ABSTRACT
Effectiveness includes the appropriateness of goal formation, the extent of goal achievement, and the efficiency with which the outcomes are realized. The main direct determinants of group effectiveness in the proposed model are the growth of knowledge during the group process, and the capability for coordinate action. The empirical results in the field of innovation teams in organizations are encouraging in that they mainly support the theoretical model. Additional tests and theoretical refinements are worthwhile for most of the single hypotheses of the model. Especially needed are experimental tests of the consistency dynamics among cognitive, affective, and conative congruence and their effects on the growth of knowledge; most important for that test is the independent manipulation of at least three levels of cognitive congruence crossed with at least two levels of conative congruence. Very often in the theoretical and empirical literature, effectiveness and knowledge are used interchangeably as dependent variables.
