Title: Do groups make better decisions than individuals? - Human Interest
Headings: Do groups make better decisions than individuals?
Do groups make better decisions than individuals?
Do groups make better decisions than individuals?
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Content: Research shows that, for top management teams, groups that debate issues and are diverse make decisions that are more comprehensive and better for the bottom line in terms of profitability and sales. Furthermore, groups can overcome some, but not all, of the problems of individual decision-making. Some common pitfalls are a lack of independent knowledge displayed by the phenomenon of Groupthink. Groupthink occurs when group members are too similar, converge too strongly, have a desire to fit into the group and believe other group members have better knowledge. In addition, certain hidden group biases are more prone in group decision-making, such as: Shared Information Bias: One well-established finding in the scientific literature is that group discussions tend to focus on information that is shared by all group members, often at the expense of information that is essential but only held by a minority; and
Amplifying Biases: Groups often amplify the initial preference held by the majority of its members – an effect known as group polarisation. Other pitfalls are that of social loafing and competing goals between the individual and the group.