Negative Aspects of Collaboration?

Think about a time when you’ve been in a group that had to make a collective decision that didn’t turn out well. Can you identify any specific decision making errors the team made? A collective decision is most effective when all partners exercise leadership. Partners need to work collegially instead of dominating those they perceives as less powerful. Partners ideally bring a variety of strengths and potential contributions to the table. Collective decision need each partner’s power and strength, with new operating principle that sees the whole collaborative as greater than the sum of its parts.

Leaders from partner organization may experience difficulty in sharing power, but collaborative will fail unless partners willingly cultivate a new style of leadership or partnership that is equal. Collective decision often time consuming because I was in group decision that took a long time to reach a solution. Whenever someone makes a compelling claim, there would be another person asking for supporting data. There were conformity pressures.

There was issue by group members to be accepted and considered an asset to the group can squash any overt disagreement. Group decision can be dominant by one or few members looking for faulty cause-and-effect reasoning. If they’re low and medium ability members they sometime don’t have evidence, or proposed strategies and use the resulting data to guide decision, the group’s overall effectiveness will suffer. May time group decision suffer from ambiguous responsibilitiy. In an individual decision, it’s clear who is accountable for the final outcome. In group decision, the responsibility of any single members is diluted. There were some decision making errors the team made:

* Anchoring. Many group members gave disproportionate weight to the first information they receive. Be sure to pursue other lines of thinking, even if the first one seems right. * Status quo. Change can be unsettling and it’s easy to favor alternatives that keep things the same. Ask yourself if the status quo truly serves your objectives and downplay the urge to stay in your current state.

*Confirming Evidence. If you find that new information continually validates your existing point of view, ask a respected colleague to argue against your perspective. Also try to avoid working with people who always agree with you. * Weaknesses. No group interaction, team members are not truly involved in the decision. Opinion of least and most knowledgeable members many cancel. Commitment to decision may not be strong. Unresolved conflicts many exist or escalate and May damages future team effectiveness

In the situation you encountered, can you think of any strategies that would have helped make the group decision-making process more efficient and accurate? Team decision making is the process through which a team chooses an alternative. Team performance depends largely on the choices made by the team. These choices, in turn, depend on the processes through which teams decide. Therefore, high performance teams require processes through which teams make high quality decisions. There are many strategies that helped make the group decision process more efficient and accurate.

* Creativity. Is important, group tend to more effective and effectiveness * Accurate. The decision of the average individual in a group, but less accurate than the judgment of the most accurate. * Speed. Individual are superior in their decision making process * Strength. Extreme opinions canceled out. Group’s members consulted. Useful when it is difficult to get the team together to talk. Urgent decisions can be made * Effective. Form loyalties to their own group, encourage and support other members and also mediate difference in the group

Can you think of a type of decision that is probably better made by an individual than a group? What types of decisions need to be made by groups? Individual decision making without a group’s input or a decision made regardless of the group’s opinion is, naturally, an individual decision. This is the more traditional decision making approach and can work effectively for a manager when the group’s input is not required or in a certain cases, desired. An individual can make a better decision that a group one is a Creativity at Work.

Creativity is a process influenced by individual and organizational factors that result in the production of useful ideas, products, or both. The ability to promote creativity is an important competency that managers need to develop in order to succeed. A personality factor appears to be related to creativity. These characteristic include intellectual and artistic values, breadth of interest, high energy, concern with achievement, independence of judgment, intuition, self-confidence, and a creative self-image There are several types of group decisions:

* Unilateral – a decision made by one person, often the nominal leader, without consultation with other group members. At times, it can be appropriate. For example, a minor decision that needs to be made right away. If it is repeated and inappropriate, this type of decision can carry a very low group commitment. * Handclasp- decisions made by two members. One suggests, the other endorses and carries it through without adequate discussion or group consideration.

This type has high commitment for the two who made it, but generally not for the others. * Clique – similar to the handclasp but with more people involved. This type usually occurs when a close sub-group decides what is good for the rest of the group. Repeated clique decisions cause splintering of the group and low commitment. * Baiting – a technique that reduces discussions around decisions. A person will say, Now we are all agreed, and only the very will speak up. This usually suppresses obvious dissention and lowers group commitment. * Majority Rule – a popular way of making decisions.

However, if the outcome of a secret ballot vote would produce any surprises, it is not a good time to make majority rule decisions. What happens is that a sizeable sedment of the group may feel devalued and decrease their commitment to the decisions in which they “lose” to the majority vote. * Consensus- Similar to majority rule, but everyone knows that what they think and value is being considered by all, and there will be no surprises if you vote. Each person will agree that, under the circumstances, which may not be ideal, the decision made is a fair and workable one that they can live with and support.