Models of Group Decision Making
In the current era, the competition in every field is increasing due to which it is becoming essential to make effective decisions at every stage. The process of decision making is complex at every stage in the real world and this is the reason it was driven by the multiple factors that include a wide range of stakeholders. The process of decision making can be undertaken in two ways as it can be group decision making or individual decision making. This paper is formed with the motive to further discuss that group decision making is more effective than the individual decision making with the evidence.
In the group decision making there are different models related to the group decision making that can be put to use. In the group decision-making process there are two major examples which include consensus and consultation (Morden, 2017). The consensus includes a different option to the group and further making the use of the most popular decision-making option for their business. On the other hand, the consultation takes the opinion of the group into the considerations while making the strong decision. Both the method is used by the group while participating in the decision-making process for major purposes (Cabrerizo, Moreno, Pérez and Herrera-Viedma, 2010). On the other hand, individual decision making includes the individual person who makes the decisions without any involvement of the other opinion. Considering the fact, I believe that both the methods are used for making effective decisions for social work.
The group decision making has numerous advantages which include drawing of experiences and perceptions from a large number of individuals. This increase the potential to become more creative for the decisions that they are willing to take and with this more effective decisions can take place. This is the fact that the decision taken by the group is beyond the decision taken by the individuals (Saaty and Vargas, 2013). One of the major reason behind the same is that group involve different people with different experience and knowledge which helps in getting maximum outcomes which leads to the far better decision than the individual decisions. The decision-making process becomes more enjoyable when it is conducted in the group rather than the individual which is one of the reasons people take active participation (Robbins and Judge, 2014). This active participation of the members of the group leads to the number of options for the decision making due to which the decision taken by the group become more effective than the individual person. The implementation of the decision will get easy because entire will invest in the decision taken by them rather than the individual decision (Newell, Lagnado and Shanks, 2015).
Advantages of Group Decision Making
Group decision involves a diverse range of people due to which the decision taking include different ideas according to the experiences and background of the people. Moreover, the decision related to the different operations at different places in the business can become more effective due to the presence of diverse people. For example; a company like McDonald’s who provide the employment to the people from different culture and regions gets the benefit of same because they are having operations across the world. The diverse employees of the company help while making the decision related to the product and service that they are willing to offer to the customers in that particular area (Charness and Sutter, 2012). This reflects the role of the diverse people in the group decision making.
The research reflects that the top management teams, a group that debate over an issue for making the right decisions for the team actually deals with the problems that are to perform the betterment in terms of sales and profitability. Though this is the fact that group decisions are effective but it also has numerous disadvantages that might affect the decision taken by the group. Some of them are discussed to analyse the fact related to the best and appropriate way of decision making that can be either group decision or individual decision. This is the fact that group decision making includes the problems of coordination among the group members (Pettigrew, 2014). For example; people who have worked as the individual decision making participates in the group decision making might find the issue in coordinating with the other members present in the group. This coordination issue might take place at the time of the meeting and at social work. In addition to this, some of the group face the use of social loafing and tendency of people for being effortless in the group. In the group decisions making some people don’t put efforts while making the decision in the group affects the idea generation advantage of the group (Charness and Sutter, 2012). This makes the group decision less effective and gives importance to individual decision making.
Another, the disadvantage of the group decision making is time consumption rather than the individual decision making. The group decision making includes analyses and evaluation of the decision and after analyzing all the decision the final innovative and effective decision has been selected (Carpenter, Bauer, Erdogan and Short, 2010). Moreover, the group member needs to discuss the thoughts deeply out of the different alternatives. The preference of the group decision making depends on the situation that is taking place. For instance; in case of emergency there is a need to take the decision quickly which is possible with the individual decision making due to which this decision making is preferred rather than the group decision making. In this case, the individual decision making is appropriate hen they have the entire question that is required to make the basic decisions. Though, if one person doesn’t have the skills to make the decisions then it will affect the decision in the urgency mode also. In this case, it is found that the group decision making remains more effective than the individual decision making.
Disadvantages of Group Decision Making
Individual decision making includes the tendency of the people in which they think and the question before they perform. The individual person who is taking the decision contains knowledge and skills which make them capable enough to take the tough decisions further in life. For example; leaders within the organisation have knowledge and skills with the help of which they can easily manage the team effectively which is must for the success of the business (Marshall, Brown and Radford, 2017). These leaders are able to manage the team which is possible with their practice and situations both in the professional and personal life. This is found that an individual can take the suggestion from the friends and relatives who help them and guide them in making their own decisions. The individual decision making is preferred due to its advantages which are discussed.
Prompt decision making of individuals is one of the reason due to which the method has opted. Unlike, group decision making there are numerous people who are dominated and it consume the time. In addition to this, the individual decision-making process doesn’t require any assembling of people which save their time (Exforsys, 2011). This time is utilized by the individual for evaluating the decision formed by them which leads to the effectiveness of decision. Further, the individuals who are forming the decisions don’t get escape from their responsibilities. This simply means that the individual people get accountable for all their acts and performance related to the decision which is formed by them. Though, in the group decision making if anything went wrong it will be hard to hold one person who remains accountable for the wrong decision that is taken by them (Lunenburg, 2011). Though, this case of wrong decision takes place rarely which makes the people select this method of making the decisions.
Furthermore, the decision taken by the individual not only saves the time but it also saves money and energy with the resources. There is no need of conducting the meetings for making the decision that generally takes place in the process of the group decision making. The individuals who make the decision are more focused than the group but this is the fact that they have lack of the options, ideas and innovation that is possible when the decisions are formed in the group. This shows occurring disadvantage of individual decision making which states that group has the potential of collecting enough information in the single go unlike like the individual who spent the time on collecting the information which is must for making the effective decisions (Francis, 2018). Moreover, the individual people who make the decision make use of own intuition and views due to which the availability of the alternatives or option reduces. Along with this, their intuition and views can be misunderstood or include lack of understanding due to which they take the wrong decisions. In the group decision making, the members of the group share their diverse views due to which the decision-making approach gets improved and remain effective for the organisation.
Individual Decision Making
The major drawback of the individual decision making is that there is no involvement of any other member due to which they face lack of personal development. Though, on the other hand, the group decision making cover this by discovering the hidden talent and core competency of the employees within an organisation. This will enhance the skills and leads to the personal development of the employees within the organisation (Mukherjee et al 2016). An individual member who makes the decision in the social worker will not be able to consider the interest of every member which is not possible in group decision because they take the opinions of every member that is present and accordingly they make the decision within the organisation
The analysis that has been conducted in the paper reflects that group decision making is more effective than the individual decision making because groups members can take the participation while making the decision related to the organisation which helps in making the effective decisions. The group decision generally gets successful in the organisation due to which most of the top management ask their lower manager to discuss the decision which they are taking (Kugler, Kausel and Kocher, 2012). Though the top management can individually make the decision but they have to think and evaluate the exact situation and accordingly to that only they will take the decisions.
In the group decision making, the views and opinions of different people help in getting the innovative idea which not only help in achieving the mission and vision of company but it will also help in dealing with the competitors of the company which helps them in maintaining a good position in the market. This reflects that decision making through the group is effective as there are certain disadvantages but this will become advantages for companies. For example; group decision takes time but at the same time decisions include numerous opinions and innovation that can fulfil the time that is consumed by them in making the decisions for their organisation. Further, the group can evaluate the decisions in the given time frame which helps them in making effective decisions.
In addition, this has been found that group decision helps the employees in learning the new things and the way decision can be taken by the management. Moreover, they understand their value in the organisation which helps them to remain to motivate and to perform social work within the organisation. This is not possible with the help of the individual decision making due to which this can be stated that group decision making either in life or business is effective rather than the individual decision making.
References
Cabrerizo, F.J., Moreno, J.M., Pérez, I.J. and Herrera-Viedma, E. (2010) Analyzing consensus approaches in fuzzy group decision making: advantages and drawbacks. Soft Computing, 14(5), pp.451-463.
Carpenter, M.A., Bauer, T., Erdogan, B. and Short, J. (2010) Principles of management. flat world Knowledge.
Charness, G. and Sutter, M. (2012) Groups make better self-interested decisions. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(3), pp.157-76.
Exforsys (2011) Individual Decision Making [Online]. Available from: https://www.exforsys.com/career-center/decision-making/individual-decision-making.html [Accessed on 12th October 2018]
Francis, K.A. (2018) Group Vs. Individual Decision Making for a Business [Online]. Available from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/group-vs-individual-decision-making-business-448.html [Accessed on 12th October 2018]
Kugler, T., Kausel, E.E. and Kocher, M.G. (2012) Are groups more rational than individuals? A review of interactive decision making in groups. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 3(4), pp.471-482.
Lunenburg, F.C. (2011) Decision making in organizations. International journal of management, business, and administration, 15(1), pp.1-9.
Marshall, J.A., Brown, G. and Radford, A.N. (2017) Individual confidence-weighting and group decision-making. Trends in ecology & evolution, 32(9), pp.636-645.
Morden, T. (2017) Principles of management. New York: Routledge.
Mukherjee, N., Dicks, L.V., Shackelford, G.E., Vira, B. and Sutherland, W.J. (2016) Comparing groups versus individuals in decision making: a systematic review protocol. Environmental Evidence, 5(1), p.19.
Newell, B.R., Lagnado, D.A. and Shanks, D.R. (2015) Straight choices: The psychology of decision making. UK: Psychology Press.
Pettigrew, A.M. (2014) The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T. (2014) Essentials of organizational behavior. Pearson.
Saaty, T.L. and Vargas, L.G. (2013) Criteria for evaluating group decision-making methods. In Decision Making with the Analytic Network Process. Boston: Springer.
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