Ya-Ru Chen
Sally Blount
Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks

Drawing from findings in sociology and anthropology on time as a symbol of status, this paper examines the role that status plays in group synchronization. We begin by examining the psychological process of within-group synchronization -- followed by a brief introduction to the construct of status in work groups, e.g., what it is and what contributes to it. Next we draw from psychological findings on the in-synch preference to suggest that group members like to synchronize, and that group members often look to high-status members in order to do so. We then identify ways in which status differences across group members can facilitate and inhibit group synchronization. We close by considering the implications of our approach for better understanding temporal dynamics in work organizations.