10
Performance
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.
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
a others
people
joinwith
with
Purpose
on the most simple of
tasks?
When
Workmake
• Do
manytohands
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
McGrath’s 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
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 Groups?
 How difficult is the
task?
 How complex is the
task?
 How important is the
task?
 How monotonous/dull
is the task?
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
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
performance
in the presence of others
Others and coaction)
audience
(both
Why Does
Social
Triplett’s
Facilitation(1898) early study of the influence of
other
people on performance of simple tasks
Occur?
Conclusions
and
Applications
Performance
in the
Presence of
Others
Zajonc’s motivational analysis of
social facilitation (1965)
Social facilitation occurs
on simple tasks that
require dominant
responses
Presence
of others
Dominant
responses
increase and
Social interference
occurs for complex
tasks that require
nondominant responses
Task requires
dominant
responses
Social
facilitation
Performance
gain
nondominant
responses
decrease
Task requires
nondominant
responses
Social
interference
Performance
loss
Empirical Examples:
Zajonc’s Cockroach
Study
Performance in the
Presence of Others
Speed in
seconds
140
120
100
80
Coacting
Alone
60
40
20
0
Simple
Complex
Type of Maze
Seconds
Performance in the
Presence of Others
Markus (1978): Donning
familiar and unfamiliar garb
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Alone
Watched
Present
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
Social
Loafing
Groups vs.
Individuals
Group
Creativity
The
How
productive
are people
when they
work on
simple
group
tasks?
Ringelmann
Effect
Causes and
Cures
Collective
Effort
Model
Steiner’s 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
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
Coordination
loss
Obtained
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 & William’s 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
Interdependence
Quality? Tasks
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?
Steiner’s Analysis of Task
Demands
Groups outperform individuals
on additive tasks, but at a
decreasing rate of gain.
Additive
Tasks
Potential
Productivity
100
90
Relative Performance
80
70
Projected
Productivity
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Group Size
8
9
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
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
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
 Social loafing
 Production blocking
 Social matching
 Illusion of productivity
Alternatives
 brainwriting
 synectics
 nominal-group
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