Organizational Behavior

Strengths of Group Decision Making

The Strengths of Group Decision Making over the Individual Decision:

  • Since group members have different specialties, they tend to provide more information and knowledge. Also, the information tends to be more comprehensive in nature and the groups can generate a greater number of alternatives. There is often truth to the axiom that “two heads are better than one.”
  • Implementation of the decision is more effective since the people who are going to implement the decision, either participated in the group themselves or had their representatives in it. This also increases the commitment of people to see the implementation of success. It is important that the decision is accepted by all because even a low-quality decision that has acceptance can be more effective than a higher quality decision that lacks general acceptance.
  • The input from a larger number of people eliminates the biases that are generally introduced due to individual decision making. It also reduces the unreliability of individual decisions.
  • The participative style of decision-making process builds up foundations as a training ground for subordinates who develop the skills of objective analysis of information and deriving of conclusions.
  • The group decision making is more democratic in nature, while individual decision making is perceived to be more autocratic in nature. The democratic processes are more easily acceptable and are consistent with the democratic ideals of our society.