PLACEMENT OF AUTHORITY AND COMMUNICATION PATTERNS IN WORKPLACE GROUPS- THE CONSEQUENCES FOR INNOVATION

Group discussion is typically made up of a series of pairwise conversa tions. Using a corpus of workplace meetings in which decision-making a uthority is placed either in one individual or in the group as a whole , we demonstrate that both kinds of discussions are dominated by such conversations. However in the groups with one authoritative individual , the same pairings recur some people say more than others, and the au thoritative individual dominates and controls the discussion, no matte r how many people are present. In the groups that hold authority joint ly, participation is more equal and more pairings are represented, but these properties degrade as discussion size increases. Current manage ment theory about teams suggests that groups that have joint authority make better and more innovative decisions but that teams should be ke pt small, The theory of output/input coordination links these suggesti ons with the communication pattern differences observed.