GROUP - DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUE

DEFINITION Group decision making is a type of participatory process in which multiple individuals acting collectively, analyze problems or situations, consider and evaluate alternative courses of action, and select from among the alternatives a solution or solutions 8–2

Group Decision Making Strengths ◦ More complete information ◦ Increased diversity of views ◦ Higher quality of decisions (more accuracy) ◦ Increased acceptance of solutions Weaknesses ◦ More time consuming (slower) ◦ Increased pressure to conform ◦ Domination by one or a few members ◦ Ambiguous responsibility 8–3

Group Decision Making Process 1.Problem Identification Define problem in situation or behavioral terms. Problem definition should be free to reference to causes and or fault Be careful not to invoke defensiveness on the part of group members. Problem definition should invoke mutual interests. Problem definition should culminate in a clear primary objective A set of criteria or constraints that a successful solution should meet should be developed. This constraint set should be based on claimant or stakeholder interests. 8–4

Group Decision Making Process Issues: Group members often want to advance a particular solution or plan. This must be avoided. The more public an individual's "position" becomes, the more committed he or she becomes to it. When a group member's identity is linked to a particular project, task or function, the form the problem statement takes will affect his or her degree of defensiveness. The group should focus on goals, behaviors, and outcomes rather than people and personality. 8–5

Group Decision Making Process 2.Problem Diagnosis Develop a model of the problem using the behavior or objective as the dependent variable. The independent variables in the model should represent the potential causes of the problem.Avoid the trap of assessing the blame. Issues: Developing a model or construct is an "intuitive" exercise. Once the model is established, it tend to become the basis the remainder of the process. Be sure there is consensus on the model 8–6

Group Decision Making Process 3. Solution Generation Generate a number of possible solutions before starting evaluation. Issues: Don't get locked into a limited solution set too early Work to encourage new and different approaches. Consensual schema often limit the range of alternatives groups consider. 8–7

Group Decision Making Process 4. Solution Evaluation And Choice Evaluation should be based on comparing alternative solutions to constraint set developed in the problem identification phase Develop strategy for dealing with multiple conflicting criteria: Maximizing versus satisficing Issues: The method used to resolve intra-group conflicts is important at this point. The use of forcing (voting), smoothing, withdrawal, compromise, and integrative decision making (win-win) method have different consequence in terms of solution quality, solution acceptance, and group maintenance. 8–8

Group Decision Making Process 5) Framing a Decision: When the possible outcomes of possible courses of action are thus analysed with the help of data and models, it becomes easy to select a particular course of action to cope with a particular problem. Such a selection is designated as taking or making a decision 8–9

Group Decision Making Process 6) Follow up Actions: The decision maker has to plan follow up strategies and actions. He has to anticipate reactions of others who are affected by the decisions. He has to make short run and long run decisions. Decision making is a continuous process where decision made induces a new problem which may call for a new decisions and so on. 8– 10

TECHNIQUES OF GROUP DECISION MAKING 1.Brain storming 2.Nominal group technique 3.Delphi technique 4.Devil’s advocacy 5.Electronic meetings 6.Fish bowling 7.Didatic Interaction 8.Interacting groups

BRAINSTORMING Developed by Alex Osborn. Brainstorming is a group technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its member. Generate as many ideas as possible, suspending evaluation until all the ideas have been suggested.

Nominal group technique Developed by Andre Delbecq and Andrew Van de Ven at the university of Wisconsin. Individuals silently list their ideas. Ideas are written on a chart one at a time until all ideas are listed. Discussion is permitted but only to clarify the ideas. No criticism allowed. A written vote is taken.

Delphi technique Originated at the Rand Corporation to gather judgements of experts for use in decision making. Developed by Norman Dalkey and Olaf Helmer. Used for forecasting future events. Fifteen to twenty experts are involved. Structured questionnaire is sent to these experts. There is no interaction between them. A summary is prepared by taking the opinions of the experts.

DEVIL’S ADVOCACY An individual is given the role of critic whose task is to come up with the potential problems in proposed decision. Helps to avoid costly mistakes by identifying pitfalls in advance.

Electronic meetings The members of the group interact with the help of computers through connected computer terminals. Projector screen is used to show the individual comments and votes on an issue. This method reduces group think and the time wasted in socializing the meeting.

FISH BOWLING All the members are seated in a circle form One person sits in the centre chair and gives his suggestion to the problem. Members can ask questions to that person. No two members are allowed to talk to each other than with the person seated in the centre. After all views are expressed, the one with consensus is selected.

DIDATIC INTERACTION This is used only where there is YES- NO application. Two groups: One favouring YES Other favouring NO Both groups discuss their view points and find out weaknesses in their sides. Finally it results in mutual acceptance of facts.

INTERACTING GROUPS Most of the decision making in a group happens in a meeting. The most important advantage is that the members can interact face to face. Disadvantage is that the decisions taken in interacting groups are affected by group think, pressure to conform etc.

Advantages of Group Decision Making 1)Pooling of Knowledge and Information: Since many individuals involved in group decision making more data and information can be brought to bear on the decision. The group provides specialized inputs in defining variables into suggests alternatives that the individual alone is unlikely to come up with. 2) Satisfaction and Communication: Individual satisfaction and comment in group decision making are often enhanced. This may be caused by an attitude change regarding the alternatives a result of discussion. It may also be caused by the development of group spirit as people discover similarities among themselves 3) Personnel Development: Learning is enhanced when one observes others, practices what has been seen and experiences the positive rewards received for successfully repeating the new behaviour

Advantages of Group Decision Making 4) More Risk taking: Every decision involves some kind of risk because a decision affects future events and one can never be sure whether a particular decisions varies in terms of risk taking aptitudes and capabilities, risk taking increases when these individuals are pooled in a group. Thus the risk taking tends to be higher in group decision making 5) Different Perspectives: Individuals with varied experience and interests help the group to see decisions,situations and problems from different angles.

Disadvantages of Group Decision Making 1.Social pressure. The pressure to conform to the group can have adverse effects on the creativity of the individual group member. 2.Domination by a vocal few. Group members may be ignored and outspoken by members who speak the loudest and longest. 3.Goal displacement. The primary objective of making a sound decision may be affected by a member's personal considerations such as winning an argument, or getting back at another group member. 4.Groupthink. Groupthink occurs when group members try to minimise conflict and want to remain within the comfort zone of the group's consensus thinking. Creativity and independent thinking are usually the first things to be sacrificed, resulting in poor quality decisions. 5.Time consuming and Costly: Mostly groups take more time to reach decisions than individuals