Group Decision Making Overview

Group Decision Making

• Group decisions are often used for important, far-reaching organizational activities.
• Common group formats for decision-making include committees, work teams, task forces, review panels, etc.
• These groups represent the people most affected by the decisions.
• Group members are often best-qualified to make decisions affecting them.
• Managers spend a substantial portion of their time in meetings for both individual & group decisions.
• Neither individual nor group decisions are universally ideal.

Advantages of Group Decision Making

• Groups typically have access to more complete information compared to individuals.
• Groups bring diverse experiences and perspectives.
• Groups can generate more possible solutions. (Group members often represent different areas of expertise.)
• Group decisions generally lead to higher acceptance of solutions. This is because people are more likely to accept decisions made by groups, or in which they had a role in the process.
• Group decision-making processes are more democratic.

Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

• Group decision-making is often time-consuming. Decision-making interactions between group members can be inefficient.
• Group decisions are sometimes subject to minority domination. Imbalances in rank, experience, knowledge, influence, skills, etc. can allow some members to dominate the process.
• Group members may compromise to conform and suppress unpopular views, giving a false appearance of agreement and solidarity.
• Group decisions can lead to ambiguous responsibility. In groups, it can be hard to pinpoint who was specifically responsible for what outcome.

Size of the Group

• Group size is a factor that influences decision-making effectiveness.
• Larger groups require more coordination and time to let all members contribute. This adds to the decision-making time.
• Groups composed of odd numbers of people help to avoid decision deadlocks.
• Groups of 5-7 people appear to be the most effective.

Criteria for Effective Decisions

• Criteria for effective decisions include accuracy, speed, creativity, and acceptance.
• Group decisions tend to be more accurate, creative, and accepted than individual decisions.
• Individual decisions are generally faster than group decisions.

Creativity in Decision Making

• Creativity is the ability to propose novel, applicable ideas.
• Creative ideas build upon previous ideas in the process.
• Creativity is important in making decisions because it enables a deeper understanding of the problem and helps to identify viable solutions.
• People can improve their creativity by understanding psychological barriers & learning to think differently.
• Individuals have diverse levels of creativity.
• Most people have at least moderate creative ability.

Stimulating Employee Creativity

• Expertise (knowledge) is the foundation of creative work.
• Creative thinking skills involve understanding familiar ideas in new ways and connecting disparate elements. These skills include intelligence, independence, self-confidence, internal locus of control and tolerance for ambiguity.
• Intrinsic task motivation is driven by interest or a perceived challenge. This encourages the use of creativity to generate solutions and ideas.

Improving Group Decision Making

• Brainstorming: A structured method for generating ideas without initial criticism. Participants focus on generating as many solutions as possible through "free-wheeling."
• Nominal group technique: Encourages independent idea generation while limiting group discussions. Participants write and share ideas without discussion, then discuss ideas to decide a favored course.
• Electronic meetings: Utilizing technology for group communication, these meetings support anonymity, honesty, speed, and can aid in decision-making.

Importance of Finding Relevant Data

• Productivity: Good data management directly correlates with organizational productivity. Poor data management leads to inefficiency and decreased effectiveness.
• Cost efficiency: Managing data well reduces redundancy— preventing wasted resources.
• Operational nimbleness: Strong data management allows companies to respond quickly to market fluctuations and changes.
• Security risks: Proper data management safeguards valuable information, reducing the chance of leaks or loss. Data management also protects an organization's credibility and trustworthiness.
• Reduced data loss: Well-managed data provides backups and improved retrieval during data loss incidents.
• More Accurate Decisions: Data management enables better comprehension of information leading to improved decision-making. Data systems and accurate data are critical in decision-making processes.
• Reactive versus proactive: Effective data management shifts an organization from reactive to proactive approaches thus decreasing costs.