Exam 12: Decision Making

Which tactic will NOT lessen the chances that groupthink will occur?

The group sets aside its own rules and decides to base reward allocations on length of membership rather than merit.The group thus violated ___ principles.

Frank,Judy,Ted,and Bill have four hours to kill,and they are trying to decide if they should party or study.Frank favors studying for three hours and partying for one hour,Judy favors one hour of studying and three hours of partying,Ted is for all four hours of partying,and Bill wants to party for two hours and study for two hours.After discussion,Bill will probably

___ generally increases the time the group needs to reach its decision.

Use the concepts of goal clarity and goal-path clarity to explain when a group will experience maximum optimism about its prospects for success.

Ben is struggling to remember the name of the theorist who developed the theory of groupthink.When he says,"I think it was Joplin," Angela says,"Oh,I remember.It was Janis." This process illustrates

Group decision support systems are sets of tools that help structure and guide discussions to minimize bias.

Risky shifts likely occur because

By the third week of the project,the group was starting to gel.The members shared a common understanding of who was supposed to do what,who could be counted on to keep up with their responsibilities,and how each person's contribution fit in with the group's goals.The group had developed a(n)

Summarize the methods used and results obtained in Majorie Shaw's 1932 study of decision-making groups.

You belong to a group that must make a choice about a new venture.Option One is traditional,and will yield a nice profit.Option Two is riskier,and the venture may fail completely.However,the company stands to make a much greater profit in Option Two.Should you leave this decision to the company's board of directors?

Highly cohesive groups are less likely to experience groupthink.

Jeni and Jeff have been married for 20 years.Jeni knows where the checkbook is;Jeff does not.Jeff knows how to work the remote controls,but Jeni does not.Jeni knows what to do when the hot water heater needs to be reset.Jeff does not.This example illustrates transactive memory.

Vroom's decision making model does NOT include which of the following decision methods.

You must make a decision in a group,but your group is a highly cohesive one.What should you,the group's leader,do to minimize the possibility of groupthink developing?

What four factors does Janis identify as key causes of groupthink?

One factor that minimizes groupthink is the presence of a strong-minded leader who makes his or her preferences known before the discussion.

A collective information-processing model of group decision making assumes that

Studies of groups' superior memories for information suggests their proficiency is due to their ability to avoid problems that introduce inaccuracy in individual members' memories.

What causes polarization in groups? Give at least three theoretical perspectives.