Odd One In

Next time I'm dividing folks up into groups I'll try to remember this.

From Boston.com...

In a study with significant implications for everyday life, two researchers from University of Chicago and Northwestern found that small groups with an odd number of members tend to work better than groups with an even number of members.

The conventional wisdom is that even numbers and even-numbered groups are better. However, in an experiment with discussion groups and in an analysis of dormitory groupings at Harvard, the researchers found that even-numbered groups resulted either in stalemate (e.g., two against two) or domination (e.g., three against one). In odd-numbered groups, disagreement often implies a swing vote (e.g., two against one), which encourages the majority to tread more carefully.

One caveat is that the odd-number effect is less powerful in groups that are more diverse, because those groups are less cohesive in the first place.