INFORMATION EXCHANGE AND USE IN GROUP DECISION-MAKING - YOU CAN LEAD A GROUP TO INFORMATION, BUT YOU CANT MAKE IT THINK

Organizations often build groups with members from different areas so that a wider range of information and opinions can be considered. When members of such groups share the information they have, the group as a whole can access a larger Fool of information than any one member ac ting alone, potentially enabling them to make better decisions. This e xperiment studied groups working an a hidden profile task in which eac h participant received different (but not conflicting) information abo ut the task, which they needed to combine to identify the optimal deci sion. Verbally interacting groups exchanged only a small portion of th e available information and made poor decisions as a result. Groups in teracting using a GSS exchanged about 50% more information, providing sufficient information to enable all groups to identify the optimal de cision. However, GSS groups did not accurately process this informatio n - only one GSS group chose the optimal decision. Possible explanatio ns for this lack of information processing are that participants were unable to integrate into their existing base of information the inform ation received during discussions, that the way in which the GSS was u sed impeded information processing, that the anonymity and delayed fee dback in the GSS reduced the credibility of new information so that pa rticipants chose not to process it, or that information in the GSS was less salient than verbally contributed information.