The authors consider the necessary conditions for group members and their consultants to study group processes together and summarize how consultants pass tests of the meaning and strength of their collaborative intentions. (Author/MLF)

Analyzed group discussions associated with 68 high-quality and 29 low-quality decisions made by comparably informed groups using cross-contact comparison. Found vigilance, second-guessing, and accurate information processing associated with high-quality decisions; faulty information processing and improbable fantasy chains with low-quality…

Discusses the development and description of a comprehensive framework to explain small group behavior labeled the Matrix Model. Argues that a synthesis of knowledge from the adaptive, developmental, structural, transactional, and gestalt points of view will provide a more meaningful and useful understanding of small groups. (LLL)

Criticisms of confrontation groups are: (1) excessive anti-intellectualism; (2) neglect of phenomenon that experience can bring about worse as well as better adjustment; (3) labeling activities as group dynamics but transforming process into group therapy; and (4) reluctance of leaders to accept responsibility for their actions and inactions.…

Many school districts are using human relations training and organization development to help groups solve problems, set goals, and work toward achieving objectives. (Author)

Observational data collected on 50 severely/profoundly retarded adolescents revealed that subjects received almost no individual staff member attention; that subjects interacted or were in close proximity with other subjects approximately 54 percent of the time; and that the group size or composition has less relationship to the subjects' behavior…

Poses several questions concerning self-disclosure in group counseling and draws on research findings and clinical experience to provide tentative answers and guidelines for group leaders. (Author)

This article briefly discusses some important elements of group effectiveness, then outlines characteristics of groupthink, provides examples of situations in which it occurs, and recommends actions in each case for preventing or lessening it. (Author/CT)

The results of an experiment with a participatory learning model indicate that, through participatory training, adults can experience improvement in their self concept which will aid them in becoming effective group members and in making decisions. (Journal availability: Department of Adult Education, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506.)…

Findings indicate that interpersonal compatibility in work groups and its relationship to goal achievement is not a unidimensional or unidirectional phenomenon. Rather, compatibility appears inextricably related to other aspects of group problem solving, including the methodology of decision making. (Author/IRT)

Tests were conducted to determine if domestic chicks would respond to multiple social separations with the cumulative disruption of social development seen in other species. (Author/SS)

Describes Douglas McGregor's group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1940s and the group at Carnegie's Graduate School of Industrial Administration in the 1960s. Both showed the lively, task-obsessed characteristics of "hot groups." Both occupied participants' hearts and minds, held to high standards, and were extremely…

Rated selected sessions of two long-term psychotherapy groups (N=143) using Gottschalk-Gleser anxiety and hostility verbal content analysis scales. Found group judged to be clinically more successful demonstrated prolonged periods in various states and that affect dimensions of states were consistent with group developmental stage hypothesis…

Urges caution in illuminating and interpreting spontaneous group metaphors. Encourages metaphor amplification as less intrusive means for using this therapeutic tool. Provides case examples to support discussion. (Author/CM)