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The effects of three task solving strategies upon group efficiency and effectiveness were studied. Sixty soldiers worked in dyads under a shared labor strategy or one of two divided labor strategies. Tasks were a difficult and an easy crossword puzzle. On the average, dividing labor resulted in greater efficiency (amount of work per man-hour) while requiring Ss to work together resulted in substantially greater group effectiveness (total performance), but this effect occurred primarily on the easy task. It was suggested that a high degree of member interdependence maximizes redundancy of task-relevant abilities, resulting in generally superior performance effectiveness but frequently at the cost of efficiency.