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How to help groups make decisions

Group decision making is an effective management practice that involves a group of people making a decision collectively. A major benefit is that the process increases the participants' ownership of and commitment to the decision. Helping groups reach those decisions, therefore, is a key management function that requires a working knowledge of the most popular decision-making tools…

1. Ensure the group knows when a decision is made.

There are five ways in which a group can make a decision. Agree early on which approach is to be adopted:

  • Decision by unanimous agreement, with no dissenters.
  • Decision by consensus. The decision has the support of the whole group and, while some may not agree with the decision, they have had their say and are happy to accept the will of the group.
  • Decision by majority. The proposal attracting most votes is carried.
  • Decision by minority. People agree, following their input, to allow those with greatest expertise or power, make the final decision.
  • Decision by chairperson, following input from all in the group.

The approach adopted by the group usually depends on the situation or the significance of the decision. The following techniques will assist in working towards a decision based on agreement by the majority or by consensus - an ideal group result.

2. Avoid the traps of group decisions.

Busy managers can sometimes ‘push’ too hard for decisions and, in the process, create additional problems. So avoid such hazards as these…

  • Interpreting silence as consent - making a decision by default.
  • Settling for majority rules - believing that a win/lose result is better than no result.
  • Letting minorities decide - ’Trust us, we know what others want’.
  • Believing that those who make the most noise are the most knowledgable.
  • Accepting opinions as facts.

3. Select the best tool for your situation.

When decision making involves having to determine the relative importance of several different issues or priorities under discussion, a choice of techniques is available:

Brainstorming or Brainwriting.

  • Decisions can only be based on ideas and information. Brainstorming or its alternative, Brainwriting, is often the first step in group decision-making. It is able to equalise involvement, generate excitement, and result in a range of ideas or items for addressing the problem in focus

3 for and 3 against
  • This ensures that all sides of an issue are heard. When an issue is being discussed, the group is asked to give three reasons why the issue should be supported and then three reasons why it shouldn't

Spend a Dollar
  • For prioritising a set of 5 to 15 issues, you need enough slips of paper for each participant to have one slip per issue. Distribute slips and have them write one issue on each slip. They have $1 to spend on the issues according to their relative importance. They must spend and record a minimum of 5c on each item. All spendings are recorded from the slips to a wall chart, and the totals, percentages and rankings can be calculated

Multivoting
  • Number each item in the set requiring prioritising, then follow this procedure:
    1. Choose one-third of the items on the list and discuss them.
    2. After discussion, members vote by show of hands (or secret ballot) as each item is called out.
    3. After voting, reduce this list by removing some items with fewest votes.
    4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 on the remaining items and continue until only the most- voted-for items are left. If no clear favourite emerges by this time, repeat the process on the most-voted-for items

Merging Priorities
  • The group breaks into pairs. Each pair discusses the set of items and agrees on the top two priorities. The pairs then join to form groups of four, which discuss the four priorities (although there could be overlap), and reduce the four items to two. The fours join to make eights, and again agree on the top two priorities out of the accumulating set. Continue the process until you merge into one whole group with two surviving agreed-on priorities

Nominal Group Technique
  • This is a fancy name for a simple procedure designed to involve all group members. Issue the following instructions to the group participants:
  • Each person must think carefully about the set of items or issues requiring prioritising. From the set, each person must select the five most important items, and write them as a list on a sheet of paper. Put a 5 next to the item you think is most important.
  • Put a 1 next to the item that is least important. Put a 4 against the item that is the second most important, then a 3 beside the next item of importance, and a 2 against the remaining item.
  • Collect the sheets, shuffle, and tally the scores against a list of all items on a master chart. The group considers those items with the highest scores to be the most important.

Force Field Analysis
  • This technique helps groups to make decisions about change. It assumes that the current situation is the result of counteracting forces.
  • One set is pushing the situation towards a more desired state (helping forces) and a second set is acting to restrain movement in the desired direction (hindering forces). Brainstorm to create two lists: 'helping forces' and 'hindering forces'.
  • Examine each completed list to delete, add or integrate as required. Identify and underline those forces that are most important and most able to be influenced.
  • For each underlined 'hindering force', think of a list of action steps that will reduce or eliminate the effect of the force.
  • Repeat for the 'helpful forces'. Finally, develop a plan for action.