mgt 345 exam 3
Model of Groupthink
- Antecedent Conditions - Decision Symptoms - Decision Defects
Unstructured Group decisions Compared To Structured Decision Making Techniques
- Delphi and Ringi techniques use only written communication - nominal group technique requires each group member to generate ideas independently and then to interact only to choose among alternative ideas; allows decisions to be made by larger groups of people who do not have to meet - can produce decisions that are as good as or better than decisions produced from group discussions, and they can do so more efficiently - people are satisfied with their levels of participation using these approaches - based on the assumption that socializing, unequal participation, and other aspects of group discussions are problems - impersonal atmosphere of these decision-making techniques reduces people's acceptance and commitment to a decision
Ringi Technique
- Japanese decision-making technique used for dealing with controversial topics - allows a group to deal with conflict while avoiding a face-to-face confrontation - face-to-face confrontations are considered inappropriate in Japanese culture - a written document presenting the issue and its proposed resolution is developed anonymously; this document is circulated among group members, who individually write comments, edit the document, and forward it to other group members - the comments are used to rewrite the document, and it is recirculated through the group; this process continues until group members stop writing comments on the draft - can be a slow process, and there is no guarantee that the group will come to agreement - anonymous comments allow everyone to state their true convictions, while avoiding any embarrassment that might arise in a confrontation
Nominal Group Technique
- a decision-making technique that allows a group of people to focus on the task of making a decision without developing any social relations - this technique can be used by a collection of people who are brought together to make a decision - when using this technique, the leader states the problem to the group; people write down their solutions to the problem privately; each person then publicly states his or her answer, and the answers are recorded so everyone can see them; group members may ask questions to clarify the others' positions, but they cannot criticize the ideas; the participants then use a rank-ordering procedure to rate the value of the solutions; this rank ordering is used to select the group's preferred solution - requires a trained facilitator to conduct the session, and only one narrowly defined problem can be addressed at a time
Benefits Of Using A Group To Make A Decision
- a team brings more resources to a problem than are available to one person - process gain - a team has a better memory for past facts and events, so it is less likely to repeat mistakes - team members combine different skills and knowledge to make higher quality decisions - motivational effects; encourages members to try to make good decisions and to perform better; members become more committed to a decision in which they participated so they are more likely to support its implementation - members gain a better understanding of the issues involved by participating in the discussion - the team learns how to make decisions; a team can become more efficient at decision making, thereby reducing many of the problems inherent in group decision making - the availability of information available from the diverse team members
"Babble Effect"
- aka participation rate - the most important predictor of group selection of a leader - group members are more likely to select the most frequent communicator as the leader - the quantity of communication is more important than quality for leadership selection - it appears that people who communicate frequently demonstrate active involvement and interest in the group, and this implies a willingness to work with the group members
structural decision-making flaws
- create bad decisions because they impair the group decision-making process - these flaws include ignoring input from outside sources, a lack of diversity in viewpoints within the group, acceptance of decisions without critical analysis, and a history of accepting decisions made by the leader
quality
- decision-making techniques that include group discussion and participation lead to higher quality decisions - especially true if the problems are complex or unstructured or if leaders do not have enough information to make good decisions - for some issues, leader can make high quality decisions alone - for issues that are relatively trivial, high quality decisions are not necessary so leaders make the decisions instead
The Behavioral Approach To Leadership
- defines leadership as a set of appropriate behaviors - the goal of this approach is to define how good leaders act in order to train people to be good leaders - focuses on two issues: decision-making style and task vs social focus
Groupthink
- describes a number of group decision-making flaws caused by the group's desire to maintain good relations rather than to make the best decision - instead of searching for a good answer, they search for an outcome that preserves group harmony; this leads to a bad decision that is then accompanied by other actions designed to insulate the group from corrective feedback
Causes Of Group Decision-Making Problems
- disagreement, negative emotions, time pressure, and external stress - group polarization can affect a group decision by making the result more extreme because of interpersonal processes - groupthink describes a number of group decision-making flaws caused by the group's desire to maintain good relations rather than to make the best decision
Traits Related To Leadership
- effective leaders have more drive, honesty, leadership motivation, self-confidence, intelligence, knowledge of business, creativity, and flexibility
Decision Defects
- group considers only a few alternative when making a decision - group fails to examine the adverse consequences of its decision or consider what to do if the decision does not work - group does not seek the advice of outside experts
Speed
- group decision making is slower than individual decision making - in some cases, the issue is not speed, but priority; it is important to prioritize the decisions a team needs to make - some decisions are important and must be made quickly, whereas other decisions can be put off until the team gathers more information; teams often spend too much time on unimportant decisions and not enough time on the important ones
Decision Symptoms
- illusion of invulnerability - direct pressure on dissenters - self-censorship - illusion of unanimity - mind guards
Normative Decision Making
- it is a leadership theory that can be used by teams to help select the best decision making approach - based on the assumption that the best type of decision-making approach depends on the nature of the problem - problem: determines how important quality, speed, and acceptance are in reaching a decision; once it is understood, the best decision-making approach is selected - this practice is typically used by the leader to analyze a problem to determine the best decision-making approach - the analysis of the problem focuses on two issues: whether a quality decision is important and whether acceptance of the decision by subordinates is important; seven questions are used to analyze a problem - once a leader analyzes the nature of the problem, a decision tree is used to tell the leader what type of decision-making approach to use - in general, the leader should use more group-oriented approaches when a high-quality decision is needed or when team acceptance is needed to implement the decision - research on this theory has been fairly supportive, although the results depend on the decision-making skills of the leader
Solutions to Groupthink
- leaders should reserve expressing their opinion at the beginning of the group's discussion - the group should establish a norm that encourages critical thinking during decision-making - members should acknowledge each other's areas of expertise and roles, and the leader should request that members present the unique perspective from their roles - after the decision has been made, the group should schedule another meeting to identify the benefits and problems with decisions before finalizing them
external pressure
- limits discussion time and encourages the group to support the first plausible option presented to the members - symptoms convince the group that it has made a good decision and that everyone in the group agrees with it - the collective effect of these symptoms is a poor decision, made without considering alternative options or long-term consequences of the decision
Consultative Group Decision Making
- one person has authority to make the decision, but he or she may ask for advice and comments from team members before deciding - the leader typically gives more weight to his or her own opinion and the opinions of members with similar views - often used in a work team when the leader has management authority and responsibility for the team decision - used when a project is divided into parts and one person is responsible for a part; that person may ask for advice and may need to coordinate with others, but if it primarily affects the person's part of the project, he or she makes the final decision - uses only some of the team's resources - very efficient decision-making approach, taking little time to complete, and it may provide the leader with crucial information to help make a decision - 25% of teams use this
Problem With The Trait Approach To Leadership
- people who are successful leaders in one situation are not necessarily successful in others - is it better to be intelligent or to be able to communicate? - successful leaders are motivated, but what type of motivation is important? - too much flexibility with leaders - different leaders need different traits
Group Decision Making And Disagreements
- premature closure - politics, a domineering leader, hidden agendas, poor norms, and other factors can cause this - because of this, there is social pressure for people to agree with each other in a meeting, so misinformation is often not corrected and may be amplified - the group discussion focuses on common information because members are less willing to express their unique perspective because it is at odds with the group - these problem relate to the group process rather than to the topic of the decision - when these problems disrupt the discussion of the decision, the group needs to focus on improving its internal communication - helps stimulate thinking and leads to better decisions - if this is substantial, the group discussions are rated as less satisfying experiences by team members and reduce interest in continuing to interact with the team - yet, too little of this is a problem
Evaluating Which Approach A Group Should Use To Make A Decision
- quality - speed - acceptance or support - a good decision-making approach should use the resources of the team to make a high-quality decision - the decision-making process should reflect efficient time management - once a decision has been made, the members of the team should be willing to accept it and support its implementation - these three criteria are important depending on the situation - quality and speed: when more time is available for making a decision, there is also more time for gathering and analyzing information, which improves the quality of the decision speed and acceptance: decisions made by Japanese companies vs US companies
Consensus Group Decision Making
- requires discussion of an issue until all members have agreed to accept it; acceptance does not mean that the decision is a member's favorite alternative: it means that the member is willing to accept and support the decision - might be time consuming, but it is the best way to fully use team resources - improve the team operation when it is successful - should be used for important decisions requiring the full support of the team for implementation - take time, energy, and skill, but has a greater likelihood of being implemented by the team - 62% of teams use this
Three Main Factors contribute to Groupthink
- structural decision-making flaws - group cohesiveness - external pressure
Antecedent Conditions
- structural: group has a domineering leader and limited input from outside the group - cohesiveness: the desire to maintain good relations is dominant - stress: outside forces put stress on the group to make a decision
acceptance or support
- the decision should include input from team members - teams often use decision-making techniques (e.g., voting) to speed up the decision-making process, but these techniques can limit the level of acceptance of the decision - teams use consensus decision making
Shared Leadership
- the notion that leadership functions can be shared or performed by various members of a team - the team's task can be divided into specific functions, and the responsibilities for each function assigned to a team member to perform - team members may be rotated through the different roles to develop the skills within the team - focuses on participative decision making, developing social relations and support, and empowerment - leadership becomes a dynamic, ongoing process of mutual influence that can be performed by any member of the team - an important resource for the team when it faces challenges that no single individual is capable of managing - overall positive impacts on a team and helps to improve both the task and social aspects of team performance - has a stronger effect on performance when the team's task is more complex, knowledge based, and requires interdependent coordinated activity - emphasizes the social relations among team members and the collective enactment of leadership - promotes trust, team cohesion, and satisfaction
Trait Approach To Leadership
- the oldest model of leadership - good leaders have certain characteristics; if these characteristics are identified and measured, subsequently, it should be possible to know how to select good leaders - use tests to select good leaders
Democratic Group Decision Making
- the team votes on a decision - quick way of including all team members' opinions - majority decisions often work better than stricter criteria - simple majorities produce high-quality decisions with little cognitive effort - 13% of teams use this
process gain
- their interaction leads to new ideas that no single member would have developed - incorrect information is more likely to be identified and rejected by a team rather than by an individual
premature closure
- trying to avoid disagreement by voting to make a quick decision - this technique works for making the decision, but often leads to implementation problems later
Disadvantages of Democratic Group Decision Making
- voting can prematurely close discussion on an issue that has not been fully resolved; this can lead to a lack of commitment from the losing minority - voting may create resentment among team members because there are winners and losers - those who disagree with the vote may be unwilling to support and implement the decision after it has been made
group decisions are better than individual decisions
- when teams successfully pool resources to solve problems or make decisions - successful pooling - team composition: teams with heterogeneous members with complementary skills make superior group decisions; diversity of opinion is a major advantage of using teams - good communication: group decisions are better only if the discussion process successfully pools the knowledge and ideas of the team members - need for teams to make decisions: teams are needed for tasks that are too complex for one individual to perform or problems that are too difficult for one individual to solve
important points of normative decision making
- when the decision is important and requires support to implement, the decision-making process should be group oriented - when the decision is trivial and just needs to be made, it is a waste of the team's time to discuss it; democratic or consensus decision making wastes time on trivial issues - one important function of the team leader is to manage the situation; the leader handles the minor and administrative decisions so the team has the time to focus on the important issues
Contingency Approach
Attempts to combine personality or behavioral characteristics of leaders with situational characteristics.
Trait or Personality Approach
Based on the belief that good leaders have certain traits.
Adv. of Consensus
Best use of team resources, better likelihood of implementation.
approaches to group decision making
Consultative, Democratic, Consensus
Causes of Group Decision-making problems
Disagreements, Time Pressure to decide, Outside Stress
Group Superior if resources are successfully pooled
Group compsotion, good communication, need for groups.
Process Gain
Interaction between group members brings new ideas that no sinigle member would have developed.
Ringi Technique
Japanese decision-making technique used for dealing with controversial topics. no face-to-face contact, written document presenting the isse and its proposed resoluton is developed anonymously SLOW process, No guarantee on agreement
Consultative Group Decision Making Example
Leader Oriented: Leader decides; Leader assigns expert to make the decision; Leader consults with team and then decides
Team Leader Vs. Manager
Manager is given power, authority , responsible for subordinates, authority to make decison. Leader does not have power or Authority, team is responsilbe for the actions of its members, leader facilitates decision making.
Three Approaches of coaching
Motivational, consultative, and educational.
Decison-making Techniques
Nominal Group Technque, Delphi Technque, Ringi Technique, Evaluation of Decision-making Techniques.
Group Polarization
Occurs when group discussion leads members to make decisions that are more extremely on the side of the issue that the group initially favored.
Advantages to Group Decision making
Process gain, Higher qualty decisions, motivational effects.
Disadvatages of Group Decision making
Process loss, communication problems, and failure to pool knowledge.
Primary Criteria for evaluating a decision-making approach are
Quality, Speed, and Acceptance
Delphi Technique
Series of surveys. Useful with large groups that work in different geographical areas. Takes too much time, Need skills to develop and analyze surveys.
Multiple Linkage Model(Contingency Theory)
States that successful performance of a team depends on the six intervening variable; member effort, member ability, organization of the task, teamwork and cooperativeness, availability of resources, and external coordination.
Three main factors that contribute to groupthink
Structural decison-making flaws, group cohesiveness, and external pressure.
Autocratic Leaders
Tend to be more efficient decision makers, but creates dissatisfaction and implementation problems among followers.
Groupthink Examples
The US invasion of Iraq in 2002, based on the belief that Iraq possessed WMDs
DisAdv. of Consensus
Time, energy, and Skill
Four leadership Approaches
Trait or Personality, Behavioral, Situational, and Contingency
Consultative Approach Adv.
Very efficient, takes little time to complete, may provide crucial information to help make a decision.
Individual decisions superior if
action from most members not required, simple and quick
Normative decision-making theory
based on the assumpton that the best type of decision -making approach depends on the nature of the problem.
Consensus Approach
decusuin making requires discussion of an issue untill all members have agreed to accepts it. BEST use of TEAM Seources.
Behavioral Approach
defines leadership by the ways leaders act. attempts to determines what good leaders do in order to train people to be good leaders.
Motivational Coaching
designed to minimize social loafing and increase team commitment.
Disadvantages of Consultative Group Decision Making
does not fully develop commitment to a decision, does not resolve conflicts among team members, and may encourage competition among team members to influence the leader
Consultative Approcah DisAdv.
does not fully develop commitment to decsion, does not resolve conflicts amond team members, may encourage competiton,
Nominal Group Technique
does not require a ture group, people wirte down solutoins, states his or her opinion, answers get recorded, not criticized, use a rank ordering procedure to rate the value of the solution. ( quick, No pressure, does not require group members to get to know one another) Disadvatages: requires facilitator, narrow problems only.
group cohesiveness
encourages groupthink by creating an environment that limits internal dissension and criticism
Japanese Organizations
final decisions are not made until commitment has been gained to implement the decisions from all relevant participants. Once they make decisions, they are quickly able to implement them
Consultative Coaching
focuses on strategies to improve team performance and increase coordination among team roles and tasks
traditional manager
given power and authority by the organization over subordinates; responsible for the actions of his or her subordinates; has the authority to make decisions; responsible for handling personnel issues (e.g., employee hiring, evaluation, reward)
illusion of invulnerability
group believes that its decision will work
good communication
group decisions are better only if the discussion process successfully pools the knowledge and ideas of the team members
illusion of unanimity
group members believe that everyone agrees with the decision
self-censorship
group members do not state their opinions if they differ from the group
mind guards
group members protect the leader and group from negative information about the decision
direct pressure on dissenters
group suppresses negative comments in group discussion
Educational Coaching
helps build the knowledge, skills and abilities of team members and team as a whole.
Democratic Approach
includes all the team members' opinions. Quick ,and produce high quality decisions with little cognitive effort.
team leader
is not given power and authority by the organization over subordinates; the team in responsible for the actions of its members; facilitates decision making; usually do not have the authority to perform personnel functions
DisAdv. of Democratic Decision making Approach.
lack of commitmnet from the losing minority, Premature closing of dicussion, Resentment.
Leader-member exchange model
looks inside a work group to see how leader and subordinates interact.
US organizations
make decisions faster; except they are both slower and more likely to fail at implementation
Heterogrneous members with complementary skills
make superior decisions making
Babble Effect
most frequent communicator in the group
Groupthink
number of group decision-making flaws caused by the group's desre to maintain good relations rather than to make the best decision.
Consultative Approach
one person has authority to make the decision, but he or she may ask for advice and comments from team members before deciding
individual decisions are better than group decisions
preferable when the issue does not require action from most team members; the decision is so simple that one person has enough information to make a good decision; or the decision has to be made quickly
Leadership
process in which an individual influence the prgress of the group members toward attaintment of a goal.
Situational Approach
questions the necessity of leadership. attempts to determines when leaders are needed and what factors can substitute for leadership.
advantages of nominal group techiques
relatively quick, discourages pressure to confirm, and does not require group members to get to know one another before the decision-making process
Charismatic Leaders ( Situation approach)
require situations in which people have important needs and are searching for others to help solve them.
Disadvantages Consensus Group Decision Making
takes time, energy, and skill
Team Coaching
team leader intervention designed to improve coordination and performance by providing guidance to the team. it is about building the team, not about directing the team how to do its work.
need for teams to make decisions
teams are needed for tasks that are too complex for one individual to perform or problems that are too difficult for one individual to solve
team composition
teams with heterogeneous members with complementary skills make superior group decisions; diversity of opinion is a major advantage of using teams
Democratic Leaders
tend to encourage higher morale, job satisfaction, and commitment but decision making can be slow and leaders may be viewed as week.
Rational Influence
the ability of team members to evaluate and reward each other's performance provides motivation to perform. deals with the problems of social loafing because team members are aware they are being evaluated by their peers.
Normative Influence
the sense of belonging and attachment to the team creates social pressure on members to perform. Group cohesion becomes the motivating force for the team.
quality and speed
when more time is available for making a decision, there is also more time for gathering and analyzing information, which improves the quality of the decision speed and acceptance: decisions made by Japanese companies vs US companies
Leadership prototype theory
you form a concept by creating a mental image that based on the average characteristics of an object. Stereotypes about men and women leaders.
