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The Impact of Certain Communication Nets Upon Organization and Performance in Task-Oriented Groups

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  • Harold Guetzkow

    (Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

  • Herbert A. Simon

    (Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Abstract

Bavelas, Smith and Leavitt (Bavelas, A. 1950. Communication patterns in task-oriented groups. J. Acoustical Soc. Amer. 22 725-730.) have posed the problem: what effect do communication patterns have upon the operation of groups? To study this problem they designed a laboratory situation that is a prototype of those occurring in "natural" organizations existing in government and business. Each member of the group is given certain information. Their task is to assemble this information, use it to make a decision, and then issue orders based on the decision. This design provides a situation stripped of the complexities of large-scale social groups but retaining some essential characteristics of the organizational communication problem. In it we can examine how the communication net affects simultaneously (a) the development of the organization's internal structure, and (b) the group's performance of its operating task.

Suggested Citation

  • Harold Guetzkow & Herbert A. Simon, 1955. "The Impact of Certain Communication Nets Upon Organization and Performance in Task-Oriented Groups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(3-4), pages 233-250, 04-07.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:1:y:1955:i:3-4:p:233-250
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1.3-4.233
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    Cited by:

    1. Jared Nai & Reddi Kotha & Jayanth Narayanan & Phanish Puranam, 2020. "Transparency and Fairness in Organizational Decisions: An Experimental Investigation Using the Paired Ultimatum Game," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 55-70, March.
    2. John W. Boudreau, 2004. "50th Anniversary Article: Organizational Behavior, Strategy, Performance, and Design in Management Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(11), pages 1463-1476, November.
    3. Helbach, Christoph & Keldenich, Klemens & Rothgang, Michael & Yang, Guanzhong, 2012. "Call Me if You Can – An Experimental Investigation of Information Sharing in Knowledge Networks," Ruhr Economic Papers 332, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    4. Abbasi, Alireza & Altmann, Jörn & Hossain, Liaquat, 2011. "Identifying the effects of co-authorship networks on the performance of scholars: A correlation and regression analysis of performance measures and social network analysis measures," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 594-607.
    5. Swanson, Earl R., 1979. "Working with Other Disciplines," 1979 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, Pullman, Washington 278218, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Ajay Mehra & Andrea L. Dixon & Daniel J. Brass & Bruce Robertson, 2006. "The Social Network Ties of Group Leaders: Implications for Group Performance and Leader Reputation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 64-79, February.
    7. Uyen-Phuong Nguyen & Philip Hallinger, 2020. "Assessing the Distinctive Contributions of Simulation & Gaming to the Literature, 1970-2019: A Bibliometric Review," Simulation & Gaming, , vol. 51(6), pages 744-769, December.
    8. Christoph Helbach & Klemens Keldenich & Michael Rothgang & Guanzhong Yang, 2012. "Call Me if You Can – An Experimental Investigation of Information Sharing in Knowledge Networks," Ruhr Economic Papers 0332, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    9. Su-Jin Shin & Ahram Kang & Doyun Kim & Junseok Lee & Jang Won Bae & Il-Chul Moon, 2019. "Improving counterfire operations with enhanced command and control structure," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 464-498, December.
    10. Hossain, Liaquat & Murshed, Shahriar Tanvir & Uddin, Shahadat, 2013. "Communication network dynamics during organizational crisis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 16-35.
    11. Melissa A. Schilling & Patricia Vidal & Robert E. Ployhart & Alexandre Marangoni, 2003. "Learning by Doing Something Else: Variation, Relatedness, and the Learning Curve," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(1), pages 39-56, January.
    12. repec:zbw:rwirep:0332 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Kai Fischbach & Peter A. Gloor & Detlef Schoder, 2009. "Analysis of Informal Communication Networks – A Case Study," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 1(2), pages 140-149, April.
    14. Kenneth D. Mackenzie, 2000. "Processes and Their Frameworks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(1), pages 110-125, January.
    15. Jesse Shore & Ethan Bernstein & David Lazer, 2015. "Facts and Figuring: An Experimental Investigation of Network Structure and Performance in Information and Solution Spaces," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(5), pages 1432-1446, October.
    16. Kim, Dennie & Funk, Russell & Zaheer, Aks, 2020. "Structure in Context: A Morphological View of Whole Network Performance," SocArXiv x6q7g, Center for Open Science.
    17. Andrew Mao & Winter Mason & Siddharth Suri & Duncan J Watts, 2016. "An Experimental Study of Team Size and Performance on a Complex Task," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, April.
    18. Dingyu Zhang & Nadia Bhuiyan & Linghua Kong, 2018. "An Analysis of Organizational Structure in Process Variation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 722-738, August.
    19. Kent Wickstrøm Jensen & Dorthe Døjbak Håkonsson & Richard M. Burton & Børge Obel, 2010. "The effect of virtuality on the functioning of centralized versus decentralized structures—an information processing perspective," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 144-170, June.
    20. Jesse Shore & Ethan Bernstein & David Lazer, 2014. "Facts and Figuring: An Experimental Investigation of Network Structure and Performance in Information and Solution Spaces," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-075, Harvard Business School, revised Jun 2014.
    21. Linda Argote & Brandy L. Aven & Jonathan Kush, 2018. "The Effects of Communication Networks and Turnover on Transactive Memory and Group Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 191-206, April.
    22. Nicolai j. Foss & Lars Frederiksen & Francesco Rullani, 2016. "Problem‐formulation and problem‐solving in self‐organized communities: How modes of communication shape project behaviors in the free open‐source software community," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2589-2610, December.
    23. Marlo Raveendran & Phanish Puranam & Massimo Warglien, 2016. "Object Salience in the Division of Labor: Experimental Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(7), pages 2110-2128, July.

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