Coordination, natural and concocted groups, and dyadic performances

The majority of the group Hterature has been generated in a laboratory setting using concocted groups. A large portion of this Hterature is based on the ad hoc laboratory group, the most restrictive of all of the types of concocted groups. Concocted groups are social units that are composed of an arbitrary combination of individuals, previously unacquainted, brought together to participate in an experimental study. In contrast, natural groups are intact social units or systems that exist independent of any research study.

The central thmst of this study was to examine the influence of the personal predisposition of Team Task Motivation (TTM) on dyadic performance in natural and concocted groups. Team Task Motivation, a subscale of the Worker Motivation Scale, measures the degree of individual motivation to aid the group in attaining its task. Previous research has demonstrated a positive relationship between I'lM and effective helping among group members. More specifically, groups composed of individuals scoring high on TTM outperformed groups scoring low on TTM. Also, it has been demonstrated that effective helping resulted in increased group productivity in the groups scoring high on TTM. Subsequent smdies have provided inconsistent or partial support for these findings.

A total of 90 general psychology subjects and their friends played a series of motorattention performance games designed to differ in the degree of cognitive demand, interdependency, and system stability. Additionally, the task was designed to provide ample rewards or reinforcements for individuals predisposed to prominence seeking or team task motivation. Subjects performed the task with either their friend of with a stranger.

The results of this study did not support TTM as a predictor of helping behavior, the correlations between TTM scores and the amount of helping behaviors exhibited were essentiaUy zero. Members of natural dyads exhibited significandy more helping behaviors than members of concocted dyads, but the increased helping did not convert into higher group performances. The results of this study are discussed in the context of other studies involving TTM, helping behavior, and group performance. Finally, recommendations for future research are discussed.