When to Let Them Duke It Out

When a top management team gets argumentative or political, it is tempting for the CEO or other executives to cut off debate by simply making the decision. Sometimes, stopping the discussion short is necessary. But when the source of the conflict is mistrust among group members, a unilateral decision can be a costly mistake. We […]

by

Tony Simons

and

Randall S. Peterson

by

Tony Simons

and

Randall S. Peterson

From the Magazine (June 2006)

Summary.

Reprint: F0606E

Top management teams whose members don’t trust one another perform worse when they’re handed unilateral decisions than when they slug it out to reach a consensus.

When a top management team gets argumentative or political, it is tempting for the CEO or other executives to cut off debate by simply making the decision. Sometimes, stopping the discussion short is necessary. But when the source of the conflict is mistrust among group members, a unilateral decision can be a costly mistake.

A version of this article appeared in the June 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review.

TS

Tony Simons (tony.simons@cornell.edu) is an associate professor of management and organizational behavior at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, New York.
Randall S. Peterson is the founding director of the Leadership Institute and a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School. He is a coauthor (with Gerry Brown) of Disaster in the Boardroom: Six Dysfunctions Everyone Should Understand (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).

When to Let Them Duke It Out

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