Verbal behavior patterns and self-perceived effectiveness of work teams that vary in gender and status composition

This study investigated the effects of gender composition and status differences on work teams' verbal behaviors and perceptions of team functioning. Thirty-six teams from for-profit and non-profit settings participated in this study. The verbatim statements gathered from tape recordings of one meeting of each participating team were analyzed using the Group Development Observation System (GDOS) (Wheelan, Verdi, & McKeage, 1994). The responses of each team member to the Group Development Questionnaire (GDQ) (Wheelan & Hochberger, 1996), were aggregated to determine how members perceived their group to be functioning.; Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance and correlations were used to examine the behavior patterns derived from the GDOS, and the perceptions of team effectiveness derived from the GDQ of the 36 participating teams. There were eighteen high status and eighteen low status teams. One third of each of these teams were male dominated, female dominated and mixed gender. Male dominated teams contained at least double the number of men than women. Female dominated teams contained the same ratio in reverse. Mixed gender teams contained relatively equivalent numbers of men and women.; Status was defined according to position within the organization, job title and the educational level required by the job. If double the number of team members were high status, the team was designated as such. Low status teams possessed the same ratio in reverse.; Multivariate analyses of variance revealed no significant main effect for either gender or status. While univariate ANOVA results must be interpreted with caution, one GDOS category reached significance and a few approached significance.; These ANOVA's indicated that low status work teams generated a significantly higher percentage of dependency statements than high status work teams. Dependency statements are characteristic of teams that are in the early stages of group development—they indicate reliance on the leader for direction, tentativeness towards team members, and concern about fitting in. The percentage of flight statements made by the low status teams was greater than the percentage of flight statements made by the high status teams. This result approached significance. Flight statements are also characteristic of teams in early stages of development. These statements veer the group away from the task at hand. High status work teams produced a greater number of work statements than low status teams. This result also approached significance. Work statements are characteristic of teams in the later stages of group development—they relate specifically to the task the team is currently engaged in.; A further exploratory test was conducted due to a noticeable variation in the age of teams and the low frequency of certain categories within the GDOS system. The findings ran contrary to expectation for one gender group: the high status female dominated teams appeared to be less effective overall than the low status female dominated teams.; Overall, this study's results indicate that gender is not a significant factor in influencing how groups behave or perceive themselves to function and suggests that status may be a significant factor in how groups behave. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...