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This thesis examines three research hypotheses derived from the Theory of Distributive Justice as developed by George Caspar Homans and as refined by Peter Blau, in an attempt to test the applicability of this paradigm to the distribution of rewards in small groups setting.Reviewing the literature, both theoretical and empirical, with respect to this theory of reward allocation, it was hypothesized that individuals would attempt to allocate rewards so as to establish a ratio of reward that was commensurate to the costs of the stimulus person. The datagenerally support this notion, presenting only one complicating factor. Explanations for the findings are offered, as well as suggestions for further research into these processes.

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This study was conducted to determine if the strength of consensus in small groups could be predicted from group members' perceptions of information usefulness and shared understanding. Eight groups of five and two groups of four subjects participated in a group consensus exercise designed to allow mathematical measurement of the consensus achieved. The subjects also completed questionnaires designed to measure their perceptions of information usefulness, shared understanding, and strength of consensus. The findings of this study suggest that shared understanding is a strong predictor of the strength of consensus while information usefulness is only slightly predictive. This study is the first step toward development of management tools to measure consensus in small groups when no mathematical algorithm is possible. The goal of this and further research is to provide managers with a way to know how strongly workers support actions they have agreed· to take in order to make participatory management more effective. Tools such as these can also be used in the public policy arena. When groups of concerned citizens are brought together, these toolS can be used to see if the consensus achieved is really representative of everyone's views. / Master of Science

This thesis purports to explore and describe the types of information that would be obtainable to the anthropological researcher if he used the minimally structured small group (MDMS-SG) technique with members of a selected ethnic group. The approach was tried on Japanese Portland State University students and also on Saudi Arab Portland State University students for six sessions each. They were told that a graduate anthropology student wanted to get to know them and learn what they thought she should know about their countries. The sessions were taped and notes written after each session. This corpus of material was analyzed using the closed corpus technique which necessitates use of the entire corpus and only the corpus. Post-categorization was used, it being especially appropriate in pilot studies and/or in original exploratory research where the emphasis is on induction rather than deduction. The verbal and other behavioral phenomena exhibited by the two “cultural” groups were compared and an attempt made to isolate that which was distinctively Arab or Japanese. Presence-absence counts and the relative frequency with which behavioral items were exhibited determined whether or not an item was differentiating. Those differences occurred in six major areas which included responses to the constants of the total situation, patterns of organization, paralinguistic phenomena exhibited, interaction patterns displayed, emotions expressed and finally the subject matter discussed. These then are areas for or aspects about which the anthropological investigator can expect to obtain data if he uses the MDMS-SG with “cultural” groups. These differences were then compared with information gathered about Arab and Japanese cultures from other sources. The working hypothesis that the Arab group would spontaneously exhibit significant behavioral differences from the Japanese group under MDMS-SG conditions and that these differences would be related to the ethnic background of that larger population of which they are a part was utilized. The two groups were substantially different and these differences were in the direction of the differences between the two ethnic groups from which they come. Therefore the assumption, while not proved, was substantially strengthened. In the Arab and Japanese groups, it was found that the group reactions to the total situation—the physical surroundings, the investigator, the fact of meeting at all, etc.- -almost all coincided with the written literature. It would seem therefore that the MDMS-SG could be used prior to field work with an unstudied group. Organizational patterns are ideally and easily studied through the use of the MDMS-SG. It could be a part of every ethnology besides having practical significance (i.e. in facilitating international communication) but is only rarely studied now.