Performance

Question 1

Improvement in task performance
that occurs when people work in the presence of other people.

Answer 1

Social facilitation

Question 2

Performing a task or other type of goal-oriented activity in the presence of one or more other individuals who are performing a similar type of activity

Answer 2

Coaction

Question 3

Analysis of human motivation that stresses the impact of psychological or physiological needs or desires on individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and action

Maintains that the presence of others evokes a generalized drive state characterized by increased readiness and arousal

Answer 3

Drive theory

Question 4

An analysis of performance gains in groups arguing that individuals working in the presence of others experience a general concern for how these others are evaluating them, and that this apprehension facilitates their performance on simple, well-learned tasks.

Answer 4

Evaluation apprehension theory

Question 5

An analysis of performance gains in groups assuming that social facilitation is caused
by individuals striving to make a good impression when they work in the presence of others.

Answer 5

Self-presentation theory

Question 6

An analysis of performance gains in groups assuming that when others are present,
attention is divided between the other people and the task; this attentional conflict increases motivation, and so it facilitates performance on simple, well-learned tasks.

Answer 6

Distraction-conflict theory

Question 7

An analysis of performance gains in groups suggesting individual differences in social
orientation (the tendency to approach social situations apprehensively or with enthusiasm) predict when social facilitation will occur.

Answer 7

Social orientation theory

Question 8

A self-organized, self-directive group
formed by students for the purpose of studying course material.

Answer 8

Study group

Question 9

The use of information technologies, such as computer networks, to track, analyze, and report information about workers’
performance.

Answer 9

Study group

Question 10

Reduction in performance effectiveness or
efficiency caused by actions, operations, or dynamics that prevent the group from reaching its full potential, including reduced effort, faulty group processes, coordination problems, and ineffective leadership.

Answer 10

Process loss

Question 11

The tendency for people to become less productive when they work with others; this loss of efficiency increases as group size increases, but at a gradually decreasing rate.

Answer 11

Ringelmann effect

Question 12

The reduction of individual effort exerted
when people work in groups compared to when they work alone.

Answer 12

Social loafing

Question 13

Contributing less to a collective task when
one believes that other group members will compensate for this lack of effort.

Answer 13

Free riding

Question 14

The tendency for individuals to contribute
less to a group endeavor when they expect that others will think negatively of someone who works too hard or contributes too much (considering them to be a “sucker”).

Answer 14

Sucker effect

Question 15

The tendency for group members
to expend greater effort on important collective tasks to offset the anticipated insufficiencies in the efforts and abilities of their co-members.

Answer 15

Social compensation

Question 16

A theoretical explanation of group productivity developed by Steven Karau
and Kipling Williams that traces losses of productivity in groups to diminished expectations about successful goal attainment and the diminished value of group goals.

Answer 16

Collective effort model (CEM)

Question 17

The effect that a problem or task’s features, including its divisibility and difficulty, have on the procedures the group can use to complete the task.

Answer 17

Task demands

Question 18

A task that can be broken down into subcomponents that can then be assigned to individuals or to subgroups within the group.

Answer 18

Divisible task

Question 19

A task that cannot be performed piecemeal
because it does not break down into any subcomponents

Answer 19

Unitary task

Question 20

A task or project that calls for a high rate of production.

Answer 20

Maximizing task

Question 21

A task or project that has a best solution and outcome, thus the quality of the group’s performance can be judged by comparing the product to a quality-defining standard.

Answer 21

Optimizing task

Question 22

A task or project that a group can complete by cumulatively combining individual members’ inputs.

Answer 22

Additive task

Question 23

A task or project that a group can
complete by literally averaging together (mathematically combining) individual members’ solutions or recommendations.

Answer 23

Compensatory task

Question 24

A task or project that is completed
when a single solution, decision, or recommendation is adopted by the group

Answer 24

Disjunctive task

Question 25

A project, problem, or other type of task with results that can be evaluated objectively using some normative criterion, such as a mathematics problem with a known solution or the spelling of a word.

Answer 25

Intellective task

Question 26

A project, problem, or other type of task with results that cannot be evaluated objectively because there are no clear criteria to judge them against.

Answer 26

Judgmental task

Question 27

A task that can be completed successfully only if all group members contribute.

Answer 27

Conjunctive task

Question 28

The combining of two or more independent systems that yields an effect that is greater than the sum of the individual effects.

Answer 28

Synergy

Question 29

Producing an outcome as a group that is superior to the results that could have been achieved by a simple aggregation or accumulation of group members’ individual efforts; a gain in performance that is caused by the way the members fit together to form the work group.

Answer 29

Assembly bonus effect

Question 30

An increase in performance by groups working on conjunctive tasks that require persistence but little coordination of effort and is likely due to the increased effort expended by the less capable members.

Answer 30

Köhler effect

Question 31

A relatively unstructured task that can be completed by using a variety of socialcombination procedures, thus leaving the methods used in its completion to the discretion of the group or group leader.

Answer 31

Discretionary task

Question 32

Collection of individuals that meets only the most minimal of requirements to be considered a group, and so is a group in name only; in studies of performance, a control or baseline group created by having individuals work alone and then pooling their products.

Answer 32

Nominal group

Question 33

A loss of productivity that occurs when group and procedural factors obstruct the group’s progress toward its goals, particularly when individuals in a brainstorming session are delayed in stating their ideas until they can gain the floor and when group members are distracted by others’ ideas and so generate fewer of their own.

Answer 33

Production blocking

Question 34

The tendency for individuals in brainstorming groups to match the level of productivity displayed by others in the group.

Answer 34

Social matching effect

Question 35

The tendency for members to believe that their groups are performing effectively

Answer 35

Illusion of group productivity

Question 36

Brainstorming sessions that involve generating new ideas in writing rather than orally, usually by asking members to add their own ideas to a circulating list.

Answer 36

Brainwriting

Question 37

A group performance method wherein a face-to-face group session is prefaced by a nominal-group phase during which individuals work alone to generate ideas.

Answer 37

Nominal group technique (NGT)

Question 38

A group performance method that involves repeated assessment of members’ opinions via surveys and questionnaires as opposed to face-to-face meetings.

Answer 38

Delphi technique

Question 39

Generating ideas and solving problems using computer-based communication methods such as online discussions and real-time e-mail rather than face-to-face sessions.

Answer 39

Electronic brainstorming (EBS)