The Effects of Group Composition and Task Structure on Tacit Coordination in Small Groups

Résumé du livre

This experiment explores tacit coordination processes in three-person groups for a word recall task consisting of three subtasks that vary in difficulty. The task consisted of 10 iterations with feedback after each trial. Groups were required to coordinate either by attempting to recall the same words or different words across the members. Prior to completing this task, the group members were each given feedback suggesting that they had either performed similarly or differently on a performance assessment related to word recall. Partial support was obtained for the hypothesis that coordination efficiency would be greater when there was congruence between the participants' perceptions of their other group members and the coordination requirement of the task than when these factors were incongruent with one another. The hypothesis that coordination efficiency would improve over time was also supported. The limitations of the findings as well as possible directions for future research are discussed.