PERFORMANCE AND PERCEPTIONS OF BRAINSTORMERS IN AN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTING

Employees of a corporation who had undergone considerable training for effective teamwork were asked to brainstorm about a job-relevant issu e in groups of four or alone. One half of the groups brainstormed alon e first, and the other half brainstormed as a group before brainstormi ng alone. Participants were also asked to rate their performance and i ndicate whether they would perform better in groups or alone on a brai nstorming task. Consistent with past laboratory research, groups gener ated only about half as many ideas as a similar number of individuals (nominal group), and group brainstorming led to more favorable percept ions of individual performance. Participants also believed that they w ould brainstorm more effectively in a group than alone. These results indicate that productivity losses in brainstorming groups are not rest ricted to laboratory groups. Such losses occur even in groups who work together on a daily basis, have considerable training in group dynami cs, and are dealing with a job-relevant issue. The sequence of alone t o group brainstorming did not influence overall productivity. The rela tion of this research to that of facilitated and electronic brainstorm ing is discussed.