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Principles
of Management MGT503
VU
Lesson
7.19
GROUP
DECISION MAKING AND
CREATIVITY
Group
Decision making
Decisions
on all levels of organization are
frequently made by
groups.
C.
Group
decision making has several
advantages and disadvantages
over individual
decision
making.
3.
Some
advantages
of
group decision making include
e)
Groups
bring more diverse
information and knowledge to bear on
the
question
under consideration.
f)
An
increased number of alternatives can be
developed.
g)
Greater
understanding and acceptance of the final
decision are likely.
h)
Members
develop knowledge and skill for
future use.
4.
Group
decision making has several
disadvantages
when
compared to individual
decision
making.
e)
Group
decision making is more time
consuming.
f)
Disagreements
may delay decisions and
cause hard feelings.
g)
The
discussion may be dominated by one or a
few group members.
h)
Groupthink
is the
tendency in cohesive groups to
seeks agreement about
an
issue at the expense of realistically
appraising the situation.
D.
Managers
can enhance group
decision-making processes by taking
steps to avoid the
pitfalls
of group decision
making.
4.
Individuals
should be involved only if they have
information and knowledge
relevant
to the decision.
5.
The
composition of the group should reflect the diversity
of the broader
workgroup.
Heterogeneous groups have
been found to be more effective
over
time
than groups with the same
nationality and ethnic
backgrounds.
6.
Two
tactics are available to
avoid groupthink
(a)
Devil's advocates are
individuals who are assigned
the role of making sure than the
negative aspects of
any
attractive decision alternatives are
considered.
(b)Dialectical
inequity is a
procedure in which a decision situation
is
approached
from two opposite points of
view.
E.
Several
groupware
software
packages are now available
to enable managers to make
use of
recent
advances in information technology that
enables groups to utilize
computers in their
decision
making.
Teleconferencing
enables groups to "meet"
electronically-either by conference
1.
phone
hookups or through computer networks.
Group
decision support systems are
new specialized computer-based
information
2.
systems
which support groups working
on less well defined
problems.
3.
Computer
aids to group decision making
seem to increase creativity.
However,
face-to-face
meeting still tend to show
stronger consensus and
satisfaction among
members
of the group
The
Creativity Factor in Decision Making
Innovation
is important to organizational success in the
marketplace.
A.
Creativity
versus Innovation.
There
is a difference between creativity and
innovation.
1.
Creativity
is the
ability to combine ideas in a unique way
or to make unusual associations
between
ideas.
2.
Innovation
is the
process of taking a creative
idea and turning it into a
useful product, service,
or
method
of operation.
49
Principles
of Management MGT503
VU
Creativity
is the
cognitive process of developing an
idea, concept, commodity, or
discovery that is
viewed
as
novel by its creator or a
target audience.
A.
Creativity
requires both convergent and divergent
thinking.
1.
Convergent
thinking is the
effort to solve problems by
beginning with a
problem
and
attempting to move logically to a solution.
2.
Divergent
thinking is the
effort to solve problems by
generating new ways
of
viewing
a problem and seeking novel
alternatives.
B.
Creativity
has three necessary
ingredients.
1.
Domain-relevant
skills are those associated
with expertise in the relevant
field.
2.
Creativity-relevant
skills include a cognitive style, or
method of thinking that is
oriented
to exploring new directions, knowledge of
approaches that can be
used
for
generating novel ideas, and
a work style that is
conducive to developing
creative
ideas.
3.
Task
motivation is interest in the task
for its own sake, rather
than because of
some
external reward possibility, such as
more
C.
An
individual's creative process
has several stages.
1.
Preparation
involves the individual's immersion in
every aspect of a
problem
through
a.
Gathering
initial information
b.
Generating
alternatives
c.
Seeking
and analyzing further data
relating to the problem.
2.
Incubation
involves a rest from consciously
focusing on the problem as
subconscious
mental activities and divergent thinking
take over.
3.
Illumination
is often experienced as a breakthrough as
a new level of insight is
achieved.
4.
Verification
involves testing the ideas to determine
the validity of the insight.
F.
Group
creativity can be enhanced by means of a
number of techniques. Two of which
are
following:
1.
Brainstorming
is a
means of enhancing creativity that
encourages group
members
to generate as many novel
ideas as possible on a given topic
without
evaluating
them.
a.
The
ground rules used in brainstorming
were described earlier in
this
chapter.
b.
Computer
assisted brainstorming have been
found to give superior
results.
2.
The
Nominal
Group Technique (NGT)
is a means of enhancing creativity
and
decision
making that integrates both
individual work and group
interaction within
certain
ground rules.
a.
NGT
was developed to foster creativity and to
overcome the tendency to criticize ideas
when they
are
presented
b.
The
ground rules of NGT
are:
1)
Individuals
independently prepare a list of their
ideas on a
problem.
2)
Group
members present their ideas
one at a time in turn,
and
ideas
are listed for all to
see.
3)
Members
discuss the ideas to clarify
and evaluate them.
4)
Individuals
vote silently using a rating
procedure.
c.
Recent
research suggests that NGT is superior to
brainstorming groups in
generating
ideas but not so when
compared to computer-assisted
brainstorming.
50
Principles
of Management MGT503
VU
Lateral
Thinking Vs Vertical
Thinking
Vertical
thinking is logical but only in
one direction. You ignore the
possibilities and alternatives around
you
or
various other ways of doing
same thing. Vertical way of
thinking is the problem solving way the
way
computers
do.
Rotating
a problem from different
angles to try and locate
alternative points of entry involves
Lateral
thinking.
This is a creative processing that the
human mind can do,
but computers are generally
unable to
do.
It is useful when one
channel of thought reaches a
dead end and another
approach is needed. It can
be
difficult
but satisfying to solve and
will encourage you to
examine lots of different clues
and information
without
any prejudice. Thinking laterally
and avoiding the obvious is a
great tool in life of a
manager. This
thinking
asks you generate 3-4
alternatives to a given problem and
then try one option at a
time to put into
action
and see the results for
best.
Other
Decision Making Methods
1.
Delphi
Method:
The
Delphi method is a structured approach to
gain the judgments of a number of experts
on a specific
issue
relating to the future.
a.
A
panel of experts is surveyed in the
interest of compiling a list of
likely
scientific
breakthroughs and the predicted time of their
occurrence.
b.
The
resultant list is resubmitted to the
experts who then estimate
whether
the
predicated breakthroughs are likely to
occur earlier or later than the
average
estimated time frame.
c.
The
next set of results is again
submitted to the experts.
1)
If
a consensus is reached, dissenters
are asked to explain why
they
disagree
with the majority.
2)
If
there is a wide divergence of opinion
this step is repeated.
2.
Scenario
Analysis:
The
Scenario
analysis, developed in
France, approach addresses a variety of
possible futures by evaluating
major
environmental variables, assessing the
likely strategies of other significant
factors (e.g., other
organizations),
devising possible counter strategies,
developing ranked hypotheses about the
variables, and
formulating
alternative scenarios.
a.
Scenarios
are
outlines of possible future conditions,
including possible
paths
the organization could take that
would likely lead to
these
conditions.
b.
One
object of the method is to enable the organization to
make decisions
that
do not greatly inhibit
further freedom of choice
Deming's
TOOL FOR Improvement and
Innovation:
PDCA
or PDSA i.e. Planning, Doing,
Checking/Studying and Acting
are the four activities which
Dr.
Deming
taught to Japanese companies to solve
work related daily and
yearly problems. When the
tool i1s
deployed
out in a cyclic fashion will
lead to improvement and
innovation in every process
and work area of
the
organization. This is one of the well
known quality management
tool.
Questions
and Answers
1.
Differentiate
between creativity and
innovation.
Creativity
is the ability to combine ideas in a unique
way or to make unusual
associations between
ideas.
Innovation
is the process of taking a creative
idea and turning it into a
useful product, service, or method
of
operation.
51
Principles
of Management MGT503
VU
2.
How
can the systems model be
used to help organizations become more
innovative?
In
the systems model we use inputs
like creative people and
groups and, through a
creative process or
situation,
transform the inputs into the desired
output such as creative
products. The right
environment is
also
important.
3.
Describe
the specific structural, cultural, and
human resource variables
associated with
innovation.
Variables
associated with innovation
are structural (organic
structure, abundant resources, and
high inter-
unit
communication), cultural (acceptance of ambiguity,
tolerance of the impractical, low
external controls,
tolerance
of risks, tolerance of conflicts, focus
on ends, and open-system
focus), and human resource
(high
commitment
to training and development, high
job security, and creative
people).
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