Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Small Group Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Larson, J. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Deep Diversity and Strong Synergy

Modeling the Impact of Variability in Members' Problem-Solving Strategies on Group Problem-Solving Performance

James R. Larson, Jr.

University of Illinois at Chicago

A computational model is presented that explores the effect of diversity among members' problem-solving strategies on group problem-solving performance. The model is called ValSeek, after the value-seeking problems with which it is concerned. A value-seeking problem requires problem solvers to choose from a set of solution alternatives that vary in their underlying value. The goal is to discover the solution with the highest value. The model is restricted to problems for which it is impractical to evaluate every possible solution alternative. For such problems, the strategies that problem solvers use to navigate the solution space are critical to their performance. The article describes how value-seeking problems, and various strategies for solving them, are represented generically in the computer program that instantiates the model. The results of a simulation study using this model suggest that (a) diverse groups should perform better than homogeneous groups, (b) diverse groups should perform better than even their best individual members, and (c) cooperative interaction between members during problem solving should benefit the performance of diverse groups but impair the performance of homogeneous groups.

Key Words: group performance • problem-solving strategies • deep diversity • synergy • performance gains • computational modeling

Small Group Research, Vol. 38, No. 3, 413-436 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1046496407301972
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Small Group ResearchHome page
I. H. van Emmerik and V. Brenninkmeijer
Deep-Level Similarity and Group Social Capital: Associations With Team Functioning
Small Group Research, December 1, 2009; 40(6): 650 - 669.
[Abstract] [PDF]