A642.5.3.RB_DellElceCamila

A642.5.3.RB – Making Smart Groups

            After reviewing and reflecting on Cass R. Sunstein and Reid Hastie’s article, “Making Dumb Groups Smarter” (2014), the concepts used are without a doubt useful in promoting innovation within any organization. Many times, we all failed pray to our own insecurities and reflected poorly on our actions while working for an organization. Often times, groups are responsible for the success or failure of a company. It is known that with time, the human kind has learned to make decisions based on other’s opinions. Groups are what consolidate an organization, and therefore, each individual representing a group matters. As it is mentioned by Sunstein and Hastie, groups provide an advantage, “when there are many who contribute to the process of deliberation, each can bring his share of goodness and moral prudence…some appreciate one part, some another, and all together appreciate all” (2014, para. 2).

            While working for a medical facility, I have learned the importance of teamwork and group settings. I work as a Medical Assistant (M.A.) to Podiatrist’s doctors. Regularly, I depend on two to three other Medical Assistants who are vital to accomplish our day-to-day tasks. We constantly work with two doctors each day and that means each doctor requires at least two M.A.’s. If one calls in sick, the entire system gets ruin as we all depend on each other. Moreover, when making decisions as a group setting, our opinions count and doctors are constantly trying to get information from my team in order to make positive changes in the organization. It is obvious, that each M.A. has their own agenda and believes, and arriving to a conclusion can bring its challenges.

            Naturally, the Harvard Business Review (2014), suggested that the two most known problems in groups is when an individual finds him or her-self misreading signals and reputational pressures, which in turn makes people unable to open up about their opinions fearing some confrontation, penalty, or even shame. Unlike John Canfield and Greg Smith (2011) advocated, that “when trying to solve problems, work first to identify how the work is actually being done by documenting the process where it’s happening, with the people doing the work, and with data from the process” (p. 79). The process flow chart from the textbook, “Imagine” (2011), provides step-by-step guidance into leading a team where misunderstandings are not a common fallacy. Instead, it recognizes that open conversations “will often uncover inconsistencies about how people are interpreting instructions and carrying out their activities” (Canfield & Smith, 2011, p. 79).

            Being aware of Sunstein and Hastie’s group concepts and believes provides a significant opportunity to avoid common mistakes, also known as heuristics or biases that lead to individuals awry. Concepts such as planning fallacy, which means when individuals miscalculate the real amount of time or money a project will take or cost for instance. Overconfidence is another term that leads to misinterpretation and lack of humility. Moreover, framing effects is yet another term that “influences our decisions according to the semantics of how the options are presented” (Sunstein & Hastie, 2014, para. 9). For example, the company I work for incentivizes the staff by letting us know that if we meet at least ten percent of what we did last year on the same month, then we get a one-hundred and fifty dollars check bonus every two weeks. What they avoid to tell us is that if we not meet that criterion, then we loose the one hundred and fifty dollars plus future salary upgrades.

            Similarly, organizations not only require having great teamwork, but also sufficing innovation levels that will lead to successful outcomes. “Combining what and how innovation with strategic thinking and action allows you to establish a desirable place in the external scheme of things. You can successfully renew, transform and disrupt to create a better world” (Mckeown, 2014, p. 1678). In the same manner Sunstein and Hastie (2014) believed that making group wiser is a way of innovating. One of their solutions suggested that, “leaders can structure group deliberations to make them more likely to succeed. One very simple way is to let others speak first. Another is to assign specific roles or areas of expertise to members of the group. The key is encouraging individuals to share their diverse knowledge rather than suppress it” (Sunstein & Hastie, 2014, para. 25).

            In conclusion, all authors provided an array of different terms and guidance on how to lead teams in a smarter way. All changes are to be considered innovational changes since they could potentially change the structure of an organization. Therefore, I believe they could all be combined into a process that can be used to promote innovation across an entire organization. From Canfield and Smith (2011), I would definitely take over step one; establish team, with the assigned process goals. This particular process allows the leader to mold the group necessities as they encounter them rather than making strict, non-changeable rules. Having group flexibility is extremely important. Furthermore, I would consider combining Sunstein and Hastie’s  (2014) process of assigning roles since, “in such a group, sensible information aggregation would be far more likely, simply because every member would know that each of the others had something to contribute” (para. 23). Last but not least, Mckeown (2014) advised, “winning with innovation depends on what you view as success and the actions of many different events that may be influenced but rarely controlled” (p. 1694). I would definitely take this advice into consideration while uniting all the author’s process to make a single innovative process.

References

Canfield, J. & Smith, G. (2011). Imagine: Ideation skills for improvement and innovation today. Blake Lake Press.

Mckeown, M. (2014). The innovation book: How to manage ideas and execution for outstanding results (1^st Ed.). FT Press.

Sunstein, C.R. & Hastie, R. (2014). Making dumb groups smarter. Harvard Business Review. 92.12.91-98.