Task Demands, Group Interaction and Group Performance

A laboratory study of 28 three man problem solving groups investigated the relationships among task demands, group interaction profiles, and group performance. The Collins and Guetzkow model of processes in decision making groups provided a general guide for the research. Task demands significantly shaped task interaction profiles. Task demands affected only one group performance quality dimension, contrary to earlier research. Significant correlations were found between group performance levels and specific task behaviors. The research suggests that studying simultaneously selected input, process, and output variables is both useful and necessary for the development of more refined models of small group processes. Most research on small laboratory problem solving groups examines factors from one or two of three main classes of variables, group tasks, group interaction, or group performance. Typically, an investigator will study the relationship between a variable from one class, specific task demands, for example, and a variable from one other class, such as selected dimensions of group interaction (Morris, 1966). Seldom has an attempt been made to include factors from all three classes of variables in a single research design. The simultaneous study of selected input, process, and output variables is largely undeveloped and would seem to be a minimal necessity if increasingly sophisticated models of group behavior are to be developed.