This research investigated the impact of small and large work groups on developmental processes and group productivity. There were 329 work groups operating in for-profit and nonprofit organizations across the United States in this study. Groups containing 3 to 8 members were significantly more productive and more developmentally advanced than groups with 9 members or more. Groups containing 3 to 6 members were significantly more productive and more developmentally advanced than groups with 7 to 10 members or 11 members or more. The groups with 7 to 10 members or 11 members were not different from each other. Finally, groups containing 3 to 4 members were significantly more productive and more developmentally advanced on a number of measures than groups with 5 to 6 members. Work-group size is a crucial factor in increasing or decreasing both group development and productivity.

Group Size, Group Development, and Group Productivity

Content analysis is a method for analyzing written and oral textual materials which is used sparingly by organizational researchers. This paper reminds leadership researchers that content analysis is in their methodology toolbox and reviews: what content analysis is and how it has evolved; examples of its use in leadership research; the variety of analysis techniques for which the results are suitable; and the strengths and weaknesses associated with this method. In addition, a suggested procedure is presented to assist researchers in using content analysis. Finally, the role of content analysis in future leadership research is considered.

Content analysis in leadership research: Examples, procedures, and suggestions for future use

This article describes the theoretical underpiunings, construction, and validation process of an instrument designed to measure developmental processes in groups. A total of 164 employees of three health care facilities comprised the validation sample. Reliability and intemal consistency were assessed. The process of establishing content, concurrent, criterion-related, and construct validity is also reported. The results support the reliability and validity of the Group Development Questionnaire. The existence of a dependable measure of group development may stimulate more basic research of group development and may encourage the creation of more research tools in this important area of study.

Validation Studies of the Group Development Questionnaire

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between the length of time that work groups had been meeting and the verbal behavior patterns and perceptions of group members about their groups. The verbal behavior patterns and perceptions of 180 members of 26 work groups were examined. Perceptions of 639 people in 88 work groups also were explored. Significant relationships and differences were noted between the length of time that work groups had been meeting and the verbal behavior patterns and perceptions of group members. Specifically, members of groups that had been meeting longer made significantly less dependency and fight statements and significantly more work statements. They also perceived their groups to be functioning at higher stages of group development. The results of this study lent further support to traditional models of group development. Verbal behavior patterns of members vary significantly in groups of different durations. Member perceptions of their group’s development also vary significantly in groups of different durations.

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Group Development Across Time Reality or Illusion

Contents: Foreword Joerg Sydow Preface Patrick N. Kenis, Martyna Janowicz-Panjaitan and Bart Cambre Introduction: Temporary Organizations - A Challenge and Opportunity for our Thinking About Organizations Martyna Janowicz-Panjaitan, Bart Cambre and Patrick N. Kenis PART I: MAKING THE CASE 1. The Prevalence and Characteristics of Interorganizational Temporary Collaborations of Dutch Small- and Medium-sized Firms (SMEs) Leon A.G. Oerlemans, Jan M.P. de Kok and Jeroen P.J. de Jong 2. Research on Temporary Organizations: The State of the Art and Distinct Approaches Toward 'Temporariness' Martyna Janowicz-Panjaitan, Rene M. Bakker and Patrick N. Kenis 3. Applying Organization Theory to Temporary Organizations Patrick N. Kenis, Bart Cambre, Gerardus J.M. Lucas, Leon A.G. Oerlemans PART II: CONCEPTUAL INSIGHTS INTO TEMPORARY ORGANIZATIONS 4. Time Matters: The Impact of 'Temporariness' on the Functioning and Performance of Organizations Rene M. Bakker and Martyna Janowicz-Panjaitan 5. The Atemporality of Temporary Organizations: Implications for Goal Attainment and Legitimacy Martyna Janowicz-Panjaitan, Patrick N. Kenis and Patrick A.M. Vermeulen 6. Proximity in Temporary Organizations Joris Knoben and Tobias Goessling 7. Structure in Temporary Organizations Joerg Raab, Joseph Soeters, Paul C. van Fenema and Erik de Waard 8. The Resource Dilemma of Temporary Organizations: A Dynamic Perspective on Temporal Embeddedness and Resource Discretion Rene M. Bakker, Bart Cambre and Keith G. Provan 9. Turning a Negative into a Positive: How Innovation Management Moderates the Negative Impact of TO Complexity on the Effectiveness of Innovative Interorganizational Temporary Collaborations Leon A.G.Oerlemans and Marius T.H. Meeus Conclusion: Towards an Integrated View of Temporary Organizations: Future Research Agenda and Managerial Implications Patrick N. Kenis, Martyna Janowicz-Panjaitan and Bart Cambre Index

Temporary organizations: Prevalence, logic and effectiveness

The purpose of the descriptive research presented in this article was to investigate the process of these emergence, transmission, and acceptance in a system of interacting groups. Twenty-five sessions of a group relations conference were audiotaped and transcribed, and a content analysis was performed on the final sessions to determine the themes that had gained acceptance during the conference. The identified themes were competition, acceptance-ejection, anger, differences-labels, and seduction. These themes were traced through all 25 sessions to determine when they emerged and how they were transmitted from group to group. Themes did not emerge randomly, nor were they initiated or transmitted by influential members or leaders. There are similar patterns of emergence and transmission within similar group types, across group types, and within the system as a whole. Although some variation does exist, there are discernible patters, and these patterns resemble those describe in the literature on group deve...

Carole L. Krasick

Papers

The Emergence, Transmission, and Acceptance of Themes in a Temporary System of Interacting Groups