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Effective Group Decision Making: Paul Newton
Effective Group Decision Making: Paul Newton
Making
Paul Newton
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2 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
Copyright Notice
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whether in electronic or printed form, to another person, or entity.
Your downloading and use of this eBook requires, and is an indication of,
your complete acceptance of these ‘Terms of Use.’
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 3
Preface
This eBook describes seven popular techniques for making effective group
decisions. You can use these techniques in situations where you need to
call on others to make a decision.
Multi-Voting
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4 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
Table of Contents
Preface 3
Introduction 5
Multi-Voting 14
References 51
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 5
Introduction
This eBook describes seven popular techniques that mangers use when
needing to make decisions involving others. As a manager you will be faced
with numerous situations where you are unable to make a decision on your
own and require input from others. This may be either because you lack all
of the information required or because you need to make sure that the
decision is acceptable to everyone involved.
2. Multi-Voting
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6 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 7
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8 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
DIU
VSW
Decision A
Defines HFG
the 'Who'
in terms of PJQ
people
needed for
HFG
Decision B JKL
In this model, the main goal is to figure out exactly who should be included
in the decision making process. Different decisions are going to require
different inputs from various people; so determining who should be included
in making the decision (and who should be left out) is a key step that should
not to be overlooked.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 9
The Matrix
The first step in the process of using this model is to think about each of
your team members in reference to a four-quadrant matrix that will help you
determine whether or not each person should be included. Two questions
are used, each with a yes or no answer, to form this matrix.
On one side of the matrix is the question of how much of a personal stake
each team member has in the decision that needs to be made.
You are going to answer this with a yes or no – yes if the decision does
affect the team member, and no if it does not.
Yes
that is needed?
No
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10 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
Again, here, it is a yes or no answer that is going to help you place the team
member inside one of the four quadrants. You will answer yes if a particular
team member possesses expertise that you feel would be helpful, while a
no answer is indicative of someone who is not bringing much to the table in
terms of experience or knowledge (with regard to this specific decision).
Obviously, when you have two questions with two potential answers each,
you will have four possibilities for each team member that you evaluate as
part of this process. Those four outcomes are as follows.
Personal
Must be fully
Expertise=Yes involved in this
Stake=Yes
decision
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 11
While this is likely not the kind of person that you would want to
have playing a significant role in the decision making process,
they may be considered for a partial role to help you come to the
right conclusion. This person may be especially useful if you
already have a team made up of people with plenty of expertise
but minimal personal stake in the matter.
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While there are more steps to this process that can be used, it is this initial
line of thinking that is particularly important for business managers and
owners. You want to make sure that your decisions are being made as
intelligently as possible, and a big part of working toward that goal is using
the right members of your team to help make the choice.
Do you think you have been including the right people in your decision
making meetings, or are you going to make some changes in light of the
thinking that this model presents?
Use the Hoy-Tarter Model when applicable to pick out the right team
members for a decision making process and your choices should be better
for the effort.
Key Points
- The first step in the process of using this model is to think about
each of your team members in reference to a four-quadrant matrix.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 13
- On the other side of the matrix is the question ‘Does the team
member have particular expertise that is going to help you make a
good decision?’
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Multi-Voting
If you are making an organization decision that involves a number of people,
you may have to take a vote at some point in the process. But how do you
take that vote?
With this method, you can select the most popular options from a list in
order to get an idea about the consensus of the group. Multi-voting is not
always the right solution when trying to make a decision, but it can be
perfect in specific circumstances.
is ideal
for where a list
Multi- making of options 1 or 2
must be
Voting decisions narrowed options
in the down to
situation
Multi-voting is a smart choice when you need to narrow down a list. That is
the strength of this kind of decision making – to take a large list and pare it
down to the options on the list that are the most popular among the group.
For instance, let’s say your business needs to undertake new marketing
efforts in order to regain some lost market share. If that is the case, you may
find that your team has come up with a long list of ideas for new marketing
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 15
ventures. However, you likely won’t be able to use them all, so you will need
to find a way to narrow down that list of ideas based on the consensus of
the group.
By using Multi-voting, you can quickly figure out which ideas are the most
popular in the eyes of the team, and you can get started with your new
marketing concepts right away.
First Steps
If you would like to use the Multi-voting method, the first thing you need to
do is develop a list of ideas that are going to be the subject of your vote. Ask
the team that is working on this project to collaborate on a list. At first, you
can put any idea that is presented onto the list, but you will want to slightly
narrow down and ‘clean up’ that list before it goes to the vote.
If there are multiple ideas that are basically the same, for example, you can
bring those ideas together to consolidate the list. Before any vote can take
place, all team members should have the opportunity to ask questions about
the ideas on the list. It is important that everyone involved has a clear
understanding of what it is that is being voted upon.
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After a period of brainstorming and discussion has passed, a final list should
be assembled. This list can be as long or as short as is appropriate for the
situation. Once the team agrees on all of the points on the list, that list
should be numbered and distributed to everyone involved for a final review.
If there are no remaining questions or concerns about the list being used,
the process can move on to the actual vote.
Before taking the vote, you will want to decide on exactly how many votes
each individual is going to be given. Generally speaking, each person
should be allowed to vote for roughly 1/3rd of the ideas on the list.
Multi- Uses the 1/3 rule for 5 votes per person for a
Voting applying votes list of 15 items
So, given a list of 15 items, each person would be allowed to place five
votes (thus the name ‘Multi-voting’). Of course, you are free to alter the
number of votes allotted as you see fit, but the 1/3rd rule is a good place to
start.
With the number of votes decided, you will need to actually take the vote,
either by a show of hands or by secret ballot. As the vote progresses, you
will tally the votes for each idea until all votes have been cast and the
process is complete.
Once the votes are tallied, the results can be presented to the group
for discussion.
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How are the votes distributed? Are there a few ideas, which stand out from
the crowd, or are the votes evenly distributed from top to bottom? By talking
about the results of the vote as a group, you can quickly begin to interpret
the results.
Doing It Again
In the case of a particularly long list of ideas, you may wish to go through
this process a couple of times. For instance, imagine you have a list of 20
ideas that you are considering for your marketing initiatives. For the first
round, you may decide to give everyone six votes. Then, when that round is
complete, you will take the totals and eliminate the bottom ten ideas from
the list.
Multi-Voting
Process
Now that you are down to ten ideas, the voting process will be repeated,
with only three votes allowed for each person during this second round.
When the second voting round is over, the top three or five ideas (or
however many you choose) may be declared the winners.
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While it is possible to take a public vote, you may wish to complete your
Multi-vote by secret ballot in order to avoid any bias or peer pressure.
Key Points
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 19
- By talking about the results of the vote as a group, you can quickly
begin to interpret the results.
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When making
decisions with
your team use The Modified
Borda Count
If you are trying to make some important decisions about the future of your
organization with the help of your team, you may wish to employ the help of
a Modified Borda Count. This is a very simple tool that can be used to allow
your team to pick from a variety of options that have been discussed with
regard to a specific problem or initiative.
The Goal
By using a Modified Borda Count vote, you can instill confidence in your
team by helping them see that the winner was the most popular option
among the group as a whole. Even if the winning option was not actually the
preferred choice of some of the people in the group, they will hopefully at
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 21
least be able to appreciate the popularity of the option as the group moves
forward.
In order to use the Modified Borda Count method, you first need to have a
list of options that are going to be the subject of a vote. You can have as
many points as you would like on your list of options, but you should keep
the list to a reasonable length in order to avoid overwhelming your voters.
So where does this list come from? The team members, of course. Ask the
team to brainstorm a list of options that can be considered for vote in
advance of using the Modified Borda Count system.
For example, imagine that you are trying to find ways to cut costs in
your manufacturing process.
You will likely be able to find a long list of cost-cutting options when you
start to ask various members of your team, so have those individuals
contribute to a list that you can bring together for the vote.
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Once the ideas of all of your team members have been brought together,
you will need to do a little bit of clean up by combining duplicates and
eliminating ideas that simply aren’t practical. The results of your vote are
only going to be as helpful as the ideas on the list; so make sure plenty of
time and effort is put into developing a useful list of excellent idea.
Quality of Requires
sufficient time Creating the
Voting & effort being option list
Results put into
If there are any questions about one or more of the ideas on the list, be sure
to work through those questions before going any farther. There should be a
general agreement on the part of the team members that the list is
worthwhile and logical before going any farther.
Taking a Vote
When the list is finalized, you are going to have a set number of ideas up for
vote. For the purposes of this example, let’s imagine that you have a total of
10 ideas, which have made the final cut. So, the ballot is going to include
ten ideas that can be chosen by those who have been given a vote.
However, when the time comes to vote, the team members are going to do
more than just place a check box next to their favorite option. Instead of just
voting for one item, or voting for a few items as in the case of a Multi-voting
system, you are going to have each voter assign points to their chosen
ideas. Before starting the vote, you will need to inform each individual how
many ideas they can support on their ballot.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 23
Voters in a
Highest value is given to
Modified Borda top idea
Count
So, each person will get to pick 5 of the 10 ideas. When choosing those five,
they are going to give each a point value from 1 to 5. Their favorite idea in
the entire list is going to get 5 points, the next favorite idea will get 4 points,
and on down the list until they assign their 5th choice with a single point. The
five ideas that they choose not to vote for will receive no points.
Tally It Up
Finishing off the use of a Modified Borda Count is simple – just tally up the
points from the vote, and you will have a winner. Using a spreadsheet is the
best course of action for this task, as you will easily be able to reorder the
spreadsheet to put the highest point totals at the top after all of the ballots
have been included.
The options with the highest number of points will be the winners of
the vote.
You can use this system to identify a single winner, or you can use it to pick
out a few winners from a large field.
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Winner
Modified Borda
Count
Key Points
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 25
- Ideally, the group itself will have a significant input into deciding on
the list of options to be considered.
- Instead of just voting for one item, or more items as in the case of
a Multi-voting system, each voter assign points to their chosen
ideas.
- You can use this system to identify a single winner, or you can use
it to pick out a few winners from a large field.
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When you are faced with a particularly difficult or important decision, it may
be necessary to involve some or all of your team members in order to make
the right choice.
Establishing a Plan
When you are going to include others in the decision making process, you
need to start out with a plan in mind right from the start. Simply asking
others to help you make the decision at hand could quickly become a
disorganized mess if there is no structure to the process that can be
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 27
Before you get too far into this process, there are a few things that you
should think about with regard to the decision in front of you. Specifically,
you will want to consider the:
Once you have a clear picture of how this process should work, you will be
ready to assemble a decision making team.
Assign chair to
maintain control & Use 'best' tool to Idea most practical
focus of help select & supported
discussions
Unfortunately, there are a couple of specific downfalls you are going to need
to watch out for while organizing a team decision making process. The first
is the issue of time management. When you involve a group of people in a
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decision, you are likely to get even more opinions and ideas than expected
– which is both a good and a bad thing.
It is great to have access to so many ideas and inputs, but the presence of
that many opinions can cause the decision making process to drag on and
on. Even if you have plenty of time to make the choice, you still want to
keep things moving at a reasonable pace so you can move your team on to
other matters. Therefore, you are going to have to do a nice job of balancing
the supply of ideas and information with a timeline in order to stay on track.
The other downfall of team decision making is often the lack of a clear
hierarchy within the process. Sure, you are going to be at the top as the
owner or manager, but how is the rest of the team organized?
Time frame
& goal
Structure
& roles
Team
Decision
Making must
have clear
If there is no structure among the rest of the group, you may find that you
have a bunch of individuals coming to you with various ideas and opinions –
leading to confusion and chaos.
In order to be successful with the process, you need to make sure that there
is plenty of structure in the group to give direction to all of the ideas being
offered up.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 29
Now that you have picked out a team and you understand some of the
mistakes that you need to avoid, it will finally be time to work toward making
this tough choice. To do so, you can implement one of several different
decision making models.
The idea, or ideas, which receive the most votes, will be the
winner. In this method, everyone gets a voice in the process, and
the final choice is as democratic as possible. This kind of system
works best when a large team is in place.
Multi-Voting
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Of course, these are just two of many possible team decision making
models that can be used while you are trying to organize your process. No
matter which model you decide to use for your own purposes, make sure it
is well-suited to your needs and well-understood by your team.
It is your job to organize the team and get everyone on the same page so
that all involved are able to voice their opinions and ideas in a productive,
supportive forum. Once you settle on a format that works for your team
decision making, you should be able to use that same format time after time
for subsequent choices that come up.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 31
Key Points
- You can use the Hoy-Tarter Decision Making Model to help you
decide which team members you should involve in the decision
making process.
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Hartnett's
CODM Model
Helps identify where the
consensus of a group lies when
making a decision that requires
the whole group's support
To make it easier for you to figure out where the consensus of the group
may lie, you might want to consider using Hartnett’s CODM Model. The
CODM in the title of this model stands for ‘consensus-oriented decision
making’, which should tell you all you need to know about the goal of this
model and how it is designed to work.
C •Consensus
O •Orientated
D •Decision
M •Making
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 33
Calling on a Group
Of course, you aren’t going to use group decision making for every problem
that you face in your organization. For one thing, there wouldn’t be time to
always use a group decision making model – you would be stuck in one
meeting after the next with no end in sight.
Also, it simply isn’t necessary to create a team to solve every small problem
that comes up. Many of the day-to-day choices that need to be made, can
be handled by you, as the manager or owner without any meaningful input
from staff members.
However, there are going to be important decisions that come along which
call for the formation of a team. These are the decisions that are going to
impact your organization in a significant way going forward, and they are
choices that you can take some time to make.
If you would like to use Hartnett’s CODM Model to solve such a problem,
use the seven steps below to move through the model from start to finish.
Hartnett's 6. Develop a
5. Choose a
preferred
CODM Model direction
solution
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You can’t accurately solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is
in the first place. Make sure that everyone on the team is well-informed as
to the specifics of the problem, why it is a problem, and what the ideal
solution is going to accomplish.
Once all involved are clear on what the problem is, the next step is to have
an open and casual discussion about that problem. At this point, there aren’t
going to be any grand plans established, and there certainly won’t’ be any
decisions made on how to move forward.
One of the benefits of your initial meeting is the fact that you are likely to
uncover ‘hidden’ problems that weren’t really considered initially. As your
team discusses the main problem at hand, it may be that other issues pop
up along the way.
It is at this point that you should highlight those underlying concerns, and
figure out what measures can be taken to mitigate their significance.
CODM Model -
group decision making
Whole group
Step 4 - Developing Choose whether
Proposals perform as a
Several small
teams
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 35
By the time you have reached this fourth step, things are going to begin to
get more organized. You will now put together some formal proposals on a
solution for the problem at hand.
You can either work together with the entire team to develop a few different
proposals, or you can choose to break the team up into groups in order to
have each craft their own proposal. The latter option can be attractive when
you have a ‘divided room’ – in other words, a meeting that is split into two or
three different groups who view the issue in different ways.
With the proposals created and on the table, it will be time to sort through
them in order to make a decision. It is important to remember that you don’t
necessarily have to pick one specific proposal in order to move forward – it
may be that the best option for your needs is to use a combination of ideas
from two or more proposals.
CODM Model
Or, by selecting Step 5
the best parts Choosing a
of different
proposals Direction
May be selecting
one specific
proposal
The time has come to make the final decision and to put that decision into
action. There will have been no point to going through this process is the
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final decision isn’t going to be enacted, so make sure there are steps which
will ‘get the ball rolling’ on the decision as soon as it is approved and
finalized.
As you know, there is no such thing as a decision in business that you can
just forget about and move on from. You should be monitoring the decision
after it is made to make sure that it has had the desired effect. Most likely,
you will need to tweak minor things about the decision in order to make sure
it is as successful as possible over the short and long term.
Whilst Actions
Any minor
must be Ensure
Implementing monitored
changes
success
the Decision made to
and
It is likely that your team will appreciate using this decision making model as
they will have a chance to make sure their voice is heard along the way.
Even if you don’t have a true consensus in terms of everyone on the team
totally agreeing with the final decision, at least you will have given everyone
involved a chance to provide his or her input. It is important to the health of
your organization to make sure that no one feels marginalized in terms of
his or her role in the business, and using things like the CODM Model are
great for just such concerns.
You may not have to use group decision making on a frequent basis within
your organization, but when the time does come to form a team in order to
make an important choice, you can turn to the CODM Model for assistance.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 37
Key Points
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Which individual is
Know who is in
responsible for
charge &
what
Requires
Need everyone
considerable time
involved to
investment
Complex
Decisions
Before getting too far into this model, it should be noted that:
Not all decisions are going to warrant the time investment required to
use the RAPID model.
In fact, it is likely that most of your decisions will not warrant the use of this
tool, as the average business decision can be made quickly by a single
person.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 39
However, when those big decisions come across your desk and you know
that it is essential to get the choice right, you may wish to employ RAPID as
part of your overall approach to the issue.
As you would likely assume, RAPID is an acronym for five roles that can
exist within the decision making process. Those roles are as follows –
Recommend
Agree
Perform
Input
Decide
To help you understand each of these five roles within the model, we have
provided a short description of each in the content below.
R •Recommend
A •Agree
P •Perform
I •Input
D •Decide
Recommend Role
The person or people in this category are, obviously, those who are going to
be making the recommendations for the decision at hand. Likely, this is
going to be a department manager, or someone else in a position of power
who can offer their opinion right from the start.
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process. It is important to get started with some sort of direction, and that
direction can then be altered or adjusted as necessary along the way before
a final decision is made.
Agree Role
Recommend
Agree group
Must all Final
group support Decision
In the end, the official recommendation that is offered for this decision
should be something that everyone in the Agree group can support.
Perform Role
Who is it that is going to put this decision into action? These are the people
that make up the Perform group. Depending on the specifics of the decision
at hand, those within this group could potentially come from a wide variety
of departments or areas within the organization.
It is hard to pin down where the performers are going to be found within
your business, because that is something that is highly dependent on the
decision at hand. Fortunately, it should be pretty easy to determine who will
be in this group when you think about what it is that you are deciding and
who that decision is going to influence directly.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 41
Input Role
Those in this category are going to be the business analysts and others with
information that will be of value during the process of making the final
selection. Having accurate and timely information is extremely important
while trying to make a logical decision, so the vital role of the Input group
should not be overlooked.
To know
who will
perform
Needs
data input
to make
choice
Decide Role
of RAPID
Framework
needs:
Decide Role
When everything has been completed and all of the opinions are on the
table, a decision will need to be both made and executed – and that is the
responsibility of those in this group. Not only will the choice have to be
officially made, but that choice will then need to be put into action as quickly
as possible.
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The number of people that will be involved in this process can be quite
considerable. So this framework is best used when dealing with something
that is going to have a significant impact on the organization.
If you are going to make RAPID a part of the decision making process that
you use for choices in your business, you should establish some type of
threshold that will need to be crossed before this option is deployed. By
knowing how important a decision must be in order to start up the RAPID
process, you can be sure to only go down this road when it really is
necessary.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 43
Learn how to put RAPID to use within your organization and you should be
well on your way to a future that is filled with correct choices on the biggest
issues facing your company.
Key Points
- RAPID is an acronym for five roles that can exist within the
decision making process.
- Agree: This group must agree with the proposals provided by the
recommend group.
- Perform: This group will execute the process after performing the
recommendations and will finally deliver the modified process.
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Benefits
Utilize experience within an
organization
Group
Decision Appeals to
Making Authority
Common
Pitfalls
Groupthink
However, when you do opt for group decision making for some of your most
important choices, there are some potential pitfalls that you need to watch
out for. Specifically, you have to avoid appeals to authority and Groupthink.
Each of these are dangerous in a group decision making setting, and both
can derail you from the path toward a smart decision if you aren’t careful.
To help you understand the danger of these two issues, we have taken a
closer look at them below.
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 45
Ideally, the decision making process will be free from these kinds
of prejudices, instead falling back on the important goal of simply
making the best possible decision for the company as a whole.
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If you are going to get the full benefit from having a group in place
to make decisions, you are going to need to actually have –
All of the people in that group feel free to offer up their honest
thoughts.
Fortunately, using the Delphi method is one way to keep your process on
track.
The Idea
The basic idea behind the Delphi method is providing everyone involved
with a platform on which they can share their honest opinions without fear of
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 47
Even after the decision is made and the process is over, the structure
of anonymity is going to remain.
There are several benefits to using the Delphi method to gather ideas with
the goal of solving a problem. First, you are going to be able to easily avoid
the issues highlighted above. No one will know where the ideas are coming
from, so there won’t be any temptation to appeal to the authority behind the
ideas. Also, since there are no face to face meetings at this point in the
process, Groupthink will not be an issue either.
Delphi Method
& avoids appeals to authority
& Groupthink
No face-to-face meetings
The Facilitator
Perhaps the most important person in the process of using the Delphi
method is the facilitator. This is the person who is going to be responsible
for gathering the input from various parties, and they will also need to
disseminate that information to the others in the group for review.
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48 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
manner. It is very likely that the success or failure of this method within your
organization is going to come down to the effectiveness of the facilitator.
There is a lot to like about using the Delphi method, as it effectively allows
you to avoid some of the pitfalls that can come along with traditional group
decision-making.
Collating &
Reponsible for distributing data to
all parties
Is key to the
Facilitator Role success of Delphi method
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 49
Key Points
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50 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
Checklists – When you are working under pressure or doing a task for the
first time, it is easy to overlook something or forget to ask a key question.
These management checklists will help you to break down complex
management tasks into small controllable steps.
Social Media - Share our free management resources with your friends and
colleagues by following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and
RSS.
Visit www.free-management-ebooks.com
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EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING 51
References
Mckeown, M. (2nd Ed. 2015) The Strategy Book: How to Think and Act
Strategically to Deliver Outstanding, FT Publishing International
Kotler, P., Keller, K.L., Brady, M., Goodman, M., and Hansen, T. (2009),
Marketing Management, Pearson Education.
Campbell, D., Edgar, D., Stonehouse G., (3rd Ed. 2011) Business Strategy:
An Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan
Aaker, DA., Damien McLoughlin, D., (1st Ed. 2011) Strategic Market
Management: Global Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons
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52 EFFECTIVE GROUP DECISION MAKING
Johnson, G., Whittington, R., Scholes, K., Angwin, D., RegnŽr, P., (10 th Ed.
2013) Exploring Strategy Text & Cases Pearson
Hooley, G., Nicoulaud, B., Piercy, N., (5th Ed. 2011) Marketing Strategy and
Competitive Positioning Financial Times/ Prentice Hall
The Economist, Kourdi, J., (3rd Ed. 2015) Business Strategy: A Guide to
Effective Decision-Making Economist
McDonald, M., Wilson, H., (8th Rev. Ed. 2016) Marketing Plans: How to
Prepare Them, How to Profit from Them John Wiley & Sons
Baye, MR., Prince, J., (Global Ed. 2013) Managerial Economics and
Business Strategy McGraw Hill Higher Education
Cotton, D., (2010) The Business Strategy Toolkit Management Books 2000
Ltd
Routledge
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