Angelica Mate

BIS343: Social Processes in Orgs.

Professor Mertz - Summer B
July 22, 2019

Module 3 Reading Essay

Prompt 1

According to Thompson, some of the practices that are not effective when trying to avoid
the common information effect and hidden profile includes increasing the amount of discussion,
increasing the size of the team,and the increase of information load (Thompson, 153). Hidden
Profile occurs when only part of some information that all members know before the discussion
is shared among team members; while keeping pieces of information that only individual team
members know to themselves (Thompson, 151). Even though all these factors increase, it still
won’t change the information that was retained and will still result in the same outcome. It
might encourage individual team members even more, to avoid sharing their information and
will likely be more effective when there isn't an increased factor.
Some practices that are effective include great leadership, building trust among
members, and focusing on sharing unshared information (Thompson, 155). With an effective
leadership, they will be able to lead the group and redirect them towards information that are
critical. They are able to concentrate on uncovering the hidden profiles and focus on discussing
information that are different, so that known information isn’t constantly repeated. An example
from my experiences at work, is when the team is discussing methods to fix the espresso
machine when it is not working properly. We would discuss information what we know based
on the information that was given to us by our manager. As a solution, our team could share
their own experience when the problem occurs and discuss what works for them. This way, we
are sharing information that we may not have time to share at the time and share individuals’
skills when it comes to solving technical issues.

Prompt #3

I believe that groups are better decision-makers than individuals who are making most of
the decisions. Team members are able to share their experiences and provide skills, that others
may not have, to help make decisions that will benefit the organization. Especially when the
team consists of diverse individuals, they have different perspectives and backgrounds that they
could provide. Team members can overcome problems together, instead of individuals trying to
come up with solutions. According to Thompson, “making decisions, especially complex
organizational decisions, requires a great deal of mental resources” (Thompson, 167). It would
take more than one mind to make decisions than can impact the company, and doing it alone
can be tiring. In situations like setting policies and rules in an organization, groups are
beneficial in making these decisions. Team members wouldn’t feel like one individual is taking
control of the group by setting up policies that majority of the members don’t agree with. With a
group, they are able to sit down and come up with policies that majority of people will be
satisfied to follow throughout the years.
In situations with completing tasks, individuals are better with decision making. They
are able to focus in completing their tasks, while avoiding overconfident team members which
can cause an already bad situation worse than what it is (Thompson, 169). With an individual
making the decisions, they are able to just go straight to the point and complete the tasks at
hand.

Reference:

Thompson, L. Making the Team. 2018. New York, NY: Pearson.