The Decision-Making Grid: A Model of Decision-Making Styles

Kelley H. H. Thibaut J. W. , “Experimental Studies of Group Problem Solving and Process,” in Lindzey G. , ed., Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. I (Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1954); Lorge I. Fox D. Davitz J. Brenner M. , “A survey of studies contrasting the quality of group performance and individual performance, 1920–1957,” Psychological Bulletin, IV (1958), 337–372.

Hall J. O'Leary V. , “Frames of Reference in Decision Making,” National Parole Institutes, unpublished paper.

Halpin A. W. Croft D. B. , “The Organizational Climate of Schools,” research project under a grant from the United States Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1962; Pownall G. A. , “An Analysis of the Role of the Parole Supervision Officer,” doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois, 1963.

Blake R. R. Mouton Jane S. , The Managerial Grid (Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Co., 1964).

Kelley H. H. Thibaut J. W. , op. cit.; Lorge I. , op. cit.; Barnlund D. , “A Comparative Study of Individual, Majority and Group Judgment,” Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, LVIII (1959), 55–60.

Schachter S. , “Deviation, Rejection, and Communication,” Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, XLVI (1951), 190–207.

Asch S. E. , “Effects of Group Pressures upon the Modification and Distortion of Judgments,” in Swanson G. E. Newcomb T. M. Hartley E. L. , eds., Readings in Social Psychology (2nd ed.; New York: Holt & Co., 1952).

Asch S. E. , ibid.

The majority vote has become a self-reinforcing practice as evidenced by the frequent use and teaching of Robert's Rules of Order and parliamentary procedure. Because of its utility with large assemblages, it has become the required decision-making technique in most formal groups, ranging from the legislature to stockholders' groups to ad hoc committees. One notable exception to the general rule of “majority will” is the requirement of a unanimous decision on the part of jurors for criminal cases. With many civil cases the majority vote is still sufficient. Hall, Mouton, and Blake, in a study now in progress, have found that untrained decision-making groups—as opposed to trained groups—composed of either business executives or neuropsychiatric patients resort to a majority vote technique almost immediately in dealing with the experimental task.

Rosenthal D. Coffer C. , “The Effect on Group Performance of an Indifferent and Neglectful Attitude Shown by one Group Member,” Journal of Experimental Psychology, XXXVIII (1948), 568–577.

A certain amount of psychological rigidity is indicated on the part of the 9/1 decision maker by virtue of the relationship of 9/1-ism to certain personality attributes. Robert Shaw, in an unpublished master's thesis at the University of Texas, has obtained significant correlations between 9/1 scores on the Decision-Making Grid Test and (1) dogmatism, (2) anxiety, (3) inflexibility, and (4) intolerance. In addition, negative correlations between 9/1 scores and intellectual efficiency, as measured by the California Psychological Inventory, were obtained in the same study.

Exline R. Ziller R. , “Status Congruency and Interpersonal Conflict in Decision-Making Groups,” Human Relations, XII (1959), 147–162.

Wallach M. A. Kogan N. Bem D. J. , “Diffusion of Responsibility and Level of Risk Taking in Groups,” Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, LXVII (1964), 263–274.

The generalizations contained in the following section stem from research on the “relativity of judgment” phenomenon and the distortion effects of egocentric attitudes on the perception and judgment of attitude statements. Results indicate that individuals tend to displace attitudes and philosophies away from their own as a result of “lowered thresholds of rejection and raised thresholds of acceptance” which come into play during the comparison process. Thus, succinctly, individuals become hypercritical of beliefs and, by inference, of behaviors not in complete agreement with their own. For a further discussion of this phenomenon see: Hovland C. I. Sherif M. , “Judgmental Phenomena and Scale of Attitude Measurement: Item Displacement in Thurstone Scales,” Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, XLVII (1952), 822–832; and Sherif M. Hovland C. I. , Social Judgment: Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Communication and Attitude Change (New Haven and London, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1961).

See Proceedings: Human Relations Training Laboratory, Laboratory in Management Development, Seventh Annual Session, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 1961; Proceedings: Patient's Training Laboratory, VA Hospital, Houston, Texas, 1961–1964; Blake R. Mouton Jane S. , “Developing Revolution in Management Practice,” American Society of Training Directors Journal, XVI (1962), 29–50; Blake R. Mouton Jane S. , Group Dynamics: Key to Decision Making (Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Co., 1961).

Hall J. Williams Martha , The Decision-Making Grid: An Analysis of Individual Behavior in the Decision-Making Group, instrument developed for The National Parole Institutes, 1963.