Marketing instructors using simulation games as a way of inducing some realism into a marketing course are faced with many dilemmas. Two important quandaries are the optimal size of groups and how much of the students' time should ideally be devoted to the game. Using evidence from a very large sample of teams playing a simulation game, the study…

Findings indicate that interpersonal compatibility in work groups and its relationship to goal achievement is not a unidimensional or unidirectional phenomenon. Rather, compatibility appears inextricably related to other aspects of group problem solving, including the methodology of decision making. (Author/IRT)

Compares decision processes of consensus and devil's advocacy within an additive task, a disjunctive task, and a conjunctive task structure. Finds that high-conflict decision processes such as devil's advocacy enhances decision making in disjunctive tasks, retards decision making in additive tasks, but has no effect on decision making in…

Uses a laboratory experiment involving role-playing groups to show that an assigned majority rule is likely to lead to higher-quality solutions than unanimity and no-decision rule. Results indicated under majority rule workers resistance to the foreman's power often resulted in a successful search for a better solution. (JAC)

Group structure is one of the important mediators between individual input and group output. The present study examines the effect of group structure on the following dependent variables: (1) change in the group member's evaluation of items evaluated before group interaction, (2) change in his subjective evaluation model as a consequence of group…

Describes the purposes, membership, tasks, and outcomes of two women's organizations in India as a prelude to discussing the characteristics of group processes and strategies for building and improving women's organizations. (SK)

College students, ranked as high, medium, or low ability, were assigned to homogeneous or mixed-ability groups of two through five members for a test. Performance proved proportional to the number of high ability group members. The underlying group process was inferred through social decision scheme analysis. (Author/SJL)

Groups (N=62) of four members each used a multiple role-playing technique under three conditions: majority rule, unanimity rule, or no assigned decision rule. Results suggested that assignment of a majority rule has greater potential for reducing power inequalities. Discusses changes in members' self-perceived power. (Author/RC)

For many persons, a satisfying group experience involves reaching a desired level of personal participation. The experimental laboratory studies of communication network groups have been the most rigorous attempts at understanding the effects of differential participation. It has been shown that centrality of a subject's position influences: (1)…

Forty male and forty female high school students engaged in a group decision making task in both mixed-and single-sex 4-person groups of strangers. Those subjects who participated in a mixed group were also together in a microteaching class. The study addressed three questions: (1) What are the leadership behaviors of females, and do they differ…

This study examined the interpersonal dynamics of participants in special education placement committees serving students with limited English proficiency. The theoretical and conceptual framework of Chris Argyris and Donald Schon was applied to interactions observed in simulated placement committee meetings. Individual decision making related to…

The study presents the results of testing an original obersvation instrument designed to identify a power elite in multiple sessions of two eight-member adult discussion groups. Two questions guided the development of the study: (1) Can a power elite be identified in participation training groups? (2) Can an effective observation instrument with…