Author: Bond, HH; Shiu, WYF
Abstract: Each group member contributes the resources of his or her personality to the functioning of his or her group. It was hypothesized that the total and the variation in these resources then influence the character of that group's internal functioning. This longitudinal study explored the relationship between the fetal level and variability in eight personality dispositions measured at the group's formation (T1) on two broad measures of group process, performance focus and shared exchange, measured at the middle (T2) and end (T3) of the group's work. At both stages, fetal levels of self-rated assertiveness predicted performance focus; at both stages, total levels of self-rated application predicted shared exchange. AT T3, however, shared exchange was also predicted by low variability in group members' openness, emotional stability, and assertiveness. Both total levels and variability of key personality variables explained sizeable portions of the variance in the two measures of group functioning, thereby underscoring the key role of members' personalities in channeling a group's internal process.
Source: SMALL GROUP RESEARCH
Publication Year: 1997
Volume: 28
Issue nr: 2
Pages: 194 - 217