Engaged Decision Making: From Team Knowledge to Team Decisions

In the knowledge economy, teams play a central role in decisions made within and across organisations. The reason why teams with diverse compositions are often used is arguably their ability to develop solutions that none of their members could have produced alone. Systems design, strategy development, environmental management, and disease control and prevention are just a few of the areas that call for team decision making. Unfortunately, a considerable number of behavioural studies show that team decision making is fraught with difficulties. Teams often underestimate their fallibility, struggle with conflict, or are unable to share and integrate critical information effectively. Indeed, the evidence shows that two out of three teams do not achieve their goals and half of organisational decisions--many of which are team decisions--fail.

In this book, the authors draw from research in cognitive and social psychology, decision and systems sciences--as well as their own research and consulting work that spans more than 20 years--to show how designed interventions can enable team decision making to become transparent, rigorous, and defensible. They cover theory and practice regarding the design, delivery and evaluation of interventions to support team decision making in situations of varied complexity. Written as an applied resource for researchers and advanced students in particular, this book offers a guide to proven interventions that enhance the process of making team decisions and increase the chances of superior team results. The real-life applications will also offer valuable insights for all types and sizes of teams.