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Chapter 10 Decision Making and Leadership in Groups

Floyd: Communication Matters, 3e IM–10 | 1

Chapter 10—Decision Making and Leadership in Groups

At a Glance

Generating Ideas and Making Decisions

Being a Leader

Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter you should be able to:

1. Compare and contrast the most common methods groups use to generate ideas.

3. Describe how cultural context can affect group decision-making.

5. Compare and contrast three leadership styles.

7. Describe common characteristics of power.

9. Define groupthink, and summarize strategies for avoiding groupthink.

10. List and summarize strategies for building listening skills.

Chapter 10 Decision Making and Leadership in Groups

Lecture Outline

I. Generating Ideas and Making Decisions

A. Groups generate ideas through various methods.

1. Groups can brainstorm.

a. Brainstorming means allowing group members to freely offer any ideas

they wish and creating a list of all the proposed ideas before any are

debated.

2. Groups can use the nominal group technique.

a. The nominal group technique (NGT) calls for group members to

generate their initial ideas silently and independently.

3. Groups can ideawrite.

a. Ideawriting is an idea-generating process in which members

independently list their own ideas and then systematically evaluate one

another’s ideas before they are considered by the group.

b. The ideawriting process involves four steps:

Chapter 10 Decision Making and Leadership in Groups

ii. Each member chooses a list from the pile that is not his or hers, adds

comments about the strengths and weaknesses of each idea, returns the

list to the pile, and selects another list.

iii. Once every member has commented on every other member’s ideas,

members retrieve their original lists and respond in writing to the

others’ comments.

B. Groups make decisions in many ways.

1. Some groups decide by unanimous consensus.

a. Unanimous consensus is uncontested support for a decision.

i. In some instances, as in the case of a jury, unanimous consensus is the

only option for group decision making.

2. Some groups decide by majority rule.

a. Majority rule is a decision-making process that follows the will of the

majority.

b. Majority rule operates on the principle that decisions should reflect what

3. Some groups decide by minority rule.

a. Minority rule is a process in which a small number of members makes a

4. Some groups decide by expert opinion.

a. Expert opinion refers to the recommendations of individuals with

5. Some groups decide by authority rule.

a. Authority rule is a process by which the leader of the group makes the

6. The method of making decisions that is best depends on several factors that

vary from decision to decision.

a. One factor is the importance of the decision itself.

C. Cultural context affects decision making.

1. Individualism affects decision making.

a. Groups in collectivistic cultures may place great emphasis on group

2. Power distance affects decision making.

a. Groups in high-power-distance cultures may be particularly deferential to

3. Time orientation affects decision making.

a. Groups from monochronic cultures may opt for majority rule, minority

rule, or authority rule because those methods often use time efficiently.

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b. Groups from polychronic cultures, which have less incentive to make

decisions quickly, may be more likely to try to achieve a unanimous

consensus if they believe that method will produce a better decision.

II. Being a Leader

A. Leaders often share specific traits, distinguishing personal characteristics that are

often relatively enduring and not easily changeable.

1. Physical traits are the body’s attributes.

a. Sex of the leader is an important physical trait.

i. Some studies have reported that people perceive women less favorably

than men as potential leaders and that they evaluate the work of female

leaders less positively than the work of male leaders.

2. Psychosocial traits are characteristics of personality and ways of relating to

others.

a. It seems likely that people are better leaders if their self-esteem is higher

rather than lower.

i. People with high self-esteem rate themselves as better leaders than do

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i. People are more apt to become leaders—and more apt to be effective

leaders—if they are extroverted rather than introverted.

ii. Extroversion is a personality trait shared by people who are friendly,

assertive, and outgoing with others.

iii. Introversion characterizes people who are shy, reserved, and aloof.

iv. Introverts often experience communication apprehension, which is

anxiety or fear about communicating with others.

B. Leaders enact distinct styles.

1. Some leaders are democratic.

a. One of the underlying principles of a democracy is that every citizen has a

2. Some leaders are autocratic.

a. Leaders who enact an autocratic style of leadership see themselves as

3. Some leaders are laissez-faire.

a. Leaders who enact a laissez-faire style of leadership provide little

4. Each leadership style has its strengths.

a. When it’s important that each member of the group believes that he or she

has an equal voice in decision making, the democratic style of leadership

is the most likely to accomplish this goal.

III. Exercising Power

A. Power is the ability to influence or control people or events.

B. Leaders exercise many forms of power.

1. Leaders exercise reward power.

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2. Leaders exercise coercive power.

3. Leaders exercise referent power.

a. Referent power refers to the power of attraction, the idea being that we

4. Leaders exercise legitimate power.

a. People exercise legitimate power when their status or position gives them

5. Leaders exercise expert power.

a. Expert power is power that stems from having expertise in a particular

6. Leaders exercise informational power.

a. Informational power is power that stems from the ability to control

access to information.

1. Power is relative.

a. People have power only in relation to other people.

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2. Power requires recognition.

3. Power itself is neither positive nor negative. Rather, it’s the way we use power

1. According to Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, our options for dealing with

2. Five major strategies can be used when engaging in conflict:

a. Competing

i. The competing style represents a high concern for one’s own needs

and desires and a low concern for those of the other party.

ii. The goal is to win the conflict while the other party loses.

iii. When avoidance becomes a group’s primary way of managing

conflict, it often leaves important matters unresolved.

c. Accommodating

i. The accommodating style reflects a high concern for the other party

but a low concern for the self.

ii. The goal of accommodating is to sacrifice so the other party wins.

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ii. Both parties in the conflict give up something in order to gain

something.

iii. Compromising often leads to more satisfying outcomes than do

competing, avoiding, or accommodating.

e. Collaborating

i. The collaborating style represents a high concern for the needs of

both sides of the conflict.

ii. The goal is to arrive at a win-win situation that maximizes both

parties’ gains.

2. According to Irving Janis, there are major warning signs that a group has

fallen into groupthink:

a. Illusion of invulnerability, in which group members are overconfident in

their position

3. Groupthink is particularly likely to occur when a group has a strong,

4. Groupthink discourages all attempts to consider a decision critically.

6. Group members can take several specific steps to prevent groupthink from

occurring:

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a. Be aware of the potential for groupthink.

b. Make sure the group has sufficient time to make decisions.

c. Encourage dissenting viewpoints.

d. Solicit input from outside the group.

e. Give important decisions a second chance.

C. Listen carefully.

1. Recognize barriers to effective listening in groups, such as the following:

a. Noise, which is anything in the physical environment or in your individual

2. Practice listening.

a. Informational listening skills are particularly important when you need to

understand and retain what you’re hearing.

i. Try paraphrasing the speaker’s message.

ii. Paraphrasing is restating the speaker’s message in your own words to

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Key Terms

brainstorming

nominal group technique (NGT)

psychosocial traits

extroversion

introversion

communication apprehension

democratic style

autocratic style

accommodating style

compromising style

collaborating style

groupthink

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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

1. Plan a “Leadership Symposium.” Challenge students to research a CEO of a Fortune 500

company of their choosing. Encourage them to explore the person’s cultural background,

2. Have the class brainstorm a list of problems that they would like to see addressed at their

college. Ask students to reach a consensus on the four they would like to tackle. Divide

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1. Provide graph paper and colored pencils, and have students plot conflict-management

styles using Blake and Mouton’s strategies (avoiding, accommodating, compromising,

2. Lead a discussion on groupthink, and show film clips from the movie Titanic (1997),

which illustrates evidence of groupthink, including the following:

3. Engage students in a dialogue of the trait theory of leadership. Do they believe traits play

a significant role in leadership? Which are more important—physical traits or

4. The Dark Side of Communication—When Coercion Becomes Abuse. Reiterate to

students the difference between persuasion and coercion, and remind students that

coercion can be used in both positive and negative ways. Pose these questions to get a

class discussion rolling:

Chapter 10 Decision Making and Leadership in Groups

For Review

1. How do groups generate ideas and make decisions?

2. How do leaders enact leadership and exercise power?

3. What communication skills improve group decision making?

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Pop Quiz

Multiple Choice

1. To choose a theme for next year’s conference, a student group votes on three possible themes

and selects the one that receives the most votes. The group’s decision-making process is

a. unanimous consensus.

b. majority rule.

c. minority rule.

d. authority rule.

2. The style of managing conflict that represents a high level of concern for the needs of the self

and the needs of the other party is

a. competing.

b. avoiding.

c. accommodating.

d. collaborating.

3. The style of leadership that reflects the philosophy that group members should work

independently, with minimal involvement from the leader, is

a. democratic.

b. autocratic.

c. laissez-faire.

d. legitimate.

4. Everyone in Arianne’s group follows her suggestions because they all admire her and want to

please her. Arianne’s form of power is

a. reward power.

b. referent power.

c. legitimate power.

d. informational power.

5. The eight major warning signs that a group has fallen victim to groupthink include all of the

following except

a. illusion of anonymity.

b. illusion of morality.

c. illusion of invulnerability.

d. illusion of unanimity.

Fill in the Blanks

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6. Leaders who score high on _____ are highly aware of their own behavior and how it affects

others.

7. When using _____ to make a decision, group members generate their initial ideas silently

and independently and then combine them and consider them as a group.

8. A(n) _____ leader believes it is his or her right and responsibility to make decisions on

behalf of the group.

9. Leaders who exercise _____ power punish people for not doing what the leaders want them

to do.

10. To avoid groupthink, groups should encourage members to play _____ by questioning the

merits of one another’s positions.