An empirical investigation of the effects of pre-decision agreement and group development on group decision making

This study examined the hypotheses that high levels of pre-decision agreement would negatively affect group performance and that group development activities would moderate this relationship. Ninety two 3-person groups from a university in the Pacific Northwest participated in the study (Mean age 20.71 years). Eighty-eight percent were Caucasian, 70% female, 30% male. Two survival tasks were given individually and as a group with pre-decision agreement measured using Kendall\u27s W. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed no main effects for pre-decision agreement, nor for group development activities of Forming, and Feedback. A significant interaction was found for Feedback and Pre-Decision Agreement. Providing performance feedback moderated the negative effect of high levels of pre-decision agreement on group performance