Techniques of Group Decision Making- Administrative Behaviour

Group Decision Making

At the outset, I would like to state that this model has some serious limitations. One of the major limitations is the problem of “Group Think”. It means getting overpowered by the group mentality. The techniques basically focus on maximizing the advantages or diverse expertise and minimizing the limitations of decision making. There are four techniques under this topic.

1.      Brainstorming- It is a conference style of decision making where the decision makers are face to face with each other. The group leader clarifies the problem to the group members. Once the problem is clarified, each group member is expected to come out with as many ideas as one can share. During the generation of ideas, every form of value comments or statements is restricted. Once the generation phase is over, each of these ideas is to be discussed openly and everyone will take part in the debate. Based on this, a final conclusion is to be reached on the idea on which a consensus arises. Though, it is one of the most acceptable techniques of decision making. But, at the same time, it suffers from some infirmities such as it is not completely devoid of “Group Think”. Also, when the ideas are voiced, even though no value comment is made, but psychologically the value comment process persists within the members.

2.      Nominal Group Technique- This is also a conference style of decision making. In this process, the members and the decision makers come face to face with each other. The group leader clarifies the entire issue in front of all the members. Once, the issue has been clarified, every member of the group is expected to ponder over the issue privately. The individuals are not free to voice their issue. After this, they have to come to a single closure or view and not multiple views. This closure or view is required to be maintained in writing on an already designed paper. The size, colour and dimensions of the paper have to be same for everyone. The views of everyone are to be dropped in a box or kept in a manner that the people are not able to correlate between the idea and the individual. Once everybody has contributed their ideas, one by one, each of these ideas will be taken out and discussed. After the discussion is over, every individual is expected to assign a rank to all these ideas. Based on these rankings, a final ranking is to be prepared. Based on the final rankings, the idea which occupies the first rank becomes the idea or view of the whole group and that is what the final decision is. This process is referred to as Nominal Group Technique.

The individual becomes anonymous and his identity is not disclosed. But, this might give rise to a casual attitude in decision making because no one is going to get the credit for giving a good or a bad idea.

3.      Delphi Technique- Delphi is a Greek term referring to a shrine where people use to pray to know about information relating to their future. It is a technique which is used to deal with issues which are futuristic in nature and involves the requirement of diverse expertise. All these expertise is not available within the organization. It is also not possible to bring the concerned experts face to face with each other. Delphi technique is a technique whereby the expert group of the organization prepares a questionnaire and selects the experts to be consulted. To begin with, it sends the questionnaire to a select group of experts. When the questionnaire reaches back to the expert group with the responses of the select group, then based on the responses received, the questionnaire is to be revised. After this, the revised questionnaire is being sent to another select group of experts. Similarly, based on the responses, the questionnaire is to be revised again and sent to another set of experts. The process is continued till the expert group of the organization reaches a level of satisfaction or closure in this regard.

4.      Consensus Mapping- It is a technique which is used to bring about an agreement amongst the group on certain issues where group consists of a large number of individuals. It is a type of strategy to establish consensus between a large numbers of people. A core group is constituted to facilitate the decision making process and based on the identification of clusters; various sub-groups are to be created. Each of the sub-groups is expected to take note of the issue under consideration and submit their view to the core group. The core group will act as a facilitator and create a conducive environment. There has to be homogeneity while identifying a cluster. Based on the consideration of these, a Strawman Map is to be prepared. It basically refers to a tentative conclusion that the core group will reach based on the consideration of various sub-groups. It will act as a reference to various sub-groups for revising or reconsidering their views. On the basis of the subsequent revised views by the sub-groups, the Strawman group will be revised. This process will go on till a consensus is achieved.