TIme Pressure

Dealing With Time Pressure in Groups

In college it seems like time is always an issue, which is why I’ve decided to talk about avoiding time pressures. Chapter three in the Essential Guide to Group Communications Book talks about how time pressures can affect the outcome a group decision in two ways: planning and leadership styles.

Planning to Avoid Time Pressures

We’ve all learned in college that it takes good planning and coordinating to produce things such as A worthy essays in our college courses. Our teachers give us a time limit to write the essay and it is up to us to plan when we will write the essay and how we’ll coordinate our ideas so that the essay will be good. Sometimes if we don’t plan out our time effectively we experience time pressure, which may cause us to write the essay but it’s not as good as it could have been (C worthy paper). This same idea applies to good decision-making in groups since the best decisions are made when we plan and coordinate our time and ideas to complete a task both efficiently and effectively together. 

For example: If a group A has 2 minutes to answer a complex math equation and group B has an unlimited amount of time, Group B will probably figure out the equation over Group A because they have more time to collaborate and solve the problem together.

Using Leadership Styles to Avoid Time Pressures

In my opinion, every group needs a leader in order for a task to become completed. There are four different types of leadership: Authoritarian – the leader makes the decision himself without help from group members. Consultative – the leader listens to others opinions and then makes the final decision himself. Participative – There is a leader, but the group makes the decision. Laissez Faire – there is no direct leadership. There are many different reasons why a leader might decide his leadership tactic when working in a group and sometimes “the style a group leader uses is dependent on time” (O’Hair/Weimann).

For example: If a leader chooses to use participative but finds himself in a situation in which there is no time for the group to make a decision, he’ll have to switch to authoritarian. However; if time is not an issue, I do believe that participative leadership is the best method in making group decisions in our groups.

Important to Remember:

There are 3 ways a group can avoid time pressures to make effective decisions:

1)   Taking polls in a group can save time. Ex. Everyone in this room who likes topic A raise your hand. Now everyone in this room who likes topic B raise their hand. The most hands wins and time has been saved when making the decision.

2)   Time Limits: Giving each member a time limit in your group. Ex. Group member 1: You have five minutes to pitch your ideas on Tuesday. Group member 2: You’ll have two minutes afterwards to give your opinion on his pitch.

3)   The group doesn’t have to decide: If the group is concerned that time pressure might affect their decision, don’t make one at all. Instead, “postpone reaching a conclusion.” (O’Hair/ Wiemann)