This paper will examine the group decision-making process and the role of personal conformity leading to the decisions made. It will also discuss the impact of consensus-based decisions on a group as a whole, on individuals within a group, and on the unintended negative impacts of group decisions on people outside the group.

Group decision-making has up to four general phases. The first phase is problem identification. Once identified, the group assesses candidate solutions. Ideally, this phase should include interactive solicitation of different viewpoints among group members. If all members are in agreement, the decision is unanimous, and the group goes forward with the decision. If not, the decision is most often made and implemented in accordance with previously agreed to rules. The fourth step, if necessary, is to restore group harmony between the majority and the dissenters.

Personal conformity plays a vital role in leading groups to consensus-based decisions. In chapter-7 we learn that a diffe

It is even more important for the individual to look deeper into why they went along with a decision they were not comfortable with from the start. The individual must evaluate their personal convictions against remaining a member of a group and ask if the received reward outweighs the possibility of a negative outcome.

People go along with group decisions for a variety of reasons. At times, it is important to analyze the underlying cause for group conformity, how decisions come about as a group effort, and what are both the positive and negative drivers behind the decision. This is especially important for decisions that affect people outside the group and particularly decisions that have a personal impact.

If a group member involved in the making of a collective decision believes it is right, or has faith in the group's opinions - informational conformity - the chance of personal doubt as to which way things are going is minimal. When there are doubts about the decision made one may find that adopting a consensus position because it puts them in a satisfying relationship with the group with whom they are identifying.

It is bad enough if a decision made by a group of which one is a member has an unintended negative impact on an outside group, it is worse when one goes along with the decision only because of social pressures.

Afterwards, they may believe in the opinions adopted, though not very strongly, or, they feel badly about agreeing to something not believed, in the first place.

Some common words found in the essay are:
, Amy Kristi, decision-making process, people outside, attitudes opinions behaviors, consensus-based decisions, personal conformity, opinions behaviors, unintended negative, attitudes opinions,
Approximate Word count = 1026
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)