TY - JOUR
T1 - Majority Decision-Making Works Best Under Conditions of Leadership Ambiguity and Shared Task Representations
AU - Schippers, Michaéla C.
AU - Rus, Diana C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021 Schippers and Rus.
PY - 2021/6/14
Y1 - 2021/6/14
N2 - The effectiveness of decision-making teams depends largely on their ability to integrate and make sense of information. Consequently, teams which more often use majority decision-making may make better quality decisions, but particularly so when they also have task representations which emphasize the elaboration of information relevant to the decision, in the absence of clear leadership. In the present study we propose that (a) majority decision-making will be more effective when task representations are shared, and that (b) this positive effect will be more pronounced when leadership ambiguity (i.e., team members’ perceptions of the absence of a clear leader) is high. These hypotheses were put to the test using a sample comprising 81 teams competing in a complex business simulation for seven weeks. As predicted, majority decision-making was more effective when task representations were shared, and this positive effect was more pronounced when there was leadership ambiguity. The findings extend and nuance earlier research on decision rules, the role of shared task representations, and leadership clarity.
AB - The effectiveness of decision-making teams depends largely on their ability to integrate and make sense of information. Consequently, teams which more often use majority decision-making may make better quality decisions, but particularly so when they also have task representations which emphasize the elaboration of information relevant to the decision, in the absence of clear leadership. In the present study we propose that (a) majority decision-making will be more effective when task representations are shared, and that (b) this positive effect will be more pronounced when leadership ambiguity (i.e., team members’ perceptions of the absence of a clear leader) is high. These hypotheses were put to the test using a sample comprising 81 teams competing in a complex business simulation for seven weeks. As predicted, majority decision-making was more effective when task representations were shared, and this positive effect was more pronounced when there was leadership ambiguity. The findings extend and nuance earlier research on decision rules, the role of shared task representations, and leadership clarity.
KW - decision rules
KW - group decision-making
KW - leadership ambiguity
KW - shared task representations
KW - team performance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108951907&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.519295
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.519295
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85108951907
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
M1 - 519295
ER -