Does the medium matter? The interaction of task type and technology on group performance and member reactions.

Abstract

The authors investigated the hypothesis that as group tasks pose greater requirements for member interdependence, communication media that transmit more social context cues will foster group performance and satisfaction. Seventy-two 3-person groups of undergraduate students worked in either computer-mediated or face-to-face meetings on 3 tasks with increasing levels of interdependence: an idea-generation task, an intellective task, and a judgment task. Results showed few differences between computer-mediated and face-to-face groups in the quality of the work completed but large differences in productivity favoring face-to-face groups. Analysis of productivity and of members' reactions supported the predicted interaction of tasks and media, with greater discrepancies between media conditions for tasks requiring higher levels of coordination. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of using computer-mediated communications systems for group work.

Cites (6)

1. An Approximate Distribution of Estimates of Variance Components
   Satterthwaite, F. E. · 1946 · Biometrics Bulletin
2. Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal-Getting: An Examination of the Psychological Situation and Defences of a Work Group in Relation to the Social Structure and Technological Content of the Work System
   Trist, E. L., Bamforth, K. W. · 1951 · Human Relations
3. Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication
   Kiesler, Sara, Siegel, Jane, McGuire, Timothy W. · 1984 · American Psychologist
4. Information richness. A new approach to managerial behavior and organization design
   Daft, Richard L., Lengel, Robert H. · 1983
5. Some Conditions of Obedience and Disobedience to Authority
   Milgram, Stanley · 1965 · Human Relations
6. The influence of positive affect and visual access on the discovery of integrative solutions in bilateral negotiation
   Carnevale, Peter J.D, Isen, Alice M · 1986 · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Show all 6 references

Cited by (25)

1. Computer-Mediated Communication: Impersonal, Interpersonal, and Hyperpersonal Interaction
   WALTHER, JOSEPH B. · 1996 · Communication Research
2. Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams
   Jarvenpaa, Sirkka L., Leidner, Dorothy E. · 1999 · Organization Science
3. The Mutual Knowledge Problem and Its Consequences for Dispersed Collaboration
   Cramton, Catherine Durnell · 2001 · Organization Science
4. Media, Tasks, and Communication Processes: A Theory of Media Synchronicity1
   Dennis, Alan R., Fuller, Robert M., Valacich, Joseph S. · 2008 · MIS Quarterly
5. Unpacking the Concept of Virtuality: The Effects of Geographic Dispersion, Electronic Dependence, Dynamic Structure, and National Diversity on Team Innovation
   Gibson, Cristina B., Gibbs, Jennifer L. · 2006 · Administrative Science Quarterly

See all 638