Group Leadership and Effective Decision Making

Catalog description

Students will examine the influence of leadership on the psychological and social processes related to effective decision making in work groups. PSY 812 Group Leadership and Effective Decision Making (3) Contemporary organizations can easily suffer from an "information explosion" with the ready availability of large quantities of data of possible relevance to decisions and problem-solving. Psychological research has identified numerous factors that can result in work groups' failing to make effective decisions. These factors include cognitive biases and heuristics that can be employed with little or no awareness by individuals and groups, usually to simplify information processing to make a decision quickly. They also include psychosocial factors related to how decisions are influenced by conformity, social power, and overconfidence about decision outcomes. In addition, psychological research has shown that groups do not always include effectively new information into revisions of the perceived consequences of decision alternatives. Leaders can help work groups be less influenced by such factors by use of approaches that require more in-depth processing of information and that increase group member awareness of potential biases and constraints that affect decision making. This course provides a comprehensive exploration of the psychological and social factors that underlie decision making in work groups in organizational settings, and in addition emphasizes the role that group leadership plays in making these decision processes more effective. The course focuses on the development of the students' ability to think critically about the complexity of factors that influence group decision making and the range of approaches to decision making that may be effective across various types of decisions and situational contexts. Particular attention will be paid to how group members process information related to the decision at hand and make judgments about uncertain future events. Over the semester students will be exposed to relevant examples, cases, and discussions that emphasize the application of psychological theory and research findings to the practice of leadership functions in work settings that help develop effective group decision making. Building on this knowledge, students will develop the skill to recognize and identify in specific organizational settings the cognitive and psychosocial factors that may influence information processing and decision making. They will be able to draw on these insights to develop action plans for minimizing the dysfunctional effects that certain of these factors may have on decision making, while aligning leader behaviors to support group processes that encourage decision effectiveness. Students will learn how to apply principles of in-depth information processing and evidence-based analytic processes to their own decision making.