Page 62 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

4 Sustainable Communication as an Inter- and Transdisciplinary Discipline 45

as “the extent to which group members overtly reflect upon the group’s objectives,
strategies and processes, and adapt them to current or anticipated endogenous or
environmental circumstances” (West 1996: 559). Changes in the group are affected
by the degree of group reflexivity and for group performance this kind of meta-
reflection is a key factor. Especially for complex tasks characterised by uncertainty
and ambiguity the degree of the group’s self-reflexivity improves the results, that is
group performance. In studies on the relationship between continuous learning in a
group and team performance (Edmonson 1999), there is a significantly positive rela-
tionship between proactive critique of group collaboration and group performance
(Gebert 2004: 25f.). Group performance in these cases involves a higher level of
creativity, i.e. the development of creative ideas and innovations.
Along with these group-related factors influencing the success of collaboration it
is necessary to study the process of the exchange of knowledge.

Flow of Information

Successful problem-solving in an inter- or transdisciplinary team depends on the
willingness of group members to share their knowledge and other information in
discussions (Larson et al. 1996). The more non-shared information, i.e. information
(e.g. disciplinary knowledge) not possessed by all members that is introduced dur-
ing the work, the more comprehensive the solution to the problem. There is a danger
that known (shared) information rather than unknown (non-shared) information is
contributed to the discussion (Stasser and Titus 1985). There are a number of expla-
nations for this phenomenon, including that shared information has an advantage in
being already accepted, is less conflict-laden and is more often repeated (Stasser
et al. 1989). Already before the decision-making situation, group members tend to
prefer certain types of subject matter and therefore evaluate received information
that is contrary to these preferences as less relevant or credible (Greitemeyer and
Schulz-Hardt 2003). Studies of problems relating to information exchange have
revealed that so-called meta-knowledge about the expertise already within a group
positively influences the exchange of non-shared information. If group members
know who has which knowledge, i.e. who has expertise in which areas, the proba-
bility that non-shared information will be contributed to a discussion is increased,
as is the quality of group decisions (Littlepage et al. 1997).
However it is not always the case that each group member develops a correct idea
of the others’ areas of expertise. It is also interesting that in the early phases of a
discussion it is the shared information that dominates and the probability that non-
shared information will be discussed increases with the length of the discussion
(Larson et al. 1996). The time factor thus plays a considerable role in heterogeneous
discussions. The members of inter- and transdisciplinary groups at first do not know
what knowledge and expertise is represented in the group and possibly they also do
not trust the new information, find it to be irrelevant or are unable to relate it to their
own knowledge.