Doctoral Dissertation Research: How Collaboration Affects Group Dynamics

SES-1129584Michael Lovaglia（PI）Shane Soboroff（co-PI）University of Iowa博士论文研究提案：协作如何影响群体动态摘要群体规模如何影响群体成员的信任和凝聚力？ 在非结构化的任务组中，当团队成员过多时，凝聚力和绩效开始下降。然而，团队规模也可能是一个优势，因为它为从事共同任务的团队增加了不同的技能组合。随着团队规模的增加，协调问题往往会导致官僚主义，这反过来又会为有效协作带来新的问题。调查有效的、非结构化的任务组的最大成员数量对于理解团队如何合作以实现目标以及官僚主义如何成为解决协作问题的策略具有吸引力是很重要的。 本研究旨在探讨非结构化任务组的最大有效规模如何受到个人贡献对任务完成的重要程度的影响，这种现象被称为"任务联合性"。“这项研究涉及一系列面对面小组的实验室实验，其中小组规模和任务联合性是系统性变化的。 本研究对社会心理学理论中的以下假设进行了检验：1）从事联合任务的群体成员比从事附加任务的群体成员和从事纯社会互动的群体成员报告更高的信任。2)由七个或八个人组成的小组在完成联合任务时，比完成附加任务的类似小组或纯社交互动的小组报告的信任度和凝聚力更高。3)随着群体规模的增加，从事联合任务的群体成员比从事附加任务群体或纯粹社会群体的成员更不可能选择离开他们的群体。 更广泛的影响本研究的结果有效的团队工作的决定因素是感兴趣的人在商业和复杂的组织，无论是在利润和非营利和政府部门。 成果力求为组织设计以及工作流程和相关的工作场所活动提供信息。 研究将在一个全国知名的小组研究中心进行。 该研究将产生实验和定性数据，可以作为未来研究，理论发展和数据分析研究生培训的基础。PI将在实验方法，数据收集和分析方面对本科研究人员进行培训。 研究结果将在一个关于小组研究的多学科会议上传播，并准备在适当的学术期刊上发表。

SES - 1129584Michael Lovaglia (PI)Shane Soboroff (co-PI)University of IowaDoctoral Dissertation Research Proposal: How Collaboration Affects Group DynamicsAbstractHow does group size affect group member trust and cohesion? In unstructured task groups, cohesion and performance begin to decline when the group has taken on too many members. Yet group size can also be an advantage, because it adds diverse skill sets to groups working on shared tasks. As group size increases, the problem of coordination often results in bureaucracy, which in turn can create new problems for effective collaboration. Investigating the maximum number of members for effective, unstructured task groups is important for understanding both how teams work together to achieve goals and how bureaucracy becomes attractive as a strategy for solving problems of collaboration. This project examines how the maximum effective size of unstructured task groups is affected by the degree to which individual contributions are central to task completion, a phenomenon known as "task jointness." The study involves a set of laboratory experiments involving face-to-face groups, in which group size and task jointness are systematically varied. The following hypotheses derived from social psychological theory are tested: 1) Members of groups working on joint tasks will report higher trust than members of groups working on additive tasks and members of groups having a purely social interaction. 2) Groups with seven and eight persons working on joint tasks will report higher trust and cohesion than similar groups working on additive tasks, or than groups engaging in purely social interaction. 3) Members of groups working on joint tasks will be less likely to choose to leave their group as group size increases than members of additive task groups or purely social groups. Broader Impacts The results of this study on the determinants of effective team work are of interest to people in business and complex organizations, both in the profit and non-profit and governmental sectors. Results seek to inform organizational design, as well as workflow and related workplace activities. Research will be conducted at a nationally known center for small-group research. The study will generate experimental and qualitative data that can serve as the basis for future research, theory development, and graduate student training in data analysis. The P.I.s will train undergraduate researchers in experimental methods, data collection, and analysis. Results will be disseminated at a multi-disciplinary conference on small-group research and prepared for publication in an appropriate academic journal.