MARKING TIME: PREDICTABLE TRANSITIONS IN TASK GROUPS.

Abstract

A new model of group development suggests that groups ' attention to time and pacing is an important catalyst of their progress through cre-ative projects. In this laboratory study, groups were videotaped as they produced creative products and then interviewed about replays of se-lected portions of the tapes. Participants ' efforts to pace themselves were explored in depth, with special focus on a key feature of the model, a major transition in groups ' approach toward their work at the midpoint of their allotted time. The appropriateness of laboratory sim-ulation for studying midpoint transitions was also assessed. The labo-ratory results mirrored and extended the field-based model; they showed how groups make deliberate attentional shifts at their temporal midpoints, what differences exist between pacing patterns in the first and second halves of groups ' life spans, and what happens when tran-sitions fail. Implications are drawn for theory, practice, and research. Organizations often rely on small groups when they need an innovation