Decision Support Systems for Business Intelligence, Second Edition

Chapter 11. GROUP DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Many decisions in an organization are made not by an individual, but rather by groups of individuals. By its very nature, a group enriches the choice process by gathering the knowledge, experience, and probably different perspectives of several people. The enrichment may in turn allow the group to understand the problem better, spark synergy for creative solutions, and identify errors in the information or process. Finally, since more people are involved, they create a deeper commitment to the choice and thus less resistance to its implementation.

However, groups bring a few drawbacks to the decision process. Most group decisions take longer than individual decisions. Groups tend to spend significant nonproductive time waiting, organizing, or repeating what already has been said. Group dynamics can inappropriately influence the process if there are substantial differences in the rank or temperament of the members. Often, the supporting work may be uncoordinated if completed by multiple individuals or some people may abdicate their tasks and responsibilities to others. Finally, there is social pressure to conform to a group position. "Groupthink" can exist in any group and may exacerbate incomplete or inappropriate uses of information.

Groupthink is an agreement-at-any-costs mentality that often results in ineffective group decision making and poor decisions (Hellriegel et al., 2007). It is associated with groups that have a high degree of ...