The Utilization Of Individual Capabilities In Group Approac

Previous research indicates that groups using dialectical inquiry (DI) or devil's advocacy (DA) make better strategic decisions than groups using a consensus (C) approach. Data gathered from 120 masters of business administration students at a southwestern university were used to show that the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Strategic management journal 1989-01, Vol.10 (1), p.31
Main Authors: Schweiger, David M, Sandberg, William R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparative analysis
Decision making
Group dynamics
Organizational behavior
Recommendations
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Previous research indicates that groups using dialectical inquiry (DI) or devil's advocacy (DA) make better strategic decisions than groups using a consensus (C) approach. Data gathered from 120 masters of business administration students at a southwestern university were used to show that the DA and DI approaches make better use of the capabilities of individual group members. Particularly, the DI and DA groups produced significantly higher quality recommendations and assumptions than the average of the individuals in the respective groups, while C groups did not. Furthermore, the recommendations and assumptions of the DI groups and the recommendations of the DA groups significantly exceeded those of the best individuals in the respective groups. There were no significant variations for the C groups. The limitations of the study include the generalizability of the findings to actual strategic decision-making situations and the short duration of the study.
ISSN:0143-2095
1097-0266