Effects of Group Structure on Member Attitudes and Satisfactions in Decision Conferences. Paper No. 448.

For many persons, a satisfying group experience involves reaching a desired level of personal participation. The experimental laboratory studies of communication network groups have been the most rigorous attempts at understanding the effects of differential participation. It has been shown that centrality of a subject's position influences: (1) his sense of being a part of the group, (2) the amount of information available to him, and (3) his importance in the process of locomotion and progress toward group goals. These are aspects of member participation. The present study used decision conferences incorporating either centralized or decentralized decision structures to investigate the resulting attitudinal consequences of these conferences for the members relative to their performance, position, and participation in the group decision process. (Author)