Judgment and Decision-Making Process: Advice Giving and Taking

When faced with work-related decisions, job seekers, employees, managers, and even the highest [Page 832]ranked corporate officers all have one thing in common: They are likely to ask other people for advice or receive it unsolicited. For example, human resources managers might ask for their colleagues’ opinions before hiring one of several job candidates or they may seek counsel about how much to pay a new hire. Thus, individuals seldom make work-related decisions without another person’s advice.

The central tenet of research on advice giving and taking is the recognition that, although decision makers are likely to be influenced by others during the decision-making process, the responsibility for making the final decision is solely the decision makers’. This principle is important because it sets the research ...