Task effects on group interaction.

Abstract

A SYSTEMATIC INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS ON GROUP INTERACTION OF 2 TASK CHARACTERISTICS: TASK TYPE (PRODUCTION, DISCUSSION, PROBLEM SOLVING), AND LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW). EVIDENCE WAS ALSO GATHERED ON THE EFFECTS OF ORDINAL POSITION. ANALYSIS OF TRANSCRIPTS FROM 108 3-MAN GROUPS INDICATED THAT TASK TYPE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED THE DISTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN 60% OF THE GROUP ACTIVITY, WITH PRODUCTION (CREATIVITY) AND DISCUSSION TASKS BEING LEAST ALIKE. TASK DIFFICULTY HAD LESS EFFECT ON GROUP ACTIVITY. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES WERE FOUND IN GROUP ACTIVITY FROM THE 1ST TO THE 4TH TASK SESSIONS. THE DATA WERE INTERPRETED IN TERMS OF METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR SMALL-GROUP RESEARCH, AND SEVERAL RESEARCH STRATEGIES WERE PROPOSED TO MINIMIZE THESE METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. (36 REF.)

Team Dimensions: Their Identity, Their Measurement and Their Relationships

“…-* used by Morris (1966) categorizes communications that are directly task relevant (e.g., "proposes solution", "seeks evaluation").…”

“…Morris (1966)' showed that task type and difficulty significantly affected various aspects of task group interaction such as *structure problem", "0propose solution, "clarify" or "seek evaluation.' An extension of this study (Hackman & Morr's, 1975) showed that task type affected such group functions, which in .turn affected characteristics of the written group pro.-duct (e.g., creativity, originality and quality).…”

Exploratory Analysis of a Developmental Model for Task-Oriented Small Groups

“…Bales and Strodtbeck found that groups having truncated tasks did not conform to their three-phase model of orientation, evaluation, and control. Furthermore, Morris (1966) has reported that the type of task (production, discussion, or problem-solving) and the difficulty of the task (high, medium, or low) influenced group interaction when it was measured by a modified version of Bales's Interaction Process Analysis.…”

Model-building for group decision support: Issues and alternatives in knowledge elicitation

“…As an organizing framework for our discussion we will first present the steps in the construction of a system dynamics model and show the various kinds of information needed to build a model. processes, however, have commonly distinguished between three general types of tasks: eliciting information, exploring courses of action, and evaluating situations (Hackman and Morris, 1975;Morris, 1966;Hackman, 1968;Bourne and Battig, 1966;Simon, 1960). Different phases of the modeling process emphasize different combinations of these three types of psychological tasks.…”