Group idea generation and selection: The originality versus feasibility battle & intragroup competition

Organizations often try to stimulate creative problem-solving by inducing competition among group members. This facilitative effect of intragroup competition lies in group members’ enhanced motivation to outperform the others. Previous research, however, has mainly focused on idea generation, thereby overlooking the subsequent idea selection stage. In fact, groups are poor at selecting both original and feasible ideas (i.e., creative), which may be further exacerbated when group members compete against each other. Furthermore, while originality and feasibility are two key factors of creativity, people seem to have difficulty taking both into account. The current research investigated how intragroup competition, through incorporating a rewarding scheme, influences group idea generation and selection, and whether explicit instructions of focusing on either originality or feasibility (performance criteria) could steer groups’ focus in the intended direction. An experimental study was conducted with 78 three-person groups. Results showed that overall, neither intragroup competition nor performance criteria influenced groups’ generation and selection performance. Nevertheless, some interesting findings emerged - Originality and feasibility were indeed inversely correlated; idea quality at the generation stage predicted the idea quality at the selection stage; furthermore, certain group processes during the group task might have indirectly linked the competition-selection performance relationship. Study limitations, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Coerced coordination, not cooperation

Norenzayan et al. propose that Big God (BG) religions are large-group cooperative enterprises that promote internal harmony and higher fertility, resulting in “mutually beneficial exchanges” for those involved. We examine the possible distributions of costs and benefits within BG religions and propose that they are, instead, successful coordinating mechanisms that rely on intragroup competition and exploitation between the classes and sexes.

Group size and termite consumption in the armadillo lizard, Cordylus cataphractus

We investigated possible differences in the consumption of termites (Microhodotermes viator) by individuals in different sized groups of Cordylus cataphractus during different times of the year. Scats, collected once a month from small (2-3 individuals), medium (4-10 individuals) and large C. cataphractus groups (more than 10 individuals), from January to December 2005, were analysed for the presence of termite head material. We found termite consumption to be generally greater in larger than smaller groups throughout the year, but only significantly so during the dry months, March and April. Individuals in all group categories utilized termites throughout the year, but consumption was low at the end of winter, a time when general insect abundance is high. We conclude that termitophagy is important to individuals living in large groups, particularly during the dry period of the year, most probably to reduce intragroup competition for food.

INTRAGROUP COOPERATION VS. INTRAGROUP COMPETITION: A Meta-Analytical Study

This study examines whether intragroup cooperation outperforms intragroup competition. Intragroup cooperation is a work setting when individuals in a group perceive that their goal attainments are positively related; while intragroup competition is a work setting when individuals in a group perceive that their goal attainments are negatively related. Performance is defined as group productivity level, speed of solving problems, and quality of the group outcomes.Meta-analytical method is used to test the hypothesis. The method combines and compares eight studies from various research disciplines i.e., education, psychology, organization, and business and accounting. The studies being analyzed also vary in terms of the research and experimental setting such as manufacturing operations and problem solving games.Meta-analytical study is relatively rare in Indonesia, so that this study is important to introduce and to show the importance and the benefit of the analysis for concluding a large number and different research in a similar domain of research question. In a simple term, a meta-analysis is a quantitative literature review. However, the analysis has a more powerful procedure (than the conventional literature review) to indicate more clearly, and in quantitative terms, the consistency, the differences and similarities of previous studies.The author found that intragroup cooperation outperforms intragroup competition is held across different experimental subject educational backgrounds such as education, psychology, and business and accounting. However, the extent of the difference in performance is higher in the subjects with psychology background than that of the subjects with business and accounting background. The reason is that business and accounting subjects are more exposed to competitive environments than those whose backgrounds are psychology and sociology.