Team Decision Making

TEAM DECISION MAKING: A KEY FACTOR IN KNOWLEDGE WORK TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

Cheryl L. Harris
Work teams as a method for doing business in organizations is becoming prevalent throughout the 1990’s. One of the applications of teams is the area of knowledge work, where the actual product is knowledge, in terms of designs, decisions, or information. Using work teams in knowledge work is difficult because the goals are often fuzzy and output is difficult to measure. Yet, using a team in this setting is tempting because it brings individuals with different perspectives together creating synergy with the goal of creating the ultimate product. Since many organizations are implementing knowledge work teams, there is a strong need for information about making these teams effective. A previous chapter dealt specifically with factors involved in team effectiveness. One of the key factors is effective team decision making. Mohrman, Cohen, and Mohrman, Jr. (1995) found that timely decision making related to both team and business unit effectiveness, and that knowledge work teams, “that use systematic decision-making processes are much more likely to be effective than teams that do not” (p. 251). Kellett (1993) found that effective teams had a more dramatic style of decision making, with decisions made in a forum which was interpersonally non-threatening, with encouragement of diverse thinking, facilitating more participation by members, an open attitude for change and a shared concern for excellence in completing the task, as well as continued evaluation of performance. Effective decision making is especially important on teams of knowledge workers considering that decisions are often the product of these teams. Unfortunately, many problems can occur that reduce the quality of decisions and/or increase decision-making time. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on team decision making and relate it to knowledge work. Subjects covered includes the benefits of

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