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Decision-Making Dynamics: Analyzing Groupthink, Focalism, and Bounded Awareness in Organizational Contexts: Unit II Assessment

An assessment discussing psychological influences on decision-making in organizations.

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    Unit II Assessment  Question 1 25 out of 25 points How did groupthink contribute to the decision - making failures that led to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, and what lessons can be learned from this tragedy to improve decision - making processes in high - stakes environments? Cite at least two sources to support your answer. Answer On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed upon launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida killing all seven astronauts on board. Conduct a literature and an Internet search on the topics of the Challenger disaster and groupthink. Then, discuss how groupthink might have created decision - making problems for NASA and its booster contractor. Cite at least two sources in your answer. Groupthink refers to defective decision - making in a group. The groups experiencing groupthink does not reflect on all the available alternatives and they want consensus and agreement in the decisions made at the expense of the quality of the decisions. Their basic motive is to minimize the conflict and arrive at a consensus, irrespective of the necessary critical testing and analysis of the ideas behind the decision (Groupthink, 1999). The incident of 28 January, 1986 also involved a wrong decision making process. The chief reason behind the cause of the disaster was the failure of the 'aft joint seal' in the right SRB (soild rocket boosters) because of the extremely cold weather. Moreover, one year ago only, a big fault was observed in the design of the solid rocket boosters. These two very powerful rockets were strapped to the side of the External Tank and they accelerated the shuttle. Just two

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    minutes after the launch of the shuttle, the SRB's discharged from the shuttle and they were collected for reprocess. The SRB's were made by a contractor (Morton Thiokol, Inc.) for NASA (Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, 2009). The failure of 'O rings' in the right SRB resulted in the accident. Design flaws in the joint and extraordinarily cold weather conditions at the time of the launch resulted in the O rings to allow the hot gases to escape out of the booster through the joint. The investigation found out that the decision made by NASA to launch the shuttle was not sound. The decision makers at the top level had not been informed about the problems with the joints and O rings and the probable impact of the cold climatic conditions. The Commission also drew the conclusion that a severe mistake was there in the decision making process leading up to the start of 51 - L in space (Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, 2009). The Management also decided to build a vehicle as a 'Static Test Article' that could later be transformed to a flight vehicle due to low cost of Orbiters. This was because they wanted a unanimous decision and compromised on other aspects of quality and time. The decision making process was not proper and also faulty. The groupthink also affected the decisions and resulted into an adversity. The NASA should not have launched the shuttle in such cold weather conditions. This could have avoided the accident and loss of seven brilliant astronauts. It decided to launch the shuttle even when the Engineers suggested delaying it because the officials did not wanted a disagreement over this decision. They finally launched it. References Groupthink. (1999). Retrieved October 21, 2014, from http://www.abacon.com/commstudies/groups/groupthink.html

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    Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. (2009). Retrieved October 21. 2014, from http://www.aerospaceguide.net/spaceshuttle/challenger_disaster.html  Question 2 25 out of 25 points Compare and contrast individual and group decision - making processes. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Are there specific situations where individual decision - making is more suitable than group decision - making? Additionally, how do bounded awareness issues manifest in both individual and group decision - making? Cite at least two sources to support your answer. Answer Conduct an Internet search for information on individual versus group decision making. Then, compare and contrast individual and group decision - making. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Are there certain decisions that are better suited to individual decision - making? What bounded awareness issues are found in individual versus group decision - making? Cite a minimum of two sources. : Individual and group decision making are both beneficial within an organization, however, there are critical decisions to make that either individual or group may not be able to make without relying on others or one's own ability to make pertinent decisions based on analytics and critical thinking. It is believed that when dealing with a group the old cliché holds true such as; "too many chiefs and not enough Indians." Oftentimes, there is a possibility that division may arise due to various personali ty characteristics and/or traits that does not always cause individual

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