ADVANTAGES AND DIS-ADVANTAGES OF GOOD DECISION MAKING

In most organizations today, important decisions are made by groups rather than by individuals. Group decisions result when several people contribute to a final decision. Group decision making is a collective way of making decisions. It is often used in complex and important situations. Group decision making offers several advantages over the individual decision. The advantages are as follows:

(1) Provide More Information: A group provides a more knowledge and information to the problems. It brings a diversity of experience and perspectives to the decision process.

(2) Generate More Alternatives: Groups have a greater amount and diversity of information than an individual. Hence, they are able to generate more alternatives that reflect their diverse perspectives.

(3) Quality of the Decision: The quality of the decision might be higher because of the combined wisdom of group members. Group members evaluate each others thinking, so major errors are likely to be avoided. Decisions tend to be more creative solutions to the problems.

(4) Increase Acceptance and Commitment: Group decision making is helpful in gaining acceptance and commitment. Participation increases acceptance and satisfaction. People who participate in making a decision will often be more committed to the implementation.

(5)Increase Legitimacy: The group decision making process is consistent with democratic ideals, and decisions made by groups may be perceived as more legitimate than decisions made unilaterally by one person.


Group decision making also has some notable disadvantages. They are as follows:


(1) Time Consuming and Costly: The group decision making process tends to be time consuming and costly. Putting a group together almost always take more time to reach a solution. The result may also be compromises that do not really solve the problem.

(2)Minority Domination: Members of the group are never perfectly equal. They may differ in rank, experience, and knowledge about the problems. This inequality creates the opportunity for one or more members to dominate others. There might be some personalities which may dominate the group.

(3) Pressure to Conform: In group decision making group pressure is present for conformity. Group members withhold may result in disruptive behaviors. It undermines critical thinking in the group and harms the quality of the decision.

(4) Ambiguous Responsibility: In an individual decision, it is clear who is responsible. But in a group decision, the responsibility of any single member is diluted.