Decisions 2

Individual or Group Decisions?
In work organisations, many decisions are made by groups rather than individuals on the assumption that group decisions are better than individual decisions.

Think about why this might be, and what downsides there might be.

Individual or group decisions

• A wider range of knowledge, skills and experience to address the problem

• Increased number of approaches to the problem  (avoiding the 'tunnel' vision of a single perspective)

• Better evaluation of ideas (detecting each others errors)

• Increased commitment and sense of responsibility for making the final decision work (can help reduce resistance to change)

• The time it takes to reach group decisions

• Group disagreements and interpersonal conflicts

• Domination by the leader, limiting the involvement of individual members

In reality you cannot generalise about whether individuals or groups make superior decisions. It depends on a range of factors including the knowledge, skills and attitudes of individual group members and group processes such as leadership and communication.

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