COMMUNICATION ENHANCES SMALL-GROUP PERFORMANCE IF IT CONFORMS TO TASK REQUIREMENTS - THE CONCEPT OF IDEAL COMMUNICATION CYCLES

This study tested the hypothesis that the quality of task-related communication is related to group productivity. The flow of communication was divided into cycles of related communication during which group members talked about the same part of the task. On the basis of concepts of action regulation, it was postulated that an ideal cycle should start with a communication referring to task preparation - that is, orienting or planning - and should end with an evaluation. Twelve groups of three students each worked on a construction task for 35 min. The task involved both strategic and manual task requirements. High- and low-performing groups (median split) were compared with regard to the amount of orientation, planning, and evaluation, as well as quality of communication cycles. As predicted, high-performing groups showed a higher proportion of ideal communication cycles.