Group Intelligence
A recent study from Carnegie Mellon University describes group intelligence by measuring the ability of a group of people to solve problems. This is interesting as most of the measurement studies in intelligence has been focused on individuals. The study finds that the individual IQ is not correlated with group IQ. It also finds three attributes – social sensitivity, democratization and gender diversity - as factors that are strongly correlated with group intelligence. Democratization, i.e. equal participation from all members of the group, is an interesting finding that has implications for leadership. Consensus building has always been considered a valuable trait but this takes it one step further. The ability to make use of complete information available in the group appears to be a leading indicator of success. Although gender diversity appears to be on target, such a measurement is fraught with issues related to control and correlations.
What the study does not measure is diversity in other aspects – such as education and orientation. Group think has been a major problem for companies where a large number of people with similar backgrounds and orientation drift to periods of low productivity and innovation. In this process, "not invented here syndrome," largely keeps good external ideas at bay. If this is an issue for groups, it should show up as a factor that affects the group intelligence over time. Hence, the amount of time, the group has been together, may be an important determinant of intelligence. It is possible that diverse, democratic groups show high intelligence at inception but slowly atrophies as it rejects all external stimuli. Although the study did not measure external influences to the group, that may be an important consideration in measurement.
Group intelligence is an interesting and important notion – something that has many implications for education, leadership and organizational structures. Further research in this area may prove to be valuable in many different dimensions.
