Given the importance of group decision-making for organizations, small group research finds itself challenged to contribute to a better understanding and management of the underlying processes. A multi-level interaction process analysis is presented considering group decision- making as a social interaction process. In an illustrative case study, the deliberation of a jury dramatized in the film ‘Twelve Angry Men’ is analyzed. The interactions are coded at the behavioral level using the Conference Coding System, distinguishing task-oriented, social- emotional and procedural aspects of social interaction. At the content level, the focus is on critical incidents in information exchange, looking for argumentational turning points, and critical points in decision-making. Different data analysis strategies are used to study the interaction process at the behavioral and content level and their interdependence. The results are interpreted in the context of different theories on group decision-making and several heuristic hypotheses about the process dynamics of group decision-making are derived.
Aldag, R. J. , & Fuller, S. R. (1993). Beyond fiasco: A reappraisal of the Groupthink phenomenon and a new model of group decision processes. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 533-552.
2.
Bakeman, R. , & Gottman, J. M. (1986). Observing interaction: An introduction to sequential analysis. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
3.
Bales, R. F. (1950). Interaction process analysis. A method for the study of small groups. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
4.
Bales, R. F. (1953). The equilibrium problem in small groups. In T. Parsons, R. F. Bales, & E. A. Shils (Eds.), Working papers in the theory of action (pp. 111-161). Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
5.
Bales, R. F. (1970). Personality and interpersonal behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
6.
Bales, R. F. (1985). The new field theory in social psychology. International Journal of Small Group Research, 1, 1-18.
7.
Bales, R. F. , Cohen, S. P., & Williamson, S. A. (1979). SYMLOG. A system for the multiple level observation of groups. New York: Free Press.
8.
Bales, R. F. , & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1951). Phases in group problem-solving. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 46, 485-495.
9.
Bales, R. F. , Strodtbeck, F. L., Mills, T. M., & Roseborough, M. E. (1951). Channels of communication in small groups. American Sociological Review, 16, 461-468.
10.
Beach, L. R. (1997). The psychology of decision making. People in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
Beck, D. , & Orth, B. (1995). Wer wendet sich an wen? Muster in der Interaktion kooperierender Kleingruppen [Who speaks to whom? Interaction patterns in intergroup cooperation]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 26, 92-106.
12.
Becker-Beck, U. (1997). Soziale Interaktion in Gruppen. Struktur- und Prozessanalyse [Social interaction in groups. Structure and process analysis]. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
13.
Becker-Beck, U. , Beck, D., & Eberhardt, D. (1998). Muster und Strategien in der sozialen Interaktion zwischen Gruppen [Interaction patterns and strategies in intergroup interaction]. In E. Ardelt- Gattinger, H. Lechner, & W. Schlögl (Eds.), Gruppendynamik. Anspruch und Wirklichkeit der Arbeit in Gruppen (pp. 96-112). Göttingen, Germany: Verlag für Angewandte Psychologie.
14.
Becker-Beck, U. , & Fisch, R. (1987). Issues in the sequential analysis of group interaction processes. International Journal of Small Group Research, 3, 198-212.
15.
Boos, M. (1996). Entscheidungsfindung in Gruppen. Eine Prozessanalyse [Decision-making in groups. A process analysis]. Bern: Huber.
16.
Crott, H. W. , Szilvas, K., & Zuber, J. A. (1991). Group decisions, choice shift and polarization in political and local political scenarios: An experimental investigation and theoretical analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 49, 22-41.
17.
Davis, J. H. (1973). Group decision and social interaction. A theory of decision schemes. Psychological Review, 80, 97-120.
18.
Davis, J. H. (1982). Social interaction as a combinatorial process in group decision. In H. Brandstätter, J. H. Davis, & G. Stocker-Kreichgauer (Eds.), Group decision making (pp. 27-58). New York: Academic Press.
19.
Fisch, R. (1994). Eine Methode zur Analyse von Interaktionsprozessen beim Problemlösen in Gruppen [A method for the interaction process analysis of group problem-solving]. Gruppendynamik. Zeitschrift für angewandte Sozialpsychologie, 25, 149-168.
20.
Fisch, R. (1998). Konferenzkodierung [Conference coding system]. In E. Ardelt-Gattinger, H. Lechner, & W. Schlögl (Eds.), Gruppendynamik. Anspruch und Wirklichkeit der Arbeit in Gruppen (pp. 194-206). Göttingen, Germany: Verlag für Angewandte Psychologie.
21.
Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51, 327-358.
22.
Gottman, J. M. , & Roy, A. K. (1990). Sequential analysis. A guide for behavioral researchers. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Guzzo, R. A. , Salas, E., & Associates (1995). Team effectiveness and decision making in organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
24.
Hinsz, V. B. , Tindale, R. S., & Vollrath, D. A. (1997). The emerging conceptualization of groups as information processors. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 43-64.
25.
Hirokawa, R. Y. , & Poole, M. S. (Eds.). (1996). Communication and group decision making (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
26.
Isenberg, D. (1986). Group polarization: A critical review and meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1141-1151.
27.
Janis, I. L. (1982). Group think (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
28.
Lewin, K. (1936). Principles of topological psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
29.
Laughlin, P. R. (1996). Group decision making and collective induction. In E. H. Witte & J. H. Davis (Eds.), Understanding group behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 61-80). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
30.
Maier, N. R. F. (1963). Group problem-solving discussions and conferences: Leadership skills and methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.
31.
Moscovici, S. , Lage, E., & Naffrechoux, M. (1969). Influence of a consistent minority on the responses of a majority in a color perception task. Sociometry, 32, 365-379.
32.
Nemeth, C. , & Owens, P. (1996). Making groups more effective: The value of minority dissent. In M. A. West (Ed.), Handbook of work group psychology (pp. 125-141). Chichester: Wiley.
33.
Orlik, P. , & Schario, R. (1989). Die Analyse sozialer Interaktionsfelder aus der Romanliteratur. [Analysis of social interaction fields from literature]. In J. F. Schneider (Ed.), Inhaltsanalyse alltagssprachlicher Beschreibungen sozialer Interaktionen. Beiträge zur SYMLOG-Kodierung von Texten (pp. 19-51). Saarbrücken, Germany: Verlag Dadder.
34.
Poole, M. S. , & Roth, J. (1988). Decision development in small groups: V. Test of a contingency model. Human Communication Research, 15, 549-589.
35.
Stasser, G. L. (1992). Pooling of unshared information during group discussions. In S. Worchel, W. Wood, & J. A. Simpson. (Eds.), Group process and productivity (pp. 48-67). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
36.
Stasser, G. L. , Kerr, N. L., & Davis, J. H. (1989). Influence processes and consensus models in decision-making groups. In P. Paulus (Ed.), Psychology of group influence (2nd ed., pp. 279-326). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
37.
Stasser, G. L. , & Titus, W. (1985). Pooling of unshared information in group decision-making: Biased information sampling during group discussion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1467-1478.
38.
Stasser, G. , & Vaughan, S. I. (1996). Models of participation during face-to-face unstructured discussion. In E. H. Witte & J. H. Davis (Eds.), Understanding group behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 165-192). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
39.
't Hart, P. , Stern, E. K., & Sundelius, B. (Eds.). (1997). Beyond groupthink. Political group dynamics and foreign policy making. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
40.
Tindale, R. S. , Smith, C. M., Thomas, L. S., Filkins, J., & Sheffey, S. (1996). Shared representations and asymmetric social influence processes in small groups. In E. H. Witte & J. H. Davis (Eds.), Understanding group behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 81-103). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
41.
Trujillo, N. (1986). Toward a taxonomy of small group interaction-coding systems. Small Group Behavior, 17, 371-394.
