Impact of group goals, task component complexity, effort, and planning on group performance.

This study tested a model asserting that goal difficulty and task component complexity influence group performance by affecting the effort exerted by group members, the amount and quality of their planning, and the timing of their planning(preplanning versus in-process planning). Hypotheses derived from this model were tested in a 2×2 experimental design. Fifty-six groups of 4 students each worked for 15 min building Tinkertoy structures. Results showed that group-goal difficulty influenced group performance through effort; task component complexity influenced performance through the amount of planning performed by group members and the level of effort invested in their work; and the quality of the group's planning process also influenced group performance