Group Decision Making
Weakness of Group Decision-Making
Decision-making groups are widely used in corporations throughout the United States. These groups will play an even more important role in the future, as a new generation of workers, who are much more team oriented, enter the workforce. The group decision-making process has several strengths, such as increased diversity of views and more completely covering all aspects of a given topic and can be used effectively to make decisions. Although there are many strengths when making decision’s as a group, the group will not be as effective if managers are unaware of its three weaknesses; efficiency, groupthink, and groupshift.
When making decisions in a group, efficiency is often compromised (Hastie & Gigone). It is important for managers to evaluate whether or not certain decisions require group collaboration. If the decision needs to be made quickly, then a group may not be the best fit. Typically, groups take more time for several reasons. First, it takes longer to listen to everyone’s opinion. Second, there almost always is a debate involved. Finally, the group must ultimately arrive at a conclusion for which everyone can support. An individual has no one to consult, and can thus make the decision much more efficiently. Although some accuracy may be sacrificed, if a decision needs to be made with relatively short time constraints, the group decision-making process is not the best solution.
Another weakness of group decision-making is groupthink. Groupthink is the tendency of the members of a group to yield to the desire for consensus or unanimity at the cost of considering alternative courses of action. Managers must be aware of conditions conducive to groupthink, its negative consequences, and ways to prevent it. For instance, a highly cohesive group isolated from outside opinions is very vulnerable to suffer from groupthink (Janis 1982). Should a group fall victim, there are many negative...
Please login to view the full essay...