| A group's potential level of performance depends, to a | | | | effectively they will form in a group. |
| large extent, on the resources that its members | | | | A review of the evidence has found that interpersonal |
| individually bring to the group. We want to look at two | | | | skills consistently emerge as important of high work |
| general resources that have received the greatest | | | | group performance. These include conflict |
| amount of attention: knowledge, skills and abilities; and | | | | management and resolutions, collaborative problem |
| personality characteristics. | | | | solving, and communication. For instance, members |
| Knowledge, skills and abilities: | | | | need to be able to recognize the type and source of |
| Part of a group's performance can be predicted by | | | | conflict confronting the groups and to implement an |
| assessing the knowledge, skills and abilities of its | | | | appropriate conflict resolutions strategy; to identify |
| individual members. It's true that we occasionally read | | | | situations requiring participative group problem solving |
| about the athletic team composed of mediocre | | | | and to utilize the proper degree and type of |
| players that, because of excellent coaching, | | | | participation; and to listen properly and to use active |
| determination, and precision teamwork, beats a far | | | | techniques. |
| more talented group of players. But such cases make | | | | Personality characteristics: |
| the news precisely because they represent and | | | | There has been a great deal of research on the |
| aberration. As the old saying goes, "The race does not | | | | relationship between personality traits and group |
| always go to the swiftest nor the battle to the | | | | attitudes and behavior. The general conclusion is that |
| strongest, but that's the way to bet." A group's | | | | attributes that tend to have a positive connotation in |
| performance is not merely the summation of its | | | | our culture tend to be positively related to group |
| individual members' abilities. However these abilities set | | | | productivity, morale, and cohesiveness. |
| parameters for what members can do and how | | | | |