Introduction
Decision making is a fundamental function in all organizations and the success of the organization is directly dependent on the quality of decisions arrived at. Traditionally, most decisions were made by individuals who typically held high ranks within the organization.
However, this has changed and the popularity of group decision making has increased in the past few decades. This change has been precipitated by the adoption of flatter structures by organizations; a move which has resulted in more group participation in the decision making process.
Undoubtedly, the popularity of groups has increased over the past decade since groups typically outperform individuals and make better use of the available employee talents. However, group decisions are not always the best for the organization.
Currently, there is a certain important organization decision that must be made by a group but in my estimation; a better decision could be made by an individual. In this paper, I will explain why I think an individual’s decision is better suited in this case.
Decision Making Theory
The primary objective of decision making is to choose the most effective and efficient solution among alternatives. Positive theory proposes that a chosen course of action is made from the presumption that it will bring about the desired results for the organization (Gastil, 2010). All purposeful actions undertaken by the group or individual should therefore be geared towards finding options which yield desired results.
Group Decision making
Groups are formed when two or more people interact and are interdependent, or come together so as to achieve certain common objectives. Group decision making involves the members of the group trying to reach an optimal solution by considering the input of the group members.
- Pros
The group members come from varying background and may have differing perspectives and ways of doing things. This increased diversity of view will be brought to the table during decision making (Gottlieb, 2009).
Group deliberations will therefore assist in the identification of strategic problems and opportunities due to the diversity of the group.
There is an increased acceptance of solutions that are arrived at by a group. This is because when a decision is come up with by a group, the members have a sense of ownership for the solution found (Gottlieb, 2009).
Group decision making also results in increased morale by the group members as well as a heightened level of commitment by the individual to the organizational tasks in consideration.
Group decision making results in more complete information being available to aid in the decision making process. This is because group decision making assists in overcoming the limitation on knowledge that an individual may have (Gottlieb, 2009)
. Groups make it possible to pool information concerning various complex tasks. The quality of the decisions made by the group is higher than that of an individual and it is also likely to be more accurate.
- Cons
Arguably the most notable demerit of group decision making is the amount of time consumed in coming up with a decision. In an ideal group setting, every member is required to make a contribution in the decision making process. This will result in significant time consumption compared to the time that it would take for an individual to arrive at a decision.
Time consumed is increased even further when there is polarization in the group. Krizan and Robert (2008, p.191) define group polarization as “the tendency of group members to increase the extremity of their position following discussion of a relevant issue”.
Group decision making may be plagued by domination by one or a few of the group’s members. This dominance might result in aggression and even territorial behavior which is contrary to the goals of the group process which are “sharing and responding to ideas, not taking over” (Kolin, 2009, p.23).
There is increased pressure on individual members of a group to conform in group decision making. This is because some groups require some levels of uniformity for decisions to be successfully arrived at.
Conformity involves having individual members adjust their behavior so as to align with the prevailing standards of the group (Gottlieb, 2009). The group may put pressure on the individual to change their opinion, attitudes or behavior so as to conform to the group template.
Conformity results in many compromises which might lead to the decision arrived at being less than optimal.
Individual Decision Making
The decisions of an individual can play a monumental role in an organization. This is especially so since in all organizations, most of the monumental decisions which can make or break or make the organization are made by individual top managers.
- Pros
Individuals are more likely to arrive at prudent decision for the organization. Research indicates that groups are likely to make greater risks in decision making that an individual would (Rothwell, 2012). This is because the consequences of a wrong decision to a group may not be as severe as they may be to an individual. The individual is therefore more likely to exercise caution when making a decision.
When a timely decision needs to be made, the individual is best suited to make the decision. This is because groups are time consuming as deliberations are made (Gottlieb, 2009). While studies show that committees can make better decisions than the average individual member, they take too much time doing this.
Since the individual is not under any pressure to conform, he/she will come up with an independent solution. This freedom from conformity may result in unorthodox yet effective results being achieved by the individual.
- Cons
An individual suffers from a limitation of knowledge and information. This will hinder the decision making process since the information available may be incomplete. The solution arrived at is therefore likely to be less accurate than would be the case in group decision making (Gottlieb, 2009).
An individual may lack the diversity of view that is inherent in groups. The decision made may therefore be less holistic in view due to the individual’s limited scope. Gastil (2010) asserts that the individual is less likely to take all the significant parameters into consideration when coming up with a decision.
Discussion
As can be seen, both group decisions and individual decisions have their inherent merits and demerits. Groups can be a valuable resource and an avenue through which an organization can harness worker’s creative power (Gottlieb, 2009).
At the same time, groups can be a tremendous waste of time and energy which will reduce organizational efficiency.
The maxim “a camel is a horse designed by a committee” is used to show that groups have the capacity to produce absurd results due to the different perspectives by the members.
This maxim is commonly attributed to Sir Alex Issigonis who was a prominent car designer (Rothwell, 2012). He came up with this maxim to demonstrate that a group has the capability of redesigning a good idea into a less effective one.
This popular saying emphasizes the ineffectiveness that can arise from having too many differing opinions by members in the group. With this in mind, the individual’s decision may be better suited for the organization.
Group decision making results in the filtering out of information that is at the extreme. This means that decisions that are either extremely good or extremely bad are avoided. In the present business environment, an organization’s success is dependent on coming up with novel and extremely good solutions.
Group decision making may therefore keep an organization from achieving its full potential. In such a case, an individual’s decision will be better since he/she can make an extremely good decision.
Conclusion
In this paper, I set out to argue that individual decisions may be more appropriate for the given case as opposed to group decisions. To support this opinion, I have analyzed the various strengths and weaknesses of group decision making.
A detailed discussion of the merits and demerits of individual decisions has also been undertaken. From this, it has been proposed that group decision making has significant setbacks.
For this case, it is therefore my opinion that individual decision making is the most appropriate since it will result in sound decisions being made for the entire organization’s good.
References
Gastil, J. (2010). The Group in Society. Washington DC: Sage Publications.
Gottlieb, M. (2009). Managing group process. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Kolin, P. (2009). Successful Writing at Work. NY: Cengage Learning.
Krizan, Z., & Robert, S.B. (2008). Group polarization and choice-dilemmas: How important is self-categorization? European Journal of Social Psychology, 3(1), 191–201.
Rothwell, D.J. (2012). In Mixed Company: Communicating in Small Groups. New York: Cengage Learning.