Describes the concept of group maturity and recent attempts to measure the concept. Reports on a study that administered maturity scales to students in communication and management courses and found the scales to be powerful discriminators between mature and immature groups. Discusses implications for small group and organizational communication…

Findings suggest, among others, that argumentativeness is an important variable in the perception of leadership, with the highly argumentative individual chosen leader over the moderate or mildly argumentative individual. Highly argumentative individuals were also rated as more influential on the group's decision. (PD)