Strengths: Groups generate more complete information and knowledge. increase diversity of views. High quality decision.

on. Increase acceptance of solutions. Weaknesses: Time consuming. Conformity pressure in groups: - try to suppress disagreements genuine differences. Discussions dominated by few members. Ambiguous responsibilities.

Effectiveness: Creativity: - Group decisions are superior. Degree of acceptance: - Group decisions are superior. In terms of accuracy group decisions are more accurate. Efficiency: - In terms of efficiency, if defined in terms of speed, then Individual decisions are superior. Therefore generally group decisions are more effective whereas individual decisions are more efficient.

Both phenomena are common and prevalent. 1. Group Think: - Phenomena in which the norms for consensus override the realistic appraisal of alternative course of action. Symptoms of Group Think Phenomena: Group members rationalize and they resist to change the assumptions they have made. Apply pressure on persons who speak in dissent. There appears an illusion of unanimity. Of one doesnt speak his concurrence is taken for granted.

How to set-right the above phenomena: Monitor group size: - If the size is larger than 10 individuals, then the group members are less likely to feel personal responsibility. Leader should actively seek input from all members. Appoint one of the member to play the role of devils advocate. Leaders also play impartial role. Members first focus on weaknesses of various alternative decisions.

2. Group Shift: -Discussions leads to a significant shift in the positions of member towards a more extreme position in the direction in which they were already leaning before the discussions. Conservative types become more cautious and aggressive type become more risk-oriented. They tend to exaggerate initial position of group.

Most common form: - Interacting groups-members in which members interact with each other face to face. Brainstorming: - An idea generation process that encourages to give alternative solutions to problems, while withholding any criticism of those alternatives. The alternatives are recorded for later discussion and analysis. Nominal group Techniques: i) Each member writes down his idea on the problem. ii) After this each member present the idea to group. iii) After that group discusses ideas for clarity and evaluate them. iv) each member independently rank ideas. The idea with highest aggregate ranking determines final decision.

Electronic Meeting: - a meeting in which members interact on computers, allowing for anonymity of comments and aggregation of votes. The process is same as Nominal Group Techniques. Significance of the above techniques: Interacting group techniques good for building group cohesiveness. Brainstorming keeps social pressure to minimize. Nominal group generate lot of ideas and evaluate them in systematic manner. Electronic meeting processes ideas fast and keep anonymity.