Work Group Flexibility: Development and Construct Validation of a Measure

Abstract

This paper develops and tests a measure of flexibility of work groups in steady-state functioning. The measure incorporates two different problems of adjustment in work groups, namely rigidity and disorganization, within aflexibility-inflexibility continuumn. The measure was aplied to three areas of work group activity in which environmental variations call for adjustment: allocation of tasks to members, use of rules and procedures, and communication patterns. The composite flexibility scale and the component rigidity and disorganization scales were found to have satisfactory internal consistency. Construct validity was investigated by relating the flexibility measure and its components to selected group variables which were theoretically expected to predict flexibility. Partial support was obtained for the hypothesized relationships in the present sample of groups. The integration of rigidity and disorganization within a composite flexibility scale is justified on the basis of thesefindings. Suggestions forfurther construct validity investigations for the flexibility measure are pointed out.