Issue 1-2
Vol. 41
1999
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PROMOD – A new group facilitation technique for task-groups and project-teams in charge to solve complex problems E. H. Witte, P.-M. Sack Objectives. A specific method for task-group facilitation was designed and its effectiveness in comparison with a number of alternative facilitation procedures was put to the test. This ‘new’ method is aiming to prevent the occurrence of certain process loss such as blocking-effects, conformity pressure, and "groupthink". These kinds of process loss have variously been described in literature. Techniques to improve efficiency have mainly been adapted from research on cognition (decision making, complex means-end analysis, problem solving). Expectively, members of the critical task-groups worked isolated but braided with facilitators instructing them to use a specific decomposition technique (in order to divide the overall task into easier-to-handle subtasks). Design. A total of 324 Ss worked in 108 groups of 3 members each. An ANOVA-design with 3 factors was used: (1) coactivity (same or separated locations), (2) communication modality (oral or written), and (3) collaboration procedure. The collaboration procedure was of main interest: The 36 braided groups—those to be investigated here—worked in permanent guidance by personal facilitators, whereby interim-results were exchanged, and the decomposition technique was employed. Braided group technique is called PROMOD for procedural moderation. 36 groups worked under formal facilitation with stepwise instructions and round robin declaration of ideas (distributed groups). Another 36 groups were controls ("real" groups without any facilitation). Within 2 weeks, there were 2 work-dates of 2 1/2 hours each for every task-group. Experimental task. All 108 task-groups worked as panels on a programme about the complex problem of fighting "AIDS in SIMAD" (strategic planning). "SIMAD" is a computer-simulated ‘microworld’. All task-group members had to take votes on which ideas or interventions were to be to run in "SIMAD". Various measures of group performance were obtained from simulation results and group output. Results. There were no significant differences between the factors coactivity and communication. The "real" groups (controls) performed equal to a baseline level obtained of random "SIMAD"-runs. Braided groups outperformed both distributed groups and controls. Furthermore, braided groups achieved higher levels of intervention explicitness and described themselves as more "analytical" and of lower group cohesion, as well as of lower "groupthink".
Keywords: process loss; task-group achievement; group facilitation technique; problem solving
Psychologische Beiträge, Volume 41, 1999, p. 113-213 Prof. Dr. Erich H. Witte
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