Why are company decisions always wrong? (063)

The book "Group Performance" has solved a problem that has puzzled me for a long time, that is, how can a company or organization achieve the best performance, and what research progress and achievements have modern psychology made on this proposition? Although this is not the real intention of the author of this book.

Because of the well-known reasons, the viewpoints involving social psychology always bring a lot of controversy because the ideology of the discussant is difficult to unify, so this article is only a recommendation of this book, and the following viewpoints are only an extension of this book. If there is any dispute, please read through the book and discuss with the author. The author of this book did not fully express his views.

Note: Groups in the following original books generally refer to companies, organizations, groups, etc. , which contains the substantive characteristics of the group. This paper focuses on the related issues of companies and commercial organizations, so it is simply replaced by companies.

If you try to establish and develop a relatively successful company with excellent management and long-term foundation, you can get a lot of advice according to the theory of this book and the psychological research results cited in this book.

Inference 1: Most of the company's decisions are wrong and cannot achieve the best performance.

First of all, individual decision-making can never be superior to collective decision-making. On the one hand, group decision-making needs to reach a consensus, so that people involved in decision-making can fully express their opinions and listen to everyone's ideas. Finally, the implementation of the decision will be smoother because you are involved in the decision. On the other hand, the collective has more resources and information than the individual. Therefore, individual decision-making can never be better than the performance brought by collective decision-making. Although this is easy to understand, I am afraid it is difficult to implement in the actual work of ordinary companies.

Secondly, the choice of decision rules for collective decision-making is controversial. We often use the principle that the minority is subordinate to the majority, that is, the majority victory referred to in this book is applicable in most scenarios, but in many specific scenarios, we need to consider the opinions of the minority, even the only correctness of the decision (the victory of truth in the book) rather than the opinions of participating decision makers. This is a bit difficult to understand, but it will still be used in practical work, such as technical uniqueness, characteristic time requirements, laws and regulations requirements and so on.

Finally, even if you choose the right decision rules. There are many symptoms in group decision-making thinking, which leads to decision-making mistakes. For example, sense of superiority, isolation from the outside world, lack of leadership impartiality, pressure on dissidents, failure to express true views, failure to fully discuss various possible schemes, and failure to fully share information. All of the above will lead to the final mistake of the company's decision.

So the definition of group thinking quoted in the book is very accurate. Quote as follows: "A mode of thinking that arises when people are deeply involved in a highly cohesive group. At this time, people's pursuit of group consensus transcends the motivation of realistic evaluation of other feasible methods. "

So back to the starting point, what is the motivation of company decision-making in most scenarios, and the result is often not optimal, but recognized by most people. If not, chaos and confrontation will be farther and farther away from the best performance.

Therefore, an excellent company must consider the above decision-making factors, carefully select and manage the decision-making team and process, and find and adjust the deviation of this non-optimal decision-making in time.

Inference 2: The recruitment process of the company is strictly conducive to the entry of new employees.

Cognitive dissonance theory can explain that strict recruitment can improve candidates' commitment to the company. (The original text in the book is the initiation ceremony). For example, after strict recruitment, if the company is not as attractive as expected, it will lead to cognitive dissonance. But if you admit this, you will not fully understand this harsh recruitment, so you will tend to deny it and still maintain a high commitment to the company.

I think this can also explain the importance of a sense of ceremony.

Inference 3 requires social psychologists to participate in the establishment of enterprise process system.

To be continued. .

At least 20 such inferences can be written, such as loss and loss of cooperation, such as audience effect. It can be seen that this book plays an important role in company and team management. As a manager, it can be used to adjust the company's processes and systems. As employees, they can better understand the management system and make suggestions. The same applies to other types of groups. I recommend you to read it.

The book "Team Performance" has solved a long-standing problem, that is, how to achieve the best performance of a company or organization, and what research progress and achievements have modern psychology made on this proposition? Although this is not the real intention of the author of this book.

Due to well-known reasons, the views of social psychology always bring a lot of controversy because of the ideological debate that is difficult to unify. Therefore, this article is only the recommendation of this book, and the following views are only the extension of this book. If it is controversial to read the whole book and discuss with the author, the author of this book has not fully expressed his opinions.

Note: The group in the following original works refers to the collection of companies, organizations and groups with physical characteristics of groups. The article mainly discusses the related issues of companies and enterprise organizations, so the company is simply used instead.

If you are trying to establish and develop a relatively successful company, excellent management and long-term operation, then you can get a lot of advice based on the theory of this book and the psychological research results cited in this book.

Inference 1: Most enterprises make wrong decisions and fail to achieve optimal performance.

First of all, individual decision-making cannot always be better than collective decision-making. One reason is that group decision-making needs to reach an agreement, so that people involved in decision-making can fully express their opinions and listen to everyone's ideas. The final decision-making is also more successful, because they participate in decision-making. On the other hand, the collective has more resources and information than the individual. Therefore, individual decision-making can never perform better than collective decision-making Although this is easy to understand, it may be difficult to implement in the actual work of ordinary companies.

Secondly, the choice of decision rules for collective decision-making is controversial. We often use the principle that the minority is subordinate to the majority, that is, the majority victory in this book applies to most scenarios, but in many specific scenarios, we also need to consider minority opinions, even the only correctness of the decision (the truth victory in this book) rather than the participation of decision makers. This is a bit difficult to understand, but it will be used in practical work, such as the uniqueness of technology, the characteristics of the times and the requirements of laws and regulations.

Finally, even if the decision rules are selected. Group decision-making thinking has many symptoms, which leads to wrong decision-making. Such as superiority, loneliness, lack of leadership impartiality, pressure on dissidents, lack of real views, insufficient discussion of possible options, incomplete information sharing, etc. All these will lead to the final mistake of the company's decision.

Therefore, the definition of group thinking mentioned in this book is very accurate, and it is quoted as follows: a mode of thinking generated when people are deeply involved in a highly cohesive group, and the pursuit of group consensus transcends the motivation of realistic evaluation of other feasible alternatives.

So back to the beginning, in most scenarios, what is the motivation of the company's decision, the result is often not optimal, but most people agree. Otherwise, the resulting chaos and confrontation will be far from achieving the best results.

Therefore, excellent enterprise decision-making must consider the above decision-making factors, carefully select and manage decision-making teams and processes, and find and adjust the deviation of optimal decision-making in time.

Inference 2: The company's recruitment process is strictly conducive to the entry of new employees.

Cognitive dissonance theory can explain that rigorous recruitment can improve candidates' commitment to the company. (The original book is Initiation Ceremony). For example, after rigorous recruitment, if the company is not as attractive as they think, this will lead to cognitive dissonance. However, if we admit this, we can't fully understand the strictness of recruitment, which often denies this, but still maintains a high commitment to the company.

I think this explains the importance of the ceremony.

Inference 3 requires social psychologists to participate in the establishment of enterprise process system.

To be continued.

Such inferences can at least be written on it, such as loss and collaboration loss, such as audience effect. This book can be seen in the role of company and team management. As a manager, it can be used to adjust the company's processes and systems. As an employee, we can better understand the management system and make policies. For other types of groups, it is also applicable, and reading is recommended.