2007 Douglas McGregor Award

A paper by Gervase Bushe (and co-author Graeme Coetzer) has been selected as the 2007 Douglas McGregor Award winner in the Journal of Applied Behavior Science. The award is given to the best paper in the volume. The paper “Group Development and Team Effectiveness: Using Cognitive Representations to Measure Group Development and Predict Task Performance and Group Viability” was published in Vol. 43 Issue 2. Four issues are published in each volume. There were a total of 23 articles published as part of volume 43. The award will be formally announced in the June 2008 (Vol. 44. Issue 2) publication of the Journal.

Group Development and Team Effectiveness Using Cognitive Representations to Measure Group Development and Predict Task Performance and Group Viability

Gervase R. Bushe, Simon Fraser University
Graeme H. Coetzer, Central Washington University

The authors reconceptualize the theory of group development for application to task groups and propose two key sequential phases: membership and competence. A method for measuring developmental progress in task teams based on congruence in group cognitive representations of the team as it is, the ideal team, and the team as it ought to be is proposed. A system for computing group states based on structural connections among member cognitive representations is offered. Measures of group state representations in 49 project teams were collected at beginning, midpoint, and end of each team and related to team effectiveness. Hypotheses based on group development theory predicting effects of convergence and congruence in group state representations on team effectiveness are supported. Further insights into the developmental process of group states are discussed. The authors conclude by arguing for the return of group development theory as an explanation for disparate findings in team research.

For more information on Dr. Bushe’s research, please follow this link.