10 Performance

1. 10Performance 10 People join with others in groups to get things done. Groups are the world’s workers, protectors, builders, decision makers, and problem solvers. When individuals combine their talents and energies in groups, they accomplish goals that would overwhelm individuals. People working collectively inevitably encounter problems coordinating their efforts and maximizing effort, but groups are the crucible for creativity. • What processes promote group performance, and what processes inhibit it? • Do people work as hard when in groups as they do when working by themselves? • When do people give their all when working in a group? • When do groups outperform individuals? • What steps can be taken to encourage creativity in groups?

3. Working in Groups • Groups with a Purpose • What happens when people join with others on the most simple of tasks? • Do many hands make light the work? • Are people prone to “free ride?” • Are we better (smarter, more clever, more creative) together? • When to Work in Groups • The Process Model of Productivity

4. The tasks groups complete are numerous and varied. • Groups with a Purpose • McGrath’s task circumplex model distinguishes between generating, choosing, negotiating, and executing tasks. These tasks differ along two dimensions: conceptual-behavioral and cooperation-conflict.

5. When Groups? Collective Intelligence • When to Work in Groups • How difficult is the task? • How complex is the task? • How important is the task? • How monotonous/dull is the task? Groups working on many different types of tasks performed better when: • They included more women • Members where higher in social sensitivity • Members contributed at relatively equal rates to the task

6. Process loss: Reduction in performance effectiveness or efficiency caused by actions, operations, or dynamics that prevent the group from reaching its full potential, including reduced effort, faulty group processes, coordination problems, and ineffective leadership. Steiner’s Theory of Process and Productivity Steiner’s Law of Productivity AP = PP – PL Actual productivity is equal to Potential Productivity Less Process Loss Ivan Steiner (1972), in his classic work Group Process and Productivity, drew on the concept of process loss to predict when groups will perform well or poorly.

7. Working in Groups • Social Facilitation • Social Loafing • Groups vs. Individuals • Group Creativity Social Facilitation • Groups with a Purpose • Performance in the Presence of Others Social facilitation: improvement in performance in the presence of others (both audience and coaction) Triplett’s (1898) early study of the influence of other people on performance of simple tasks • When to Work in Groups • Why Does Social Facilitation Occur? • The Process Model of Productivity • Conclusions and Applications

8. Zajonc’s motivational analysis of social facilitation (1965) • Performance in the Presence of Others Social facilitation Performance gain Task requires dominant responses Dominant responses increase and nondominant responses decrease Presence of others Social interference Performance loss Task requires nondominant responses

9. Empirical Examples: Zajonc’s Cockroach Study • Performance in the Presence of Others Speed in seconds Type of Maze

10. Seconds Markus (1978): Donning familiar and unfamiliar garb • Performance in the Presence of Others Type of Task

11. Theories of social facilitation • Two types of responses in performance settings • Challenge response • Threat response • Why Does Social Facilitation Occur?

12. Theories of social facilitation • Why Does Social Facilitation Occur?

13. Theories of social facilitation • Why Does Social Facilitation Occur? Harkin tested his mere-effort model using the Remote Associates Test (RAT) • Star • Glass • Stamp • Carpet • High

14. Theories of social facilitation • Why Does Social Facilitation Occur?

15. Conclusions and Applications

16. Working in Groups • Social Facilitation • Social Loafing • Groups vs. Individuals • Group Creativity • The Ringelmann Effect How productive are people when they work on simple group tasks? • Causes and Cures • Collective Effort Model Steiner’s Law of Productivity AP = PP – PL Actual productivity is equal to Potential Productivity Less Process Loss

17. People become less productive when they work with others • The Ringelmann Effect • Ringelmanneffect:The tendency, first documented by Max Ringelmann, for people to become less productive when they work with others; this loss of efficiency increases as group size increases, but at a gradually decreasing rate.

18. Causes and Cures • Latané, Williams, and Harkins disentangled the effects of both coordination loss and social loafing in their studies of groups and “pseudo-groups” generating sound.

19. Potential Productivity Motivation loss Pseudo groups Coordination loss Actual groups Obtained output

20. Ways to Increase Social Motivation Social compensation processes also work, in some cases, to reduce process loss by increasing the level of effort expended by others in the group

21. Karau & William’s CEM applies motivation theory to motivation in groups Must share the rewards with others Loss of motivation in groups • Collective Effort Model Expectations Performance Rewards Motivation Even if you work hard other group members may not Group rewards not as valued as personal rewards Valence

22. Working in Groups • Social Facilitation • Social Loafing • Groups vs. Individuals • Group Creativity How well will a group perform? Steiner suggests it all depends on the type of task the group is attempting. • Additive Tasks Task demands are defined by divisibility,the type of output desired, and the social combination rule used to combine individual members’ inputs. • Compensa-tory Tasks • Disjunctive Tasks • Conjunctive Tasks • Discretion-ary Tasks • Process Gains in Groups

23. Steiner’s Analysis of Task Demands

25. Groups outperform individuals on additive tasks, but at a decreasing rate of gain. • Additive Tasks Potential Productivity Projected Productivity

26. The “Wisdom of Crowds” effect occurs (sometimes) if members’ judgments are averaged • Compensatory Tasks Even a small group (8 members) was wiser than an above-average single member. Once the group reached 40 members, it became wiser than the best members.

27. The “Wisdom of Crowds” effect did not occur if problem was very difficult • Compensatory Tasks Individuals routinely outperformed the ignorant crowd.

28. Disjunctive Tasks

29. Groups perform poorly on conjunctive tasks since the group’s outcome is substantially influenced by its “weakest link.” • Group improve at such tasks if they can be subdivided and each task assigned to the person most capable of performing it. • When the Kohler effect occurs, the poorest performing member improves his/her performance to keep up with the others. • Conjunctive Tasks

30. Discretionary Tasks • The effectiveness of groups working on discretionary tasks covaries with the method chosen to combine individuals’ inputs.

31. The search for synergy--achieving collectively results that could not be achieved by any member working alone –continues, but synergy is VERY rare. • Process Gains in Groups Synergy is so rare that Steiner’s Law does not include a “Process Gain” element: AP = PP – PL + PG

32. Working in Groups • Social Facilitation • Social Loafing • Groups vs. Individuals • Group Creativity • Additive Tasks • Brain-storming • Compensa-tory Tasks • Improving Brain-storming • Disjunctive Tasks • Alternatives • Conjunctive Tasks • Discretion-ary Tasks • Process Gains in Groups

33. Maximizing Creativity in Groups Problems with Brainstorming Alternatives • Social loafing • Production blocking • Social matching • Illusion of productivity • brainwriting • synectics • nominal‑group technique (NGT) • electronic brainstorming (EBS) • Delphi • Buzz groups