Students' Perceptions of Classroom Group Work as a Function of Group Member Selection

Abstract

Course: Small Group Communication

The purpose of this assessment was to examine whether differences exist between students who self-select their classroom work group members and students who are randomly assigned to their classroom work groups in terms of their use of organizational citizenship behaviors with their work group members; their commitment to, trust in, and relational satisfaction with their work groups; and their self-reports of affective learning and cognitive learning. Participants were 126 students enrolled in a small group communication course. While students who self-select their group members and students who are randomly assigned to their groups do not differ in their use of organizational citizenship behaviors with their classroom work group members, students who self-select their classroom work group members do report higher levels of commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction, as well as more affective learning and more cognitive learning, than students who are randomly assigned to classroom work groups.

Keywords:

• organizational citizenship behaviors
• commitment
• trust
• relational satisfaction
• affective learning
• cognitive learning

Notes

1. The six items used to measure commitment were “I was quite proud to be able to tell people which group I belonged to,” “I was not willing to put myself out just to help my group,” “I felt like I was a part of my group,” “In my group, I felt like I made some effort, not just for myself but for the group as well,” “I would not recommend that my classmates work with my group members,” and “To know that my own work has made a contribution to the good of my group pleases me.” The six items used to measure trust were “If I got into difficulties with the group task, my group members would try and help me out,” “I could trust the group members I work with to lend a hand if I needed it,” “I felt quite confident that my group always tried to treat me fairly,” “Most of my group members could be relied upon to do what they said they would do,” “I had full confidence in the skills of my group members,” and “I could rely on my group members not to make my contributions more difficult by them doing careless work.”