Group Processes in Solving Complex Novel Problems: Implications for Executives' Decision Making

1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry E. Pate ◽  
John E. Young ◽  
Robert L. Swinth
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Group Processes ◽  
Group Problem ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Group Problem Solving ◽  
Search Condition ◽  
Executive Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving Process

This study examined the group problem-solving process with 115 subjects in face-to-face groups responding to complex novel problems. A working theory of group problem-solving behavior in organizational settings was partially tested in a role-play task simulating top executive decision-making. Two problem-solving conditions were examined, a search condition (joint problem-solving) and a no-search condition (authority, impose and vote/mechanistic procedures). No significant differences were found between conditions with respect to (a) type of issue resolutions (integrative versus win-lose), (b) individual goal attainment, and (c) individual member's acceptance. Surprisingly, the direction of the results for completely achieved goals was opposite from that predicted. The findings may have been a result of perceived role ambiguity attributed to the confederate group leader.

The Group Problem Solving Process: Studies of a Valence Model

1981 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Richard T. Mowday ◽  
L. Richard Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Group Problem ◽  
Group Problem Solving ◽  
Process Studies ◽  
Problem Solving Process

Learning Disabled Children's Peer Interactions during a Small-Group Problem-Solving Task

1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanis Bryan ◽  
Mavis Donahue ◽  
Ruth Pearl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Group Decision ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Disabled Children ◽  
Group Problem ◽  
Group Problem Solving ◽  
Problem Solving Task

Learning disabled children in grades three through eight participated in a problem-solving task requiring group decision making. An analysis of group choices indicated that the independently made choices of learning disabled children were less likely to be among the group's final choices. Analyses of the children's communication patterns revealed that learning disabled children were less likely to disagree with classmates, less likely to try to argue for their choices, and more likely to agree with their peers. In addition, learning disabled children were found to be less likely to engage in “conversational housekeeping” than nondisabled children. Hence, learning disabled children were less persuasive than nondisabled children, apparently as a result of their assuming a submissive, deferential role when interacting with small groups of peers.

scholarly journals General Collective Intelligence and the Constraints to Group Decision-Making

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy E Williams
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Group Decision Making ◽  
General Problem ◽  
Group Decision ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Group Problem ◽  
Group Problem Solving ◽  
Decision Systems

This paper addresses the question of how current group decision-making systems, including collective intelligence algorithms, might be constrained in ways that prevent them from achieving general problem solving ability. And as a result of those constraints, how some collective issues that pose existential risks such as poverty, the environmental degradation that has linked to climate change, or other sustainable development goals, might not be reliably solvable with current decision-making systems. This paper then addresses the question that assuming specific categories of such existential problems are not currently solvable with any existing group decision-systems, how can decision-systems increase the general problem solving ability of groups so that such issues can reliably be solved? In particular, how might a General Collective Intelligence, defined here to be a system of group decision-making with general problem solving ability, facilitate this increase in group problem-solving ability? The paper then presents some boundary conditions that a framework for modeling general problem solving in groups suggests must be satisfied by any model of General Collective Intelligence. When generalized to apply to all group decision-making, any such constraints on group intelligence, and any such system of General Collective Intelligence capable of removing those constraints, are then applicable to any process that utilizes group problem solving, from design, to manufacturing or any other life-cycle processes of any product or service, or whether research in any field from the arts to the basic sciences. For this reason these questions are important to a wide variety of academic disciplines. And because many of the issues impacted represent existential risks to human civilization, these questions may also be important by to all by definition.

Group problem solving and decision making

Groups ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 223-242
Author(s):  
Glyn Elwyn ◽  
Trisha Greenhalgh ◽  
Fraser Macfarlane ◽  
Siân Koppel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Group Problem ◽  
Group Problem Solving
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