Using the stepladder technique to facilitate the performance of audioconferencing groups.

Full Abstract

Organizational workforces are becoming increasingly dispersed. To facilitate communications among individuals or groups of people located in a number of different locations, teleconferencing technologies, such as audioconferencing, have been developed. The authors examined whether a structural group intervention, the stepladder technique, can facilitate the task performance of 4-person groups (n = 52) when using audioconferencing. Consistent with research conducted on face-to-face groups, the stepladder technique was found to facilitate the decision-making performance of groups interacting via audioconference. The authors postulated that certain structural elements of the stepladder technique compensate for obstacles inherent in nonvisual communications. Supplementary analyses examined best member influence and the existence of order of entry effects into the stepladder process.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Rogelberg, Steven G (SG); O'Connor, Matthew S (MS); Sederburg, Matthew (M);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Ohio 43403, USA. rogelbe@bgnet.bgsu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of applied psychology (J Appl Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Oct; vol 87 (issue 5) : pp 994-1000

Dates: Created 2002/10/24; Completed 2002/11/19; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12395824, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.