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The effect of individual roles on performance in innovative groups*
Author(s) -
Farris George F.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
randd management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.253
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1467-9310
pISSN - 0033-6807
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9310.1972.tb00992.x
Subject(s) - function (biology) , group (periodic table) , knowledge management , computer science , psychology , management science , engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , evolutionary biology , biology
Innovative performance of groups of scientists was related to performance of ‘colleague roles', utilizing a model of organizational decision making proposed by Farris (1971). In more innovative groups, supervisors were named less often by group members as useful for original ideas, but more often for providing critical evaluation. Members of more innovative groups named one another more often as useful for providing technical information and help in thinking about technical problems. Organizational information was available from fewer sources inside or outside the more innovative groups. Supervisors of more innovative groups named more outside sources as useful to them for original ideas. These trends are very consistent with Maier's (1967) emphasis on the leader's ‘integrative function’ in group problem solving.