Group, Sub-Group, and Nominal Group Mea Generation: New Rules for a New Media?

How should a group organize itself to generate ideas? Should all group members work together as one intact group, should they form several smaller sub-groups that work independently, or should all members work separately as individuals without communicating? Research with verbal media presents a clear answer: all members should work separately without communicating. This paper examines this question for computer-mediated idea generation. In two separate studies, intact groups generated more ideas (with higher quality) than those working as individuals or in several smaller sub-groups. We attribute these differences to reduced blocking, and different social processes adopted in the different sized groups. Few individuals make important decisions without seeking information, ideas, and opinions from others. In most cases where there is a genuinely important organizational decision to be made, a group is formed to advise the decision maker (Hackman & Kaplan, 1974). Thus the generation of ideas is an importan