Speech Duration and Dependencies in Initially Structured and Unstructured Task Groups

We examine whether speech durations and speech content vary by social structure in groups and the content of preceding speeches. When actors are structural equals in groups, an observable interaction order emerges from interaction processes. When we experimentally impose authority, skill, or sentiment structures, structural advantage is related to longer speech durations. When structures are combined such that an actor is advantaged in more than one social structure, then the actor engages in shorter speech durations, although dominance (as measured by perceived contributions to the group) remains high for the actor. In addition, the likelihood that an actor contributes a solution to a group problem or invites other contributions is highly dependent on whether the preceding speech included positive feedback. The expected interdependence between contributions and invitations to contribute was not evident in our data. Thus our research provides new insight on the sequential dependencies between speech acts ...