No two groups will ever function in the same way while involved in the process of decision making. Some are proactive groups while there are other groups, which need a driving force or a facilitator to facilitate the process. There are several methods of group decision-making. Here are some of the common methods employed in the process of decision-making:Authoritarian StyleThe authoritarian style is like a dictatorship, in which the decision ultimately rests in the hands of one person.
This style of decision-making is applicable in the presence of a powerful person who dictates the entire process of decision-making and has the final authority on the outcome. This style, although in use at various places, tends to have more disadvantages than advantages because the people whose opinions are disregarded might have negative feelings about the entire process. A variation of this method is the minority control method wherein the group discusses the issues but the power of decision-making rests not in the hands of one but a small group of people within the group.BrainstormingThis group decision-making method is best when the decision-making has to be started from scratch, which means creating the various options and then weighing them. This is an excellent method for group decisions, which is very popular owing to the complete creative freedom it offers to all the participants.
There can be a facilitator to facilitate the entire discussion just to ensure that the people don’t digress. The facilitator can merely help to start off the conversation, provide subtle hints and nudges when the participants get stuck and thus help to make effective and creative group decisions. The positive aspect of this method is that it values the opinion of every individual member and the final decision is reached by consensus.Voting Based MethodThis is a group decision-making process, which is convenient to use when the group has certain set of defined options before it and needs to pick out the optimum solution. A voting system allows every participant to cast his/her vote for the option that he/she thinks is the best. The option that gathers the maximum number of votes is selected.
This method however does not value the individual opinion of each and every participant in the group. A variation of this method is the majority method wherein a majority of people within the group has the power to pass the final decision.Advantages and Disadvantages of Group DecisionsLike any other process, the process of taking group decisions has its own sets of advantages and disadvantages. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of group decisions:Advantages of Group Decisions: * Group decisions help to combine individual strengths of the group members and hence has a set of varied skill sets applied in the decision making process. * Individual opinions can be biased or affected with pre-conceives notions are restricted perspectives, group decision help to get a broader perspective owing to differences of perception between individual in the group. * A group decision always means enhanced collective understanding of the course of action to be taken after the decision is taken.
* A group decision gains greater group commitment since everyone has his/her share in the decision making. * Group decisions imbibe a strong sense of team spirit amongst the group members and helps the group to think together in terms of success as well as failure. Disadvantages of Group Decisions:* One of the major disadvantages of group decision making is that it is more time consuming than the process of individual decision making. * Group decisions take longer to be finalized since there are many opinions to be considered and valued.
* In case of authoritarian or minority group decision making, the people whose opinions are not considered tend to be left out from the decision making process and hence the team spirit ceases to grow. * The responsibility and accountability of the decisions are not equally shared in some cases which leads to a split in the group and hence hamper the overall efficiency of the group. While involved in a group decision making process it is always better to study the advantages and disadvantages of group decisions and hence formulate a group-decision making process that suits your group and gives you the optimum results.
