Habitual routines in task-performing groups

doi:10.1016/0749-5978(90)90047-D

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Volume 47, Issue 1, October 1990, Pages 65-97

https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(90)90047-D Get rights and content

Abstract

Groups, like individuals, often develop habitual routines for dealing with frequently encountered stimuli. Although such routines are consequential for group life and work, little is known about them. This paper reconnoiters the territory of habitual behavior in groups that perform work within organizations. We offer a definition of group habits, identify their functions and dysfunctions, suggest how they develop and are maintained, and identify the circumstances when they are likely to be altered or abandoned. Throughout, we give special attention to the social nature of habitual routines in groups, to the interaction between habitual behavior and group life cycle phenomena, and to the role of the organizational context in prompting, shaping, and terminating habitual routines.

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^☆: The work of the second author on this paper was supported in part by Cooperative Agreement NCC 2-324 between NASA and Harvard University. Because the paper is an equal collaboration, order of authorship is alphabetical.

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Habitual routines in task-performing groups☆

Abstract

Acta Psychologica

The Journal of Behavioral Economics

Script processing in attitude formation and decision making

Group and intergroup relations

The incompleteness of social psychological theory: Examples from small group, cognitive consistency, and attribution research

American Psychologist

Foreword

The emergence of norms in competitive decision-making groups

Administrative Science Quarterly

Designing effective work groups

Blindness in designing intelligent systems

American Scientist

The development and enforcement of group norms

Academy of Management Review

Life cycles of ad hoc task groups

The life cycles of ad hoc task groups: Time, transitions, and learning in teams

Time and transition in work teams: Toward a new model of group development

Academy of Management Journal

Marking time: Predictable transitions in task groups

Academy of Management Journal

Group decision making under threat: The tycoon game

Academy of Management Journal

Organizational decline

Research in the Sociology of Organizations

Group influences on individuals

The design of work teams

Group tasks, group interaction process, and group performance effectiveness: A review and proposed integration

Leading groups in organizations

Group problem solving