Page 128 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

What Can Be Done to Minimize Groupthink? CHAPTER 4 • Foundations of Decision Making 127
A Question of Ethics
• Encourage cohesiveness.
• Foster open discussion.
• Have an impartial leader who seeks input from all There’s no doubt that American college sports is a big busi-
members. 33 ness, generating billions for colleges and universities and for
the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), the um-

When Are groups Most Effective? brella organization that monitors, oversees, and supports these
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sports programs. The NCAA, which brought in over a billion
Well, that depends on the criteria you use for defining effectiveness, dollars in revenue last year, recently reached a $20 million
such as accuracy, speed, creativity, and acceptance. Group deci- settlement with ex-football and basketball players who had
sions tend to be more accurate. On average, groups tend to make sued about their likenesses being used in videogames made
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better decisions than individuals, although groupthink may occur. by Electronic Arts. This was hailed as a landmark settlement
However, if decision effectiveness is defined in terms of speed, because it’s the first time the NCAA will pay college athletes
individuals are superior. If creativity is important, groups tend to
be more effective than individuals. And if effectiveness means the for their playing a sport. This reflects an ongoing issue: should
degree of acceptance the final solution achieves, the nod again goes college athletes be paid? Not surprisingly, there are pros and
to the group. cons to this decision. And not surprisingly, there are ethical is-
The effectiveness of group decision making is also influ- sues associated with the decision.
enced by the size of the group. The larger the group, the greater If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments sec-
the opportunity for heterogeneous representation. On the other
hand, a larger group requires more coordination and more time tion of mymanagementlab.com to complete these discussion
to allow all members to contribute. This means that groups prob- questions.
ably shouldn’t be too large: A minimum of five to a maximum of Talk About It 5: Paying college athletes: Who are the
about fifteen members is best. Groups of five to seven individuals stakeholders in this situation and what stake do they have?
appear to be the most effective (remember Amazon’s “two-pizza”
rule!). Because five and seven are odd numbers, decision dead- Talk About It 6: How do ethical issues affect decision
locks are avoided. You can’t consider effectiveness without also making and what ethical issues do you see in the decision about
whether to pay college athletes for their time and work?
assessing efficiency. Groups almost always stack up as a poor
second in efficiency to the individual decision maker. Yet, with
few exceptions, group decision making consumes more work
hours than does individual decision making.

Bottom Line on Groups or Individuals: Do increases
in effectiveness offset losses in efficiency?

How Can you Improve group Decision Making?

Use these techniques to make group decisions more creative: (1) brainstorming, (2) the nomi-
nal group technique, and (3) electronic meetings.

WhAT IS BrAInSTormIng? Brainstorming is a relatively simple idea-generating process
that specifically encourages any and all alternatives while withholding criticism of those alterna-
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tives. In a typical brainstorming session, a half-dozen to a dozen people sit around a table. Of
course, technology is changing where that “table” is. The group leader states the problem in a
clear manner that is understood by all participants. Members then shout out, offer up, fire off,
“freewheel” as many alternatives as they can in a given time. No criticism is allowed, and all the
alternatives are recorded for later discussion and analysis. 37

hoW doES ThE nomInAl grouP TEChnIquE Work? The nominal group technique brainstorming
helps groups arrive at a preferred solution by restricting discussion during the decision- An idea-generating process that encourages
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making process. Group members must be present, as in a traditional committee meeting, alternatives while withholding criticism
but they’re required to operate independently. They secretly write a list of general problem nominal group technique
areas or potential solutions to a problem. The chief advantage of this technique is that it A decision-making technique in which group
permits the group to meet formally but does not restrict independent thinking or lead to members are physically present but operate
groupthink, as can often happen in a traditional interacting group. 39 independently