Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

450 J OHN A. W AGNER III
information or insight. However, success under conditions of higher complexity requires
access to the additional information needed to render the complex understandable. To
the degree that participatory information exchange is able to provide such access, participation
may produce little benefit when combined with low complexity but should provide
appreciable benefit when paired with high complexity (e.g. Anderson, 1959 ; Singer,
1974 ). Note that this pattern is exactly opposite the configuration of effects revealed in
research on the motivational mechanism, described earlier, wherein participatory enrichment
improved performance on simple tasks.
Finally, the situational condition of change concerns the extent to which tasks, group conditions,
and organizational contexts are stable, consistent, and predictable, under conditions of low
change, versus dynamic, variable, and unpredictable, in situations of high change. In the
presence of low change, success can be achieved by following familiar procedures, without
modifying customary ways of doing things. In contrast, high amounts of change
require that variability first be sensed, and that modifications then be made to existing
plans and processes to match them to the demands of changing conditions. Such sensing
and modification normally require information about the nature of change and the state
of changed conditions. To the extent that such information is available to some but not
necessarily all participants, participation can facilitate information dissemination and lead
to successful adaptation and continued productivity (e.g. Abdel - Halim, 1983 ; Jermier and
Berkes, 1979 ; Koch and Fox, 1978 ; Schuler, 1976 ).
IMPLEMENTATION: STRUCTURING PARTICIPATION CAN
MAKE IT MORE EFFECTIVE
In thinking about participation, the first picture to come to mind is often that of a group
of participants, seated casually around a table and engaged in spontaneous conversation.
In fact, much research on participatory processes uses a physical arrangement that closely
resembles this configuration. However, studies on group processes have indicated that
grouping people together and asking them to suggest ideas and state opinions in front of
others can stifle input into ongoing discussions. In particular, when personal statements are
readily attributable to individual participants, ideas and opinions that might be con sidered
even the least bit controversial may remain unstated (e.g. Diehl and Stroebe, 1987 ).
To deal with this problem, researchers have suggested structuring group discussion
sessions so that innovation or judgment is done individually and discussion occurs only
to clarify the interpretation of information and brainstorm additional alternatives. Using
the Nominal Group Technique (NGT), for instance, a group of individuals convenes around
a table with a session coordinator and receives a description of the problem to be dealt
with or issue to be addressed. Next, working alone, each participant writes down whatever
ideas come to mind. The coordinator then asks each participant to share his or her ideas
and writes them on a public display. Subsequently, participants discuss each other ’s ideas to
clarify and expand on them, and then evaluate them as a group. Finally, participants rank
the ideas privately, and the idea that ranks the highest among the participants is chosen as the
group ’ s fi nal recommendation (Moore, 1987 ).
As an alternative to using discussion structuring such as the NGT, Locke et al. (1997 )
suggested that emerging information technologies – specifically groupware technologies – might