Are decisions made by a group more effective than decisions made by a single person?
I agree with the previous question that decisions made by a group are more effective than decisions made by a single person.


For the argument


From the last lecture, we have learned that Group Problem and Decision Making can be categorized into 2 separate areas. (possibly more areas to learn in the next lecture?)
Rational
  • traditional
  • Logistical
  • Based on the scientific method
  • Each alternative is evaluated

Political
  • Assumes people bring biases
  • Incomplete information
  • non-rational decisions

(I have unfortunately been unable to do any reading in the text yet if there is any regarding this information)



Pros






Possible Cons


Over a group of 7 can bring about social loafing.



Research

Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Decisions
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-group-decisions.html

Are Two Heads Better Than One?: An Experimental Analysis of Group vs. Individual Decisionmaking
http://www.nber.org/papers/w7909

  • reasearch on this topic has been hard to find. Most articles I have found have been university papers which do not involve legit experements.