Development and performance in team projects: Incremental validity of the group development scale

Abstract

We carry out a study about how the development achieved by a group is a key determinant of the performance in project teams. The group development scale (EDG) and the group development questionnaire (GDQ) were applied to 30 project teams using different subjective criteria to evaluate their performance (i.e. self-reported effectiveness, satisfaction of needs’ members, internal operations and maintenance). By carrying out a cross sectional study, and controlling for group size, group development was able to predict some of these criteria of performance such as self-reported effectiveness (23% of explained variance) and the satisfaction of needs (53% of variance explained). Similarly, with regard to an overall measure of team performance, group development accounted for 40% of its variance. In addition, the EDG showed incremental validity relative to GDQ (F=5,84, p<.01) to predict team performance. Finally, we also discuss how to contribute to group development as a way to achieve more effective teams.