Groups and Groupthink

Group Decision Making: How To Work With Others

• advantages of group decision making:
  • greater pool of knowledge
  • different perspectives
  • intellectual simulation
  • better understanding of decision rationale
  • deeper commitment to the decision
• to realize these advantages, the group must be made up of people who think in different ways

Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

• a few people may dominate or intimidate
• satisficing: the “good enough” decision
• goal displacement = other issues may arise
• groupthink: agreeing for the sake of unanimity and thus avoid accurately assessing the decision situation

Symptoms of Groupthink

1. sense of invulnerability
2. rationalization (prevents critical analysis of underlying assumptions)
3. illusion of unanimity and peer pressure
4. “the wisdom of crowds"

What Managers Need to Know About Groups and Decision Making

• groups take longer to make decisions
• their size effects decision quality
  • optimal group size is 5 to 7 people
  • odd group numbers are best
• they may be too confident
• knowledge counts

When A Group Can Help In Decision Making: 3 Practical Guidelines

1. when it can increase quality
2. when it can increase acceptance
3. when it can increase development of group members

Group Problem - Solving Techniques

• consensus: occurs when members are able to express their opinions and reach agreement to support the final decision
• brainstorming: technique used to help groups generate multiple ideas and alternatives for solving problems

Rules For Brainstorming

1. defer judgement
2. build on the idea of others
3. encourage wil ideas
4. go for quantity over quality
5. be visual
6. one conversation at a time