I. Organizational setting: if group members are in close proximity to one another in the work setting, they would interact more, and sentiments and affinities would develop faster, if the work flow technology makes them very interdependent, then again, interactions will be more frequent, there will be more communication among the members, and norms will soon develop as to who should do what, and what kinds of activities are expected of the members, when, and in what sequence, if the group is big in size, the group processes are likely to be different from those emerge if it is small.
If the reward and incentive systems are group based rather than individually oriented, there will be more collaborative efforts among the group members and a different set of norms would develop and operate in the group. On the other hand, competitive behavior would develop among the group members when the reward systems are geared towards individual excellence in performance. Factors in the organizational setting, thus have a great influence on both the group processes and group effectiveness.
II. Nature of task: the complexity of the task and the analyzability of the procedures involved in performing the task are two important variables influencing group processes and group effectiveness. The group's task could be complex and demand high level skills from its members to perform the many operations in completing the job. Easy and readily available solutions for the performance of such tasks may not exist to determine the most effective way of accomplishing the goal.
III. Technology: technology is the means by which the effort put in is turned into a final product. It could be manual, mechanical , or electronic, all of which facilitate the transformation of materials into outputs. It is important to use the right and efficient technology. Some technologies demand more interactions among group members than others.
IV. Group processes and member characteristics and composition: the range of skills and ability of the group members, their orientation towards work (work ethic), their needs and motivations to belong to the group and be accepted as group members, their value systems of right and wrong, and judgment of the correct and incorrect procedures, influence the group processes. Homogeneity among group members, in terms of status congruence and such other factors, also have an effect on the processes, how problems are solved, who makes decisions for the group, what kinds of norms are developed, and the extent of group's composition. The size of the group makes a difference in the group processes.