Meeting Management

Advantages of Group Decision Making

Johnson and Johnson in Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills define effective group decisions as having these characteristics:

1. the resources of group members are fully realized;

2. time is well used;

3. the decision is correct or of high quality;

4. the decision is implemented fully by all the required group members;

5. the problem-solving ability of the group is enhanced, or at least not lessened (1997, p. 228).

These authors cite studies that illustrate the power of group decision making. The first advantage is that of “process gain,” in which interacting with others causes most people to think new thoughts that they wouldn't have had by considering the issue individually (p. 232). The second advantage is that ...