Group Decision Making

A survey of 2,044 human resources and organizational leaders found that 84 percent of companies used teams for special projects, while 74 percent used teams to address departmental issues and innovation.

In other words, groups were used to solve problems and make decisions. Companies rely so heavily on groups to make decisions because when done properly, group decision making can lead to much better decisions than those typically made by individuals. In fact, numerous studies show that groups consistently outperform individuals on complex tasks.

Groups can do a much better job than individuals in two important steps of the decision-making process: defining the problem and generating alternative solutions. One possible pitfall is groupthink. Groupthink occurs in highly cohesive groups when group members feel intense pressure to agree with each other so that the group can approve a proposed solution.

A second potential problem with group decision making is that it takes considerable time. A third possible pitfall to group decision making is that sometimes one or two people, perhaps the boss or a strong-willed, vocal group member, can dominate group discussions and limit the group’s consideration of different problem definitions and alternative solutions.

Ironically, a fourth pitfall to group decision making is equality bias, which causes individuals to treat all group members as equally competent. More highly competent people tend to underestimate their abilities, while less competent people overestimate theirs.