Small Group Research

Participants played four rounds of a social card game in which they formed groups to make card hands and earn money. When isolates—players left out when groups formed—earned nothing, self-organized groups frequently included these extra people, even though this decreased earnings for group members. Although group composition remained fluid, with time most populations settled into a pattern of including everyone. When isolates received a small welfare payment, group formation was less ordered and predictable and exclusion remained common. Although exact repeats of the same group membership were relatively rare in both conditions, group stability was associated with more cooperative behavior by members. When membership was unstable, members were more likely to make excessive claims on group earnings, increasing their individual payoff at the expense of fellow group members.

The present research investigates whether prospective minority and majority members exhibit information acquisition bias to exert social influence in a forthcoming group interaction. In particular, the question of whether (a) the mere fact of attending to a forthcoming group discussion and (b) group decision rule (majority rule vs. unanimity rule) alter the orientation toward supporting evidence is investigated. This study found that minorities exhibit greater information acquisition bias than equal and majority factions, especially when the minorities expected a group interaction. Group decision rule did not have any significant effect. The absence of effects of group decision rule and the relationship between coalition formation and cognitive processes are discussed.

Trust has been deemed to be critical in ensuring the efficient operation of virtual teams and organizations. This study empirically verifies ability and integrity as being antecedents of trust formation in virtual teams. However, effective team performance was found to be independent of the formation of trust. Further analysis suggests that information symmetry and good communication distinguish high performance teams from low performance teams.

Consistent with cognitive cross-cultural frameworks, cultural tendencies toward field independence, corresponding team quality orientations, quality improvement focus, and patients’ratings of service quality were examined for 71 U.S. and Indonesian nursing teams, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Results provide partial support for the hypotheses, demonstrating preliminary evidence that (a) field independence is associated with quality orientation in complex ways, and (b) quality orientations mediate the relationship between quality improvement focus and quality. These findings are discussed in terms of psychological theory, research methods, and managerial implications.