Large groups are detrimental to creative output for several reasons. While there is a belief that creativity is enhanced in larger groups, research shows that the sum of ideas from individuals is greater than from groups of those same individuals. As group size increases, engagement decreases, conformity increases, evaluation apprehension rises, and social loafing occurs. Large groups also experience issues like diluted ideas, groupthink, conflict, and time inefficiencies that restrict information flow and creative output. The optimal group size for creativity is between 3 to 5 people.

1. Creativity and Innovation:
BEWARE OF GROUP
SIZE
by
managing-creativity.com

2. When leaders, consultants and
managers require ideas, they
automatically tend to herd people
into a room and conduct a (usually
ineffective) brainstorming session.
One reason for their ineffectiveness
is a failure to consider the impact of
group size.

3. There is a pervasive belief that
creativity is enhanced in larger
groups. However, significant data
indicates that large groups are
detrimental to creative output.
Some of the arguments against
large groups are:

4. #1
The sum of ideas produced by
individuals acting alone is greater than
the sum of ideas produced by those
same individuals when acting as a
group.

5. #2
Large groups dilute ideas.

6. #3
Symptoms of group think increase as a
group gets larger due to the illusion of
invulnerability, unquestioned belief in the
group's morality and rationalisation by
collective justification of decisions.

7. #4
As group size increases, the percentage
of individual performance decreases. A
single person is 95% engaged in a task,
two people are each 90% engaged and
the decline increases until it evens out at
about 15 members to around 30%.

8. #5
Groups of three to five elicit much more
conformity than just one or two.

9. #6
Large groups increase levels of
evaluation apprehension and social
loafing.

10. #7
Large groups result in core and
peripheral members, restricting
information flow.

11. #8
Conflict is inevitable as group size
increases, causing sub-group formation
and politicking.

12. #9
Large groups create sub-groups with
conflicting identities and goals.

13. #10
Large groups introduce time
inefficiencies. 30 individuals can work on
30 problems and produce 150 ideas (30
x 5) in the same time that 1 group
working on 1 problem produces 5 ideas
(1 x 5).

14. Learn much more at
managing-creativity.com