Decision Making: Individual Vs. Group Essay

Total Length: 754 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

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To this end, synergy can be likened to economies of scope, whereby the quality of decisions reached goes up with the inclusion of more minds (Nelson & Quick, 2012). Information-sharing is based on the idea that every individual possesses some unique information besides that which is known by everyone (Nelson & Quick, 2012). When several individuals come together in a group, they consolidate these unique pieces of information, creating a more complete informational platform and consequently, a decision of high quality (Nelson & Quick, 2012).

Group decision making is not without its share of drawbacks; i) since the technique is built on consultations, it usually involves lengthy procedures that could be quite costly to the organization, ii) it could kill team spirit, especially if some members feel that they are being shortchanged, iii) decisions are largely influenced by members' relative statuses - in an academic group task, for instance, members could adopt an option just because it has been voiced by the smartest member and, iii) groupthink could develop, especially if effective consensus-determination conditions have not been established (Nelson & Quick, 2012).


Individual Decision Making: the advantages of individual decisions include; i) the process is fast and consumes less time and resources, ii) it allows individuals to think for themselves and, iii) there is a deeper sense of accountability and responsibility (Nelson & Quick, 2012).

The disadvantages are that; there is limited room for synergy, and that information-sharing is restricted, and there is a very negligible (or no chance at all) of one learning new information (Nelson & Quick, 2012).

The issue of time still remains quite controversial, especially after empirical research indicated that individuals do not reach their decisions any faster than groups do (Band & Partridge, 2001). This only means that a lot is still unclear in the group vs. individual decision making debate and that there is need for more research......

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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/decision-making-individual-group-186523