A comparative analysis of communication patterns within effective and ineffective decision‐making groups

Abstract

This study tests the general hypothesis that substantial differences exist between the communication processes within “effective” and “ineffective” decision‐making groups. A 26‐category coding system was used to analyze the interaction within four effective and four ineffective decision‐making groups. The results strongly suggest that group interaction plays an important role in decision‐making effectiveness. The results suggest that effective decision‐making groups spend considerably more time interacting and agreeing upon procedural matters than do ineffective groups. The results further suggest that members of effective groups tend to interact on substantive matters unitl agreement is reached before moving on to other topics of discussion.