational, and behavioral-biological principles having practical relevance for the establishment and maintenance of small-scale human social systems.

Effect of group performance, leader sex, and rater sex on ratings of leader behavior

Leadership research has paid increasing attention to attributional processes as a function of group performance and sex. This study simultaneously examined the effects of performance, sex of leader, and sex of subject on ratings of leader behavior while controlling for leadership style. Evaluations and descriptions of business students about managers' using initiating structure or consideration leadership styles were strongly influenced by group performance, not influenced by sex of manager, and marginally influenced by subjects' own sex. High group performance led to attributions of a “High—High” leadership style.

The Female Leader: Attributional Effects of Group Performance

Research on leadership style, conducted primarily with males, usually assumes that the leader's style causes group performance. Attribution theory suggests the reverse causal argument and has been supported in research using male leaders. The present study, using a quasi-experimental design and 256 students in introductory management, found that female managers of high-performing groups were evaluated and described differently than female managers of low-performing groups, even though their behavioral styles were identical. The results suggest that attributional processes applied to leadership are similar for male and female managers.