Group Cohesiveness and Group Productivity
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 6-1964 Group Cohesiveness and Group Productivity Michael M. Makedonsky Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Makedonsky, Michael M., "Group Cohesiveness and Group Productivity" (1964). Master's Theses. 4083. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4083 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GROU COHSIVENESS AD:° GROU� PRODUCTIVITY by Michael M. Makedonsky Jr. thesis presented to the Faculty of the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan June 1964 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writer wishes to express .sincere appreciation to Dr. John J. Jochem for his encouragement and helpful supervision throughout the entire research.project. Grateful aclm��ledgement is also extended to Dr. Esten J. Asher and Dr. Stanley M. Kuffel, who willingly consented to act as members on the thesis committee. My work benefited from the counsel of Dr. Alvin Zander and Dr. Lawrence Schwarz, who provided clarification in the theoretical area. Appreciation is extended to Mrs. David Larom far her valuable assistance in typing the manuscript. My thanks are also extended to the volunteer students without whose participation this thesis would not have been possible. Michael M. Makedonsky ii TABL OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction .•••••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• l Method and Procedures ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 8 Results and Discussion ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••1 3 Suinrna.ry and Conclusion •••••••••••••••.•••.••••••••••••••••••••••17 Appendix•••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 20 References •••••••••••••••••••••••••.•.•••••••••.•••••••••••••••• 3.1 iii LIST OF TABLES_ PAGE Table 1. Comparison of Condition A and Condition Bon Mean Completion Times •••••••..•.••••••••.•••.•.••.•••••13 Table 2. Comparison of Condition A and Condition Bon Observed Behavior •••••••.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1.4 Table 3. Comparison of Condition A and Condition Bon Group Evaluation Scale •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••15 iv GROUP COESIVNESS AD GOUP PRODCTIVITY Cartwright and Zander (1953) distinguish at least three differ ent meanings in their intuitive and operational descriptions of group cohesiveness: (a) attracti_on to the group, (b) morale, and (c) coordination of efforts of group members. Others have attempted to classify meanings of cohesiveness into two general categories. One category of definitions centers chiefly on particular aspects of group behavior or group process. Here, the meaning of cohesive 1 ness refers to 1sticking togetherness", productivity, task involve ment and good team work. A common observation is that members of a cohesive group display a feeling of 11we-ness" or "togetherness", 11 r mea..-:iing that they are more likely to talk in terms of "we" than 11 1 • The second category of definitions is concerned exclusively with the attractiveness of the group. Festinger, Schachter and Back (1950) define cohesiveness as the average resultant force act ing on members -with direction toward the group. Still others, like Libo (1953), try to present a more refined meaning of the concept. Li.bo suggestst:,9 units of analysis for the study of cohesiveness: the individual member and the group. Hence, an individual level of analysis and a group level of analysis. The attraction phenomenon in group dynamics is believed to be a function of the needs of the individual and the properties of the group. The valence of a group, when its goals are a source of grati fication, is equal to the strength of the need of the individual 1 2' times the probability that the group will satisfy his needs. The attractiveness of a group will be maintained as long as the needs of its members are met, but will be decreased if the gratification of needs is reduced. A group member will leave only when the forces driving him away from the group are greater than the sum of the forces attracting him to the group. According to Libo (19.53), the attractio. n phenomenon involves a personally meaningful individual-object relationship. By means of his separate units of analysis, he prefers to define cohesiveness in terms of attractiveness for the group as a collective body or ob ject as different from attractiveness for the individual member sepa rately. In his terms, "cohesiveness denotes the group's attractiveness for its membe:r-s, the resultant forces acting on all the memb.ers to re main in the group", and calls "the resultant of forces acting on each member to rei:nain in the group, attraction-to-group."' (Libo 1953, Chapter 1). ¼ short, group attractiveness is called cohesiveness and individual attractiveness is called attraction-to-group. 1 This writer feels that Libo s two units of analysis is redun dant, since the final measure of cohesiveness can be accomplished by the operation of converting individual attraction values to a total group value. His approach reflects a refinement in his research design rather than a new theoretical concept. In the present study, such fine distinction was not attempted because the group as a unit was seen as the object which possesses the quality of attraction. J Therefore, this study will not deal with the issue of attractiveness for subparts of the group, but rather will concern itself with the group as a whole. Thus, the person's relationship with the group·will involve only the question of valence of membership in the group. The basic method of producing differences in group attraction is to create certain perceptions and expectations about the nature or characteristics of the group to which the subject is assigned. Three general approaches have been identified by Libo: (a) the use of experimental instructions or suggestions, (b) the planned assign (c) ment of subjects to attractiveness, relevant activities, and the manipulation of group structure or process (Libo, 1953). Some experimental studies have utilized various combinations of these methods. Back (1951) for example, conducted a study in which attraction to the group was the major experimental variable. In creating low and high degrees of cohesiveness, he used instru� tions designated to manipulate group attractiveness. He used thre / / sources: the valence of the members, the valence of the group as\ a mediator of attractive tasks and the valence of the group a� provider of prestige. Back used student volunteers who participated in two-person discussion groups. Each volunteer completed a form that included some questions ostensibly designed to help in organizing congenial He referred to the imaginary results of his questionnair and stressed how well matched for congeniality the two persons in each strong attraction co ndition were. In the weak attraction con dition, the success of matching was made to appear less impressive. 4 The similarity between Back's use of experimental instructions and the Personality Evaluation Questionnaire used in the present. study is quite obvious. The emphasis of course in both studies was on creating an imaginary measure of congeniality. After Back, other experimenters have used instructions to create differing perceptions and expectations of group attractiveness. Some have used this method to study cohesiveness and group produc tivity. Schachter, Ellertson, McBride and Gregory (1962) studied the corr ti between coh oup_ v�· � � = y � I~ -~� ..� - - -·-- --• their study they used four combinations of cohesiveness and direction I of induction: (a) high cohesive, positive or speed induction, (b) \ low cohesive, positive induction, (c) high cohesive, negative or \~ slow-down induction, and (d) low cohesive, negative induct� The subjects used were female volunteers from undergraduate education and psychology classes. The subjects for any particular group were taken from different classes, so that they did not know one another. Each experimental group was made up of three people. There were 13 subjects in each of the high cohesive conditions, and 12 in each of the low cohesive conditions., making a total of So s�bjects in the entire study. The task used by Schachter et al was a cooperative production of cardboard checkerboard. There were supposedly three jobs to be done: cutting the cardboard, mounting and pasting it on heavier stock, and painting the boards through a stencil. One group mem ber was to be assigned to each of the jobs. Each member was as signed to_ different workroom. 5 Here, although all s::..b�ects ,,rere assigned to the job of cut ., ting, each girl was given tr:e impression that the other two members were painting and pasting. Individual members were allowed to com municate with one another only hy notes delivered by a messenger. All the notes were intercepted by the messenger who substi t:.uted notes from a standard prewritten set. The subject, however, be lieved that the notes she received were written by the other mem bers of the group. These notes furnished the means by which direc tion of induction was manipulated. The subject cut cardboard for 32 minutes. Then, each member was asked to fill out a questionnaire, after which she was