Information Security

Chapter 2 - Groups Versus Individuals: Which is "Better"?

THIS CHAPTER WILL DISCUSS:

1. The ways in which the research that compares groups with individuals has evolved since the 1920s.

2. The types of group tasks.

3. The various ways to evaluate the tasks.

4. Why groups perform some tasks better while individuals are more effective at performing others.

5. How group size affects process and output variables.

6. What factors group organizers should consider when choosing an ideal size for a group.

INTRODUCTION

"Are groups or individuals better at performing tasks?" This question is clearly a very important one. Suppose it were true that groups do not perform tasks as well as individuals. There would be little motivation to form groups at all, and there would be little reason for scientists to study group process or for us to write this book.

However, people do work together in groups. In fact, people work in groups so often that we might be tempted to conclude that groups definitely perform tasks better than individuals. We should not reach this conclusion too hastily, however. In actuality, the performances of groups and individuals depend on many factors. We will be discussing these factors shortly. Before we do, though, we have to look more closely at the question "Are groups or individuals better at performing tasks?" We need to decide if this is the proper research question for our topic.

Does the question really give us a complete idea of the answers we seek? Will it perform the function of helping us to understand how groups and individuals work? Not really. The wording of the question is too vague to help us as it should. Fortunately, the scientists who investigate small groups have fine-tuned this important question in order to make it less vague. Using their work, we shall discuss how we can make the question specific enough to help us. Our ideal is to understand when it is a good idea to have a group perform a task and when it is...