The formation of groups can be quite effective in organizations. There are many situations that warrant the use of groups to achieve a desired outcome. Conversely, there are also various situations where individual decision-making would be more effective. This essay sets out to show you various examples of when and where group decision-making should be applied, and also show examples of when the need arises for an individual to make a decision on behalf of a group.
To better understand when it is appropriate to make a group decision or when an individual should take charge, we must examine the various styles of group decision making. According to Davis (2001: 71-73), there are four decision-making styles. Namely the authority or expert style, the consultative style, traditional majority or voting style and the consensus style. The authority decision-making style is where “The boss or manager makes the decision, and everyone is expected to abide by it and help carry it out” Davis (2001: 71). Consultative style is similar to authority style in that one person ultimately makes the decision, but also “gathers input from others” (Davis 2001: 71). Majority or voting style occurs when “the majority seems to think the decision is a good one” (Davis 2001: 71). Finally consensus style occurs when not everybody may agree with the decision, but they agree to try it (Wood, Wallace & Zeffane 2001: 270).
To further extend on the above styles, Edgar Schein (Wood et al 2001) feels that there are various other styles of group decision-making. Decision by lack of interest occurs when “ a course of action is chosen by default” (Wood et al 2001 269), decisions by minority rule occur when a “small sub-group dominates” (Wood et al 2001 269) and decisions by unanimity when it ...