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Abstract

Relationships among the 12 items of MacKenzie's (1983) short Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ-S) were examined from two perspectives. All 25 members of four small groups and 9 nonparticipant observers separately supplied 75 GCQ-S protocols for varied group sessions that were compared for items' correlations and mean differences. Similarities overshadowed the differences between ratings by members and observers although members consistently rated group sessions more favorably than observers. Both data sets featured positively intralinked but negatively interlinked quintets of items designated Affiliative and Disaffiliative This 10-item Affiliativeness composite fully coincided with the main findings of prior studies by Slough and Hurley and Brooks. Superseding MacKenzie's Avoiding, Conflict, and Engaged GCQ-S miniscales, Affiliativeness parallels the affiliation/evaluation factor central to mote comprehensive group-climate inventories and also closely resembles the interpersonal domain's prepotent affiliation dimension.

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Primacy of Affiliativeness in Ratings of Group Climate

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