Task Productivity of Continuing and Zero-History Groups in Two Communication Networks

Two continuing and zero-history groups of 5 undergraduate male students each completed sentence-completion problems in two communication networks, the comcon and the wheel. Content analysis of these tape-recorded sessions showed significant differences in the types and number of messages each group used in problem solving. For the wheel, network subjects were also significantly slower in sentence-completion than for the comcon. The results indicate that members of highly cohesive groups require “sociability” messages which detract somewhat from task productivity in order to facilitate interpersonal warmth.