Decision making

After examining the case on whether or not to race and reading the scenario it was actually based on there were several things I began to contemplate. First, after first reading the article I did not realize there were so many factors in making the correct decision as there really were. The discussion and review of the case in class made it clear that you need to take into consideration every possible outcome before making a decision. I think that it is crucial that you know the impact of any possible outcome you may choose. Also, I found it interesting how many people initially said that they would race. It was even more interesting to see how many people changed their minds after all of the factors were taken into consideration. I think this is a great example of how actually working out the numbers involved may have influence in decision making. In regards to the article on the space shuttle, it is concerning that such an educated group of individuals could make such a dire mistake with something so important. The facts seem to point that this group suffered from groupthink and as a result caused the problem it did. With groups falling victim to groupthink with such critical matters shows the pervasiveness of this problem. the key points that I took from this example is that someone in the group needs to question the current viewpoint of the group. Also it seems extremely crucial to have diversity within the group, and this does not mean cultural diversity. As the article stated the group needs diversity of thoughts. I think that this is a good point because if people within the group differ in the way they think they will be able to come up with better solutions to problems.