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Individual vs. Group

Individual Decision Making
Group Decision Making
Methods of Group Decision Making

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Individual Decision Making
 
Advantages
  • fast

Disadvantages

  • framing effects
  • reliance to heuristics
  • bias toward implicit favorites
  • hindsight bias
  • persons sensitivity
  • escalation of commitment bias

Individual strengths and weaknesses of the individual can be identified and used or compensated for when making a decision. Everyone has strong and weak points that result from preferences in how a problem is viewed or considered

Heuristic Methods

A heuristic is a guide, a rule of thumb, a learn as you go strategy, typified by trial and error. It involves choice, hunch, knowledge, and a lot of creativity. It's the way most education works. However, no heuristic can guarantee a solution. A heuristic simply increases the probability of finding a solution. An example heuristic method follows.

  • Trial and error. The trial and error search involves the non use of directional information. That is, the search proceeds without any sense of choice or likelihood of one path over another. Trial and error can be made much more efficient if it is systematic rather than blind, that is, when a record of attempts and failures is kept so that the same path or solution is not tried more than once. So take good notes.

 

 

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Group Decision Making

Advantages

  • more complete information
  • there is increase in diversity of views
  • there is increase in acceptance of solutions
  • increse legitimacy

Disadvantages                                   

  • time consuming
  • pressure to conform
  • domination of the few
  • ambigous responsibility
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Groupthink is a term coined by psychologist Irving Janis in 1972 to describe a process by which a group can make bad or irrational decisions. In a groupthink situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group. In a general sense this seems to be a rational way to approach the situation. However this results in a situation in which the group ultimately agrees upon an action which each member might individually consider being unwise (the risky shift).

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Group shift is a change in decision risk between the groups decision and the individual decision that members within a group would make.

 

Methods of Group Decision Making

Autocratic or directive style of problem solving.  Leader defines problem, diagnoses problem, generates, evaluates and choand choose among alternative solutions. 

Autocratic with group information input .The leader defines the problem. Although the leader diagnoses the cause of the problem, the leader may use the group as an information source in obtaining data to determine cause. Using his or her list of potential solutions, the leader may once again obtain data from the group in evaluation of these alternatives and make a choice among them. 

Autocratic with group's review and feedback. The leader defines the problem, diagnoses its causes, and selects a solution. The leader then presents his or her plan to the group for understanding, review, and feedback 

Individual Consultative Style. The leader defines the problem and shares this definition with individual members of the work group. The leader solicits ideas regarding problem causes and potential solutions. The leader may also use these individuals expertise in evaluation of alternative solutions. Once this information is obtained, the leader makes the choice of which alternative solution to implement. 

Group Consultative Style. Same as the individual consultative style,except the leader shares his or her definition of the problem with the group as a whole

Group Decision Style. Leader shares his or her definition of the problem with the work group. The group them proceeds to diagnose the causes of the problem. Following diagnosis, the group generates, evaluates, and chooses among solutions. 

Participative Style.The group as a whole proceeds through the entire decision making process. The group defines the problem and performs all other functions as a group. The role of the leader is that of process facilitator. 

 Leaderless Team.  The group has no formal leader, but rather is assembled as a leaderless team. If no substitute for task leadership, or process leadership is present, a process leader often emerges. This person may change from problem to problem. The group generates its own problem definition, performs its own diagnosis, generated alternatives, and chooses among alternatives. 

acilitator.

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Other Information...................

Decision making in groups is sometimes examined separately as process and outcome. Process refers to the interactions among individuals that lead to the choice of a particular course of action. An outcome is the consequence of that choice. Separating process and outcome is convenient because it helps explain that a good decision making processes does not guarantee a good outcome, and that a good outcome does not presuppose a good process. Although these good decision making processes do not guarantee good outcomes, they can tip the balance of chance in favor of good outcomes. A critical aspect for decision making groups is the ability to converge on a choice.

Assets Of Group Consensus Approach

A. Greater sum total of knowledge and information.
B. Greater number of approaches to a problem.
C. Participation in problem solving increases acceptance -- A lower-quality solution that has wide acceptance can be more effective than a higher-quality solution that lacks acceptance.
D. Better comprehension of the decision - The chances for communication failures are greatly reduced when the individuals who must work together in executing the decision have participated in making it.
E. Greater commitment of the members to the decision

 
Liabilities Of Group Consensus Approach

A. Social Pressure - Minority opinions in groups can have little influence on the solution reached, even when these opinions are correct ones. Reaching agreement in a group often is confused with finding the "right answer".
B. Individual Domination - Skilled manipulators or dominant individuals can emerge and capture more than their share of influence on the outcome.
C. Conflicting Secondary Goal - People may aim at winning the argument at the cost of finding the best answer.
D. Risk Taking - The risk of not getting their own way can prevent people from fully participating in the discussion.
E. Time - Listening and considering all points of view in order to arrive at the best solution takes time.

Group Consensus Guidelines
Effectiveness in communication is of paramount importance in the consensus decision making process. You can enhance your group communication by paying attention to the following "DO's and DON'Ts".

DO:
· Listen, not only to the words but to the rationale being offered.
· Pursue, your point and be persistent if you have good information.
· Manage, your time effectively, relative to the number of decisions that are being made.
· Involve all team members to ensure use of their knowledge and experience.
· Strive for the best answer. Thinking in cause-and-effect terms avoids dealing only with symptoms.

DON'T:
· Argue for the sake or winning your point. You may learn something by remaining open- minded.
· Give up on your conclusion simply to avoid conflict. Let objective reasons or sound information prevail.
· Allow the group to get hung up on a specific item-move on and come back later.
· Compete by assuming that someone must win and someone must lose. Look for the best alternative.
· Resort to voting. This tends to split the group into winners and lose

 

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The website is done by Carmela Dalisay and Carolyn  Nazareno and Argie Lyne Molina as a project in Decision Making subject. We hope to help other students and researchers. Thank you for visiting our sites, hope it will help you a lot in your research.