INDIVIDUAL VS GROUP DECISION MAKING
You are perhaps aware that in recent times most of the decisions
in any large organisation are usually taken by a group of people (e.g., Board
of Directors, Committees, Task-force, etc.) rather than by a single
individual manager, however, brilliant, bright or powerful the manager may be.
Perhaps from your own experience, you are also aware of some of the obvious
advantages and disadvantages of group decision making like the one given below:
Looking at this kind of
a balance-sheet on group decision making, you may well ask whether, on the
whole, groups are superior to individuals as far as the decision making effectiveness is concerned. It is not
possible to give a categorical answer without reference to the nature of the
people, the nature of the group and the context in which the group is making a
decision. However, what we know about the impact of the groups in decision
making process has been summarised by Harrison (1975) in the following way:
