quackquack

"A new meta-analysis (pdf) of 72 studies, involving 4,795 groups and over 17,000 individuals has shown that groups tend to spend most of their time discussing the information shared by members, which is therefore redundant, rather than discussing information known only to one or a minority of members. “What this suggests is that teams who talk more amongst themselves aren’t necessarily sharing useful information. Therefore, they’re not actually coming to a better result. Rather, it’s more important what the teams are talking about, than how much they are talking,” said Mesmer-Magnus. Groups were also found to perform better when they engaged in so-called “intellective tasks” - that is, when they attempted to solve a problem where a correct answer exists, rather than seeking a consensus opinion or judgment."