Phases in Group Problem-Solving

Few areas of small group research are as inconclusive and complex as the study of phases of group decision-making. Beginning with Dewey’s ( 1910) assertion that problem-solving would somehow be more effective if some prescribed order were followed, small group researchers have remained resolute in their belief that people’s behavior in small task groups is not random. In 1965 Tuckman reviewed over fifty studies dealing with group development over time. Resoluteness, however, has not resulted in replication. Review of phase research studies suggests a number of reasons why discovery of an underlying stable structure of group decision-making has not occurred, even if such a structure does exist. The lack of attention to such theoretical issues as individual differences or similarities of participants, type of task, and single or multisession groups limits theory building as well as generalizability. In addition, the methodo-logical problems of small sample size and different coding instruments complicate the discovery of any underlying struc-ture. The diversity of kind of participants in the phase studies raises the possibility of individual differences accounting for differences in the number and kinds of development reported. For example, in the classic Bales and Strodtbeck study (1961), subjects consisted of male Harvard undergraduates, while other studies collect data from mixed-sex therapeutic groups,