Group potency: A construct between self-efficacy and group motivation

Abstract

One of the main characteristics of group research carried out in the last two decades, stemming from the steady increase in the use of work teams as basic productive units of present-day organizations, has been the formulation of models and constructs that attempt to explain specific variables and processes that the groups in these contexts present.

This paper attempts to synthesize the main theoretical elements and existing empirical evidence about the construct labelled group potency, or a group's collective belief about its effectiveness, a product both of the assessment of resources available within (the organization) and the organizational conditions in which the groups perform their work, thereby creating a reliable criterion for measuring their effectiveness. Group potency presents certain elements that are common to other motivational constructs of an individual or collective nature, such as self-efficacy, collective efficacy, political efficacy, group aspirations, collective self-esteem and other models of collective motivation. However, it differs from them all in certain aspects and, especially inits consideration of the level of anaylsis of the group as a unit of performance. In spite of its relatively recent formulation, potency has a certain amount of empirical evidence relating to group performance, leadership styles and the use of new communication technologies in groups or the change of members in work teams; a short summary of the main results is presented. Finally, the paper discusses some of the implications and future lines of research relating power with other theoretical constructs and tendencies in research on work teams.