Effective Group Decision Making in Organizations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the relationship between group interaction quality and group decision performance can be generalized to established organizational groups. Four hypotheses derived from previous historical and laboratory studies of group decision-making efficacy were examined using nine established, ongoing decision-making groups obtained from a large utility company in the midwest. The results of the study generally support the process-outcome relationship. Specifically, it was discovered that group decision performance is directly related to a group's efforts to analyze and understand its task and objective(s) as well as identify the positive and negative qualities of alternative choices. These findings reaffirm the claim that group decision performance is enhanced by a group's ability to engage in vigilant interaction prior to arriving at a decision.

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