The Effects of Timing of Leaders' Opinions on Problem-Solving Groups: A Field Experiment

A field study was conducted to examine the effect of timing of leader opinions on group problem-solving performance. University residence life teams (N= 19) were asked to solve two typical residence hall problems. Teams were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions in which leaders either (a) stated their opinions immediately after the presentation of the problem or (b) withheld their opinions until later in the discussion. As predicted, groups with leaders who delayed stating their opinions generated significantly more alternative solutions to the problems, and these alternatives were rated more feasible and more likely to be adopted.