Agreement About Norms and Work-Unit Effectiveness: Evidence From the Field

Hypotheses on the relationship between norms and work-unit effectiveness are developed and tested on data from 30 hospital emergency units. The analyses are based on data collected from sources inside and outside the emergency units and on hospital records data. Results indicate that agreement about norms within and between interacting groups is positively associated with the effectiveness criteria. Agreement about norms between groups appears to be more strongly related to effectiveness than agreement within groups. Suggestions are advanced for future research on norms. Two lines of research that look particularly promising are specifying the conditions under which norms relate to effectiveness and identifying variables that lead to agreement about norms.