The pros and cons of group decision making

Posted by SharonEvans on February 5th, 2014

The moment you see that we are talking about using a decision making software application for group decision making you can become slightly pessimistic. We wouldn’t blame you for this because all this while we kept hearing that making decisions individually or in groups requires rational thinking and collaboration (for group decisions). Where does a software application come into the picture here? Well, you will find that such an application plays a critical role in making a group make a decision. And we can assure you that you have nothing to lose when using one such application.

Group decision making has its pros and cons as we all know. One cannot say whether collaborative decision making is good or bad. In an organizational setup groups have to come together for decision making so it’s always better to handle this task effectively. With a decision making software application this task can become much easier.

So what are the pros of group decision making?

A group has more accumulation of facts and knowledge that can be shared among the members for more effective decision making. A decision making software application plays an important role in this perspective because all organization decision data can be stored in such an application.

A group always has a broader perspective of the situation at hand. Hence, not only decisions are taken basis the perspectives many alternative solutions are also identified as contingency plan.

Through this form of decision making it is possible to make people communicate better and work as a team. Every member in the group knows their roles and responsibilities and everyone is attuned to the final outcome of the decision taken.

Now for the cons of group decision making.

When a group works together to make decisions the process can often be slow and laborious. When a management overly relies on collaborative decision making this often impacts the speed of decision making. This may not be suitable for all situations.

Groups often have dominant members who override others’ points of view. This can lead to many compromises and the best decision can get masked among the voices of the more dominant members.

Collaborative decision making may have its cons but ultimately it serves an organization well. When people decide in a group they are more committed. Ideally there should be a facilitator to manage the entire process. This facilitator should be able to use a decision making software application to ensure that hard facts are used for the decision making process and not what people think or what their perspective or perceptions are.

Now that you have reached this point we hope that we have been able to sway your decision slightly toward using a decision making software application for group decision making. If you want more information on such applications please feel free to visit the websites of some vendors that deal in these applications. Some of them allow you trial periods and you must try out a few applications and choose one of them.

While group decision making has its benefits it has its liabilities too. For the most effective group decision outcome consider using a decision making software application.