Towards a theoretically based Group Facilitation Technique for Project Teams

A theoretical framework for developing the group facilitation technique PROMOD is presented here. The efficiency of this technique in improving group decision quality is supported by the results of three experimental studies involving different kinds of problem solving tasks. The author points towards the importance of integrating theoretical assumptions, theory testing and basic research with empirical application. Such a compelling strategy can lead to new insights in group performance dynamics as well as further developments in this field, as it provides the necessary conditions to systematically initiate positive effects and to prevent negative effects during group interaction. In all three experiments the teams observed performed best when the PROMOD procedure was applied.