Introduction
Organizational behavior is the study of group and individual dynamics within organizational setting, and the nature of these organizations themselves. It also studies the impact of human behavior such as individuals, groups, as well as structures within the organizations. This study complements the theory of the organization that focuses both the organizational as well as intra-organizational topics. In addition, it also complements the human resource studies that focus more on daily business practices.
The theories and models that are described within the context of organizational behavior, for instance, the theories of decision making practices - which are very crucial tools within the organization, tend to be influenced by the human behaviors at an individual or group level. However, group decision making tends to be better when it comes to decision making in a turbulent environment as compared to the individual decision making (Lunenburg, 2011).
Group decision making technique is an excellent technique for performing many decision-making processes even in a turbulent environment. They are the providers of both depth and breadth of input for gathering information. The analysis of decision making will be critical if the group involved in the decision making is made up of the individuals who are originating from a diverse background (Lunenburg, 2011).
Over the past years, the use of this technique of group decision making within the organizations has extended significantly. Parks and Crowlin (1995) found out that the use of groups in the organizations have contributed a lot in making very important decisions. It is also noted that the decisions made by groups are sometimes better as compared to those made by the individuals. According to Moon at al., 2003, it is important to think about the problem at hand at an individual level and make judgments first, before meeting as a group, since this has shown to have great impact in other decision making areas. This will ensure that during group meeting, individuals will be more confident of their answers as well as their decisions. On the other hand, the decisions reached by groups will tend to lie in between the individuals’ judgments if the members factored in the stimulus prior to group meeting.
There are several benefits that are linked to group decision making, which includes the following: a) the problem at hand is solved with efficiency due to availability of more expertise and knowledge; b) all the group members are committed to make effective final decision to solve the problem; c) there is a wide variety of alternatives to be examined by the group members; and d) the final decision reached by the group is accepted and better understood by all members (Lunenburg, 2011). Lunenburg pointed out that the consensus decisions made by five or more members are superior as compared to those reached by an individual.
Despite the benefits of employing group decision making, group discussion can be negatively affected by factors such as by minority domination; for example where a group’s decision may be forced trough by one individual, some individuals may be forces to conform to the wishes of other group members, the other factor is the delay involved with group decision making since it involves dialogue and discussion (Lunenburg, 2011).
However, group decision making may be made effective by putting into consideration factors such as; group size which should comprise between 5 to 12 members depending on the task involved, creating the right atmosphere physical space, goals, support, commitment and communication systems are all combined to enable the group to effectively work in a productive environment. One should consider motivation and ability when it comes to selecting group members. In addition, group cohesion must be built by encouraging contact and interaction among group members. This will ensure that all group members are honored to be part of the group (Lunenburg, 2011).
In order to ensure that groups come up with sound decisions that lead to high performance, five important structures can be involved. The first technique is the nominal group techniques; this involves generation of ideas and evaluation of the ideas generated. The second technique is brainstorming; this involves generating a number of alternative solutions to a given problem. The third technique is the devil’s advocacy; this techniques helps in improving the quality of group decisions by giving room for conflict during the decision making process. Conflict in this situation arises where one of the group members assumes the role of the devil advocate where he or she criticizes every alternative solution to the problem. The fourth one is the Delphi technique; this technique does not involve face to face discussions, instead, individuals send via mail their ideas, this gives room for many ideas which the experts will pick the best out of all the ideas received. The fifth technique is the dialectical inquiry; this is a technique for controlling group thinking in arriving at a given decision (Lunenburg, 2011).
It is therefore important for organizations to know that in order to obtain an optimal solution within a turbulent environment, effective groups or committees should be set up to participate in making the final decision other than relying to a particular individual who may bring about biasness based on wrong judgment.
References
Lunenburg, F. (2011). Decision Making in Organizations. International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, 15(1), 1-9. Retrieved from http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C.%20Decision%20Making%20in%20Organizations%20IJMBA%20V15%20N1%202011.pdf
Moon, H. at al. (2003). Group decision process and incrementalism in organizational decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 92, 67-79. Retrieved from http://test.scripts.psu.edu/users/s/e/seh25/Moon%20Conlon%20Humphrey%20Quigley%20Devers%20Nowakowski%202003.pdf
Parks, C. D., & Cowlin, R. (1995). Group discussion as affected by number of alternatives and by a time limit. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 62, 267–275.
