Disadvantages of group discussion in business communication
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Disadvantages of Group Decision Making:
There are certain drawbacks in group decision making also. The group processes can negatively affect performance in a variety of ways.
1. The process is highly time consuming in terms of assembling the right group and usually a group takes more time in reaching a consensus since there are too many opinions to be taken into consideration. The time problem increases with the group size.
Accordingly, the urgency of arriving at a decision must be considered when group decision making style is selected.
2. Many times, the participants in group decision making have their own axes to grind or their own interests to protect. These self- centered interests lead to personality conflicts that may create interpersonal obstacles which may diminish the efficiency of the process as well as the quality of the decision.
3. Some members may simply agree with the others for the sake of agreement since there are social pressures to conform and not to be the odd-man out. Thus the desire to be a good group member tends to silence disagreement and favours consensus. The social pressures can be very strong inducing people to change their attitudes, perceptions and behaviours.
4. The group members may exhibit “focus effect. This means that the group may focus on one or few suggested alternatives and spend all the time in evaluating these and may never come up with other ideas, thus limiting the choices.
5. The decisions made by the group may not always be in accord with the goals and objectives of the organizations. This is especially true when the goals of the group and those of individuals do not reinforce each other. This will result in decisions that may be detrimental to organizational benefits.
6. The groups may shift either towards more risk taking or towards less risk taking and either of the shifts may be undesirable. Generally speaking, problems suitable for group decision making involve some degree of risk or uncertainty. But to take excessive risk is as bad as taking no risk at all.
Studies conducted by Stoner showed that groups tend to shift towards riskier decisions. This way, if the decision turns out to be a bad one, the responsibility for it will not be traceable to any particular individual in the group.
There are certain drawbacks in group decision making also. The group processes can negatively affect performance in a variety of ways.
1. The process is highly time consuming in terms of assembling the right group and usually a group takes more time in reaching a consensus since there are too many opinions to be taken into consideration. The time problem increases with the group size.
Accordingly, the urgency of arriving at a decision must be considered when group decision making style is selected.
2. Many times, the participants in group decision making have their own axes to grind or their own interests to protect. These self- centered interests lead to personality conflicts that may create interpersonal obstacles which may diminish the efficiency of the process as well as the quality of the decision.
3. Some members may simply agree with the others for the sake of agreement since there are social pressures to conform and not to be the odd-man out. Thus the desire to be a good group member tends to silence disagreement and favours consensus. The social pressures can be very strong inducing people to change their attitudes, perceptions and behaviours.
4. The group members may exhibit “focus effect. This means that the group may focus on one or few suggested alternatives and spend all the time in evaluating these and may never come up with other ideas, thus limiting the choices.
5. The decisions made by the group may not always be in accord with the goals and objectives of the organizations. This is especially true when the goals of the group and those of individuals do not reinforce each other. This will result in decisions that may be detrimental to organizational benefits.
6. The groups may shift either towards more risk taking or towards less risk taking and either of the shifts may be undesirable. Generally speaking, problems suitable for group decision making involve some degree of risk or uncertainty. But to take excessive risk is as bad as taking no risk at all.
Studies conducted by Stoner showed that groups tend to shift towards riskier decisions. This way, if the decision turns out to be a bad one, the responsibility for it will not be traceable to any particular individual in the group.
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