Group Decision Making Basics

Group decision-making (or collaborative decision-making) is a situation faced when individuals collectively make a choice from the alternatives before them. The decision is then no longer attributable to any single individual who is a member of the group. This is because all the individuals and social group processes such as social influence contribute to the outcome. The decisions made by groups are often different from those made by individuals. Group polarization is one clear example: groups tend to make decisions that are more extreme than those of its individual members, in the direction of the individual inclinations.

Decision-making Techniques in Teams

• Consensus Decision-Making – Tries to avoid “winners” and “losers”. Consensus requires that a majority approve a given course of action, but that the minority agree to go along with the course of action.
• Voting-Based Methods – Range voting lets each member score one or more of the available options.
• Delphi Method – This method is a structured communication technique for groups, originally developed for collaborative forecasting but also used for policy-making.
• Dotmocracy – A facilitation method that relies on the use of forms called “dotmocracy sheets” to allow large groups to brainstorm collectively and recognize agreement on an unlimited number of ideas they have authored.

Advantages of group decision making

• Greater knowledge: Because of the number of people involved, each with differing experience, knowledge, points of view and values, a larger number and variety of ideas for solving a problem can be produced.
• Greater skills: Even the best qualified individual cannot have all of the skills to reach a complex goal. Some people excel at coming up with the ideas while others focus on plans, numbers and figures. The key advantage is that when a team works together, it has a huge range of skills available that it can utilize to deliver extraordinary results.
• Creative approach: Commonly people tend to be conservative and rational in daily decision making. However, most of crucial decisions require breakthrough in traditionalism. Group always provides stimulus to the imagination, encouraging individuals to explore ideas they would not otherwise consider.
• Shared responsibility: Makes individuals more willing to take risks. The discussion of different points of view also helps the group to be more realistic in assessing the risks associated with particular courses of action.
• Higher commitment: Individuals who have contributed to finding a solution feel a greater commitment to its successful implementation.

Disadvantages of group decision making

• Conformity: There is a strong tendency for individuals in a group to want to conform to the consensus.
• Dominance: Often a group has a strong personality, a leader with higher status or better oratorical skills. Such an individual may suppress other team members, ignore opinions and ideas that fairly correspond to his or her points of view.
• Less recognition: Identifying who really did his/her best is difficult to do as it is a collaborative effort thus less chance for recognition or promotion.
• Time consumption: Group problem solving is a relatively slow process compared with working alone. It requires individuals to come together at an agreed time, usually for about one hour, and this can cause organizational problems as well as impatience amongst participants to ‘get it over with’ as quickly as possible.
• Groupthink effects (Irving Janis): Groupthink effect occurs when group members have an over-estimated belief in a group power.

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