MGT 3200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Role Conflict, Group Decision-Making, Social Loafing
Document Summary
Gdm= individual efforts/contributions + assembly effects process losses. The optimal size for a group (one that makes the best decisions), as discovered by empirical research, is 5 to 7 people. Preferably, you should also have odd-numbered groups (5 or 7). The group should also be made up of members who don"t think alike (you want heterogeneity). If everybody thinks alike, then what you really have is an individual decision being made. One caution: you don"t want too much heterogeneity because this could lead to too much conflict. You want people who agree on the basic values concerning the decision but they have different areas of expertise and different ways of viewing the problem: advantages of gdm. Group decision making has several advantages: more information is available to help solve the problem: greater pooled resources, evaluation is superior because you have a wide range of viewpoints.
