Complaint and solution-oriented circles: Interaction patterns in work group discussions

The study investigates interaction patterns in work group discussions, focusing specifically on complaining and solution-oriented statements. Thirty-three work group discussions in three German industrial enterprises were coded with the Cassel Competence Grid (CCG). Lag sequential analysis results showed that complaining begets further complaining statements, while simultaneously inhibiting the expression of solution-oriented statements. Likewise, when solutions are proposed they are followed by further discussion of solutions. If support is expressed for either complaint or solution statements, circles of these two types of interaction arise. To inhibit complaining, the results point to the importance of structuring statements.