Group Decision Making

This essay deals with groups and their response to information overload.  It is imperative that groups gain control over the flow of information within a group, especially during decision making time.  It can be next to impossible to make well thought out, educated decisions with the numerous distractions that are common in this day and age.  During the creation of this essay, I learned the best methods for dealing with this problem and how to implement them. 

Group Decision Making

Introduction

Information overload is a problem that we’ve all had to deal with. (Jensen, A. & Trenholm, S. 2008).  According to Rothwell (2010), “Information overload occurs when the rate of information flow into a system and/or the complexity of that information exceed the system’s processing capacity.”  For example, when a customer approaches a sales associate at a store and begins asking multiple technical questions, then when the associate begins to answer one of the questions customer proceeds to ask even more technical questions, this presents the problem of information overload.  The associate does not know which question to answer and cannot possible satisfy the customer until the customer is prepared to listen to the answers. The purpose of this paper is to explain how information overload affects group decision making, how to cope with information overload, and which coping method is the most effective.

The Affect of Information Overload

According to Rothwell (2010), “There are four main consequences of information overload relevant to group decision making and problem solving.”  The four main areas are: it impairs critical thinking, it promotes indecisiveness, it encourages information bulimia, and it produces a type of group attention deficit disorder. (Rothwell, 2010).  The way information overload impairs critical thinking is due to the fact that too much useless or unimportant information is being presented to them.  The group then has to tax itself to route out the information that is they actually need.  The way information overload promotes indecisiveness is by providing too many options.  For example, if a group has just a handful of options of movies to watch, they tend to pick one of those five options, but when presented with hundreds of such movies, they are unable to make up their mind effectively.  They spend time going back and forth between titles and never reach a satisfactory answer for the group as a whole.  (Ahrens, 2011).  The next effect of information overload is that it encourages information bulimia.  This is where a person acquires information very quickly in order to recite it or put out the information soon afterward, and then once this has been accomplished, the facts are quickly forgotten by the person.  With this method no real useful information is provided, and no problems have been solved.  The final area affected by information overload is when it produces a kind of group attention deficit disorder.  There are too many distracting pieces of information that prevent a group from being effective.  Also given the prevalence of electronic devices in the groups, it would be inevitable for the group to be affected by the presence of these devices.  (Rothwell, 2010). 

Coping with Information Overload

According to Rothwell (2010), “You can cope with information overload in several ways.”  The ways that are illustrated are: screening information by ignoring the majority of information that a person is subjected to, shutting of technology so as to limit distraction as well as additional information that was not needed, specializing by focusing completely on one specific area of information, become selective by choosing what information is allowed to be presented based on group priorities and goals, limiting the search for information to allow what has been obtained to sink in, and narrowing the search by using credible databases while finding patterns in the information. (Rothwell, 2010).

The Most Effective Coping Method

The most effective coping method would have to be shutting off technology.  According to Ahrens (2011):

Distraction is part of the human condition. But now every force conspires to magnify that

inattentiveness: technology means that distraction is everywhere. We're almost always within reach of something to fill our brains. Mobile phones, iPods, portable DVD players, television, email, games consoles, Facebook, personal data assistants the list goes on.  We will never be able to focus on any one thing until we shut off the controllable distractions.  (P. 24)

Another reason that shutting down technology is important is that it allows the group to deal with only the areas that are relevant to what the group is attempting to do. (Jensen, A. & Trenholm, S. 2008).  The group is seeking out information, but when the technology of cell phones or emails are added to the foray it brings information with it that was not relevant or intended for the group.  It is also easier to control the technology by simply hitting the off button, whereas bad information or unwanted information when searching for needed information is not always avoidable.

References

Ahrens, C. (2011) The Affects of the

Information Super Highway

Neo Press.

Jensen, A. & Trenholm, S. (2008) Interpersonal Communication Oxford University Press.

Rothwell, J.D. (2010) In Mixed Company: Communicating in Small Groups and Teams. Wadsworth Cengage Learning