DISTINCTIVE MEMBER - THE EFFECTS OF SOLO ARRANGEMENTS ON EVALUATIONS OF SOLOS AND SIMILAR OTHERS

This study investigated the effect of group composition on judgments o f African Americans, White male and female college students responded to photographic slides of female work groups in which the racial compo sition of the group was systematically altered to represent varying de grees of distinctiveness. Each participant judged the effectiveness of individual group members, as well as the competency of the overall gr oup, Findings suggested that work groups which contained a distinctive (or solo) group member may affect judgments about similar others enco untered later who share the solo's rare characteristic. Results are di scussed in terms of the effect of these types of arrangements in organ izational settings, and implications of these findings for practitione rs and managers are discussed.