Organization Behavior Essay writing analysis review: Group Decision Making Model
Question?? Models of group decision making in an Organization
Answer the essay frame is:-
Coordination and social dynamics
Introduction
Group coordination is the essence of group decision making and negotiation. Group decision making is a collaborative approach of making choice among various alternatives. The alternatives are evaluated based on a number of attributes. Coordination and efficient group decision making enhances the group effectiveness in an organization. For obtaining high quality group decisions there need to be an organized coordination mechanism. In group decision making, the group members integrate their opinions, knowledge and preferences in a common decision.
In the process of negotiation, the participating members agree upon some course of actions and conclude to a decision for resolving disputes. The basic requirement for negotiation is the presence of two parties having different views and opinion over a common objective. Negotiation serves the purpose of compromising the difference in the opinion of parties. Negotiation is different from group decision making. The analysis of negotiation emphasizes on explaining the ways in which outcomes are produced out of initially divergent phases.
Group decision making and negotiation are academic and professional field that focuses on assisting and guiding groups as well as individuals within groups for interacting, communicating and collaborating in order to conclude a collective decision. It aims at providing methods and procedures to make the collective decisions as effective as possible. Walton and MacKersie explained that negotiation has distributive dimension and group decision doesn’t. in general, group decision making is generic process, whereas negotiation is specific.
Importance and Challenges of Group Decision
The organization faces challenges in dealing with group decision making and negotiation due to multi persons, dynamic and complicated environment. These are said to be dynamic in nature because of fast changing information, aspiration levels of participating members, preferences, difference in opinions and tactics. Coordination is an integral part of management. It belongs to management of interdependence where individuals correlate their understanding and decisions. It harmonizes all various activities of the organization for facilitating smooth functioning of business. Coordination is a process which involves planning, organizing, actuating and controlling. Following are common steps in the group decision making process.
- Identification, definition and analysis of the problem
- Standardization of evaluation measures
- Generation of alternatives
- Evaluation of possible consequences.
- Choosing alternatives
In group decision making process, the groups should identify and clearly understand the problem. The decision taken should be realistic and feasible after analyzing positive and negative consequences. Group interaction process is vital in coordinating the group. It is considered as complex and interdependent task and it involves huge requirement of information and evaluation demands. The coordination in groups while making decisions and negotiations is related to social dynamics which is concerned about behavior of members of groups. It is the behavior which the members show during interactions and discussions. Social dynamics is also related to the study of relationship among individuals at group level. The rationality of social dynamics reflects the high information processing and problem solving abilities. Because of this reason the groups are proved to be in multi issue negotiations and are also more economical in economic decision making.
The group decision making can be made more effective by following these ways: ensure the availability of significant and adequate information to the group to match the complexity of the decision, ensure that the group members are giving their deep consideration to the available information, presenting the mechanisms to assist the group in integrating diverse and contrasting information in a quality decision.
The decision making has social dynamics implications. There are four basic theoretical mode of social decision making. First, imposing force which pressurizes decisions by eliminating or threatening to eliminate one of the participating parties. Second, hierarchy which follows a decision rule of delegating authority to one party and leaving the rest as petitioners. Third, coalition which involves a decision rule stipulating the number of parties whose agreement is necessary for making decision. Fourth, negotiation which follows a decision rule of unanimity among all participating members.
Coordinating mechanism for Group Decision and Negotiation
Group coordination can be achieved through explicit and implicit mechanism. Explicit mechanism is more effective when coordination is to be implemented in an organization. It is executed by verbal or written means of communication. Explicit coordination mechanism is mainly used in order to coordinate behavior of group members.
Negotiation in group faces the challenge of multiple issues and unshared information. This can be solved by providing more accurate information to the group members regarding their interests and preferences. In the process of negotiation, there may be a number of alternatives as there are negotiating parties and these alternatives may belong to different decision spaces, but these are interdependent. For example, the foreign trade agreement alternatives for German government may differ from USA government but are interdependent. The negotiating parties first identify their alternatives with different perceptions, and then present their compromising proposal.
In group decision making, concessions are needed as there are hard constraints which determines the feasibility of alternatives. These concessions are made to improve the overall quality of decisions, whereas in negotiation mechanism it is the part of the procedure. Concessions change the group decisions; on the other hand they affect the communicated proposal in negotiation nd may not necessarily avail settlement.
Models for Group Decision and Negotiation
There are four theoretical models for group decision and negotiation. These are explained below:
- Economic Bargaining Model: Zeuthen (1930) developed economic models. These models treat bargaining as a series of offers and counter offers. There is an assumption that the utility function of all participants is fixed and is known from the outset, and a compromise zone exists which can remain stable for long. The economic model is engages with negotiations having a sing issue that is homogeneous in nature and continuously divisible.
- Game-Theoretical Theory: This model is based on the concept of game theory. In this model, the number, identity of participating members, alternatives and utility functions are assumed to be constant and known. It also assumes that the participants are rational completely and the communication takes place within the model. It can’t affect either the form or the content of payoff matrix of a game.
- Aggregation Model: This model adopts the approach of recognizing the multiplicity of criteria that is underlying the behavior of participants and focus on developing decision rules. It assumes that the utility function of each participant is stationary and may be assessed separately and then aggregated later by invoking the assumption of utility independence. The utility aggregation approach may be applied to specific group decision making processes and not to typical bargaining situations.
- Tactic Models: This model was developed by Schelling (1966) and Ikle (1964) out of analysis of international labor negotiations. It emphasizes upon the bargaining tactics. It assumes that the given information is complete. The utility functions and alternatives are not considered as given from the outset and fixed. It is an important characteristic of the model that these features of bargaining situation can be manipulated. The model follows non-rational aspects of behavior which may present in negotiations.
There are also some computerized models, however their application is limited to specific situations. These are Group Decision Support System (GDSS) and Negotiation Support Systems (NSS). These systems are tested and validated.
Significance of Social Dynamics
An effective social behavior and productive work relationship are crucial among group members who are engaged in same decision making process. The social dimensions affect the success of decision making and negotiation. It is significant to determine the importance and examine the impact of social dynamics at various levels like at individual level and group level.
The understanding of relationships in groups helps group facilitator and manager in executing group interaction and communication that lead to making decisions. At individual level, there are three factors related to effects of social factors: control, confidence and conscientiousness. These factors are important in examining the individual behavior within group settings. There are three aspects of individual’s behavior in a group: individual’s willingness to follow instructions and interact accordingly, individual’s ability to overcome cultural inhibitions and individual’s sense of duty to perform at work. The individual behavior traits play a significant role in the effective group decision and negotiation. Social dynamics must be emphasized as it is of significant help to facilitate group performance.
Link between Coordination and Social Dynamics
Group coordination is an important issue in group decision. Group coordination can be defined as the group task dependent management of interdependencies of individuals’ goals and behaviors. When there are more complex decisions, more is the requirement of coordination within the group. The analysis of performance of group decision is relevant in determining the predictions of decision complexities and requirements. When coordination is related with social dynamics, it is considered as the synchronization of behaviors in time and space. Therefore in group decisions and negotiations, coordination and social dynamics both are necessary and are complementary.
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