Meetings are usually designed to help parties come to a decision. However, group decision making can be extremely challenging. Many issues arise during group decision making, including conflicts and time-wasting. More to this is that it can be challenging to make informed decisions in group meetings. It is for this reason that different techniques were developed to facilitate the process of decision making. Notable examples of decision-making techniques are “the Delhi technique, the Nominal Group Technique (NGT), and brainstorming” (Sims, 2002). These techniques have their own advantages and limitations and thus suitable in different situations.
The Delphi Technique
In this method, decisions are usually made by expert consensus. Rand Corporation developed this technique (Sims, 2002). The technique collects and organizes the views and ideas of several group members (Sims, 2002). The method is composed of several steps before a consensus is reached. First, the members or experts involved in the decision-making process are enlisted and the problem or issue presented to them, usually in the form of a letter or questionnaire (Haughey, 2017). Secondly, the group members or experts then given their opinions or propose solutions to the issue.
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The group leaders then compile individual responses and share them with the other team members. The members or experts are then expected to comment on the expert's opinions or proposed solutions. The group leader then reviews the comments and looks for a consensus of opinions. According to Haughey (2017), a decision is made once the experts reach a consensus. However, if an agreement is not reached, the process is repeated. The Delhi technique is focused on a more structured group with a leader who facilitates the group decision-making process (Sims, 2002).
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is used for generating solutions and creative ideas through the interaction of group members involved in decision making process. Primarily, brainstorming focus on the 'generation of ideas' (Braintools, 2017). In this technique, it does not matter if the ideas generated are relevant or irrelevant. For this reason, the number of ideas generated counts, and members do not criticize ideas. The ideas are written down and evaluated at the end of the session. During the process of evaluation, the solutions are explored further, using conventional approaches (Braintools, 2017).
The NGT
The NGT is suitable in situations there is need to make urgent decisions (Sims, 2002). During this time, the members of the group interact to solve the issue at hand. The group member provides their individual solutions to an issue and reacts to the solutions proposed by other colleagues. The members then vote on the proposed solutions to determine the best one (Sims, 2002). Just like the Delphi technique, the NGT is composed of several steps. First, it begins by gathering the group members. The members are then presented with the issue that needs to be solved. Next, each member of the group proposes a solution to the problem. The group then discuss, clarify, and evaluate each of the proposed solution (Sims, 2002). After evaluating all the proposed solutions, the group members individually rank-order their preferred solutions. The idea or solution with the highest ranks is taken as the group’s decisions.
First Scenario
Whenever a company is in crisis, it is vital to come up with a solution that addresses the crisis. The company needs to come up with ideas on how to retain its customers as well as improve its sales. This will help the company remain competitive in the industry. In this case, brainstorming is the most suitable technique to use. This is because the scenario requires the team members to come up with new ideas and solutions. Brainstorming does not involve decision making and analysis (Braintools, 2017). In the case provided, the members of the management team are extroverts. This means that the members are not afraid to air their views or opinions at meetings. For this reason, the members of the management team will be at a point to generate as many ideas. The second reason why brainstorming is the best technique to use in this scenario is due to the fact that no one has a clue on what should be done. For this reason, through brainstorming, the team members would be able to think. More to this is that they will be able to be more creative towards generating the best ideas (Braintools, 2017).
Second Scenario
In the second scenario, the NGT is the most preferred decision-making technique to be used. There are several reasons for choosing this technique. First, the team members involved in making the decisions tend to dig into other topics. For this reason, the members highly likely to digress. When using this technique to make a decision, digressing opinions tend to be truncated (Sims, 2002). This leaves room for the best idea. To add to this, the NGT is more applicable in cases where some team members are vocal than others. Given that the team members are composed of both extroverts and introverts, it is best to use the NGT. This is because the technique will utilize the most vocal members (Sims, 2002). In many cases, introverts normally do not contribute or air their ideas at meetings. For this reason, NGT ought to utilize it in order to facilitate the process of decision making.
Third Scenario
When experts are expected to come up with decisions, and the decision that needs to be made is not so urgent, the Delhi technique is the most appropriate technique to use. This technique is utilized when decisions are sought from experts who have tight schedules (Sims, 2002). Since the experts usually have tight schedules, the Delhi technique is more suitable in this scenario. Because of this, the group leader can enlist the members and then present the software issue to them. The experts will then give their ideas or propose solutions about software choices through mailing. The group leaders will then collect and organize the ideas provided by the experts and then be linked to determine the most appropriate idea or solution among the ideas provided by the experts.
Conclusion
Arguably, each of the three techniques of group decision making is suitable in different situations. They all play a significant part in a group, decision-making process. Thus, before deciding on which technique to use, it is best first to assess the situation at hand. This will help one determine which technique to use.
References
Braintools. (2017). Brainstorming: Generating many radical, creative ideas. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.mindtools.com/brainstm.html . Accessed October 13, 2019.
Haughey, D. (2017). Delphi technique: A step-by-step guide. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/delphi-technique-a-step-by-step-guide.php . Accessed October 13, 2019.
Sims, R. (2002). Managing organizational behavior. Westport, Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Press.
