Effective Group Decision Making - Free eBook in PDF Format

Book Description - ISBN 978-1-62620-977-6 (52 Pages)
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.

Chapter 1 - The Hoy-Tarter Model of Decision Making
Making good decisions is a key to success in any organization and the Hoy-Tarter Model of Decision Making makes sure that only the ‘right’ people are involved. Different decisions need different inputs from a variety of people. So the first step of this model is to think of each person in reference to a four-quadrant matrix. This records two key aspects of the decision in relation to the individual - how much of a personal stake they have in the decision and how much their expertise is needed to make a good decision.

Chapter 2 - Multi-Voting
Within organizations many difficult decisions are finalized by asking those involved to vote on its acceptance or rejection. These decisions are often complex and require a Multi-voting method. This enables management to select the most popular options and gain an understanding of the consensus of the group. This method is best suited to circumstances where selecting the ‘best’ idea from a list, as in the case of choosing a new marketing venture, quickly reduces the list to a few concepts that can be expanded.

Chapter 3 - The Modified Borda Count
Getting a group of people to arrive at a consensus can be a challenge to sort through the noise in order to make decisive, confident choice everyone can get behind. The Modified Borda Count is a simple tool that allows your team to select from a variety of options in relation to a specific problem.

Chapter 4 - Organizing Team Decision Making
When organizations are faced with a difficult or important decision, they often have to involve some or all of the management team to make the right choice. To organize this type of decision-making process you will need to establish a plan, do your best to avoid typical downfalls of group decision making and define which options are to be discussed.

Chapter 5 - Hartnett’s CODM Model
It is inevitable that when making decisions disagreements will occur. But management must take into account all opinions when coming to a decision, so that the best interests of the organization are meet. Hartnett’s CODM Model helps to identify where the consensus of the group lies. CODM stands for ‘consensus-oriented decision making’ and its seven steps have been designed for use within group settings.

Chapter 6 - Bain’s RAPID Framework
An essential element of decision-making is understanding who has responsibility for the different aspects of the decision. It is imperative that there is a clear distinction with regard to who is in charge of what; otherwise there is a strong possibility that confusion will reign. Bain’s RAPID Framework is designed for key business decisions where it is important to have the right people in the right roles during the decision making process. The RAPID acronym consists of five roles that exist within the decision making process – recommend, agree, perform, input and decide.

Chapter 7 - The Delphi Method
Critical decisions within an organization often need your the opinions and expertise of a number of your team members. The Delphi Method enables you to leverage your organizations knowledge and experience as part of the decision making process. This methodology helps you to reduce the negative impacts of ‘appeals to authority’ and group think, which potentially can be harmful to group decision making.

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What is the Hoy-Tarter Model of Decision Making?

• Hoy-Tarter Decision Making Model is designed to help you decide to what extent you should involve subordinates in the decision making process.
• 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.
• On one side of the matrix is the question ‘Does this decision matter to the individual in a significant way?’
• 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?’
• If the team member receives a yes response for both questions, they should almost certainly be included in the decision making process.
• Obviously, anyone without expertise or a personal stake should be excluded.
• Where someone has either expertise or a personal stake, but not both, then the decision is more nuanced.
• This model can help to give you a shortlist of who should be included in the decision making process and to justify your choice objectively.

What is Multi-Voting?

• Multi-voting makes it possible to take a vote when the topic at hand is not a simple ‘for or against’ proposition.
• It is ideal where there is a large list of options that needs to be pared down to to those that are the most popular among the group.
• The list of options should be drawn up by the group making the decision with similar options grouped together to make the number of options manageable.
• The number of votes given to each group member is variable but us typically one third of the number of items on the list.
• By talking about the results of the vote as a group, you can quickly begin to interpret the results.
• It can be a good idea to use this system iteratively in order to accurately identify the ideas that your team is the most confident in taking forward.

What is The Modified Borda Count?

• The Modified Borda Count is a simple tool that can be used to allow your team to pick from a variety of options the one which is the most popular option among the group as a whole.
• It can be used where the support of the group is critical, as it is that same group that is going to be tasked with putting the decision into action.
• 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.
• This is done on a points system (say 1 to 5 points) with 5 points being given to the favoured option, four to the next, then 3 and so on.
• 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.

What is the best way to Organize Team Decision Making?

• Team decision making is important where the support of the group is critical, for example where that same group that is tasked with putting the decision into action.
• When you involve a group of people in a decision, you are likely to get even more opinions and ideas than expected, which is both a good and a bad thing.
• You can use the Hoy-Tarter Decision Making Model to help you decide which team members you should involve in the decision making process.
• 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.
• Two of the best ways to make a group decision is through either multi-voting or using a Modified Borda Count.

What is Hartnett’s CODM Model?

• Hartnett’s Consensus Oriented Decision Making (CODM) model is a seven step process that facilitates group based decision making on a consensus basis.
• It can be used in any group situation, regardless of whether the final decision-making power rests with a single person or or the whole team. The Steps are:
• Identify the problem, ensure that the right people, information, resources and stakeholders are involved, and set the decision rule.
• Have an open discussion to generate as many initial ideas or solutions to the problem as possible.
• Identify the issues and stakeholders who will be affected by this decision.
• Develop proposals that address the problems identified in the previous step.
• Decide on the best proposal to take forward.
• Develop and improve the final proposal further.
• You should have a solution that passes the decision rule.

What is Bain’s RAPID Framework?

• The RAPID framework for decision making is a process that is to be undertaken only when important decisions need to be made.
• It is a particular tool for clarifying the accountability of critical decisions in organizations.
• RAPID is an acronym for five roles that can exist within the decision making process.
• Recommend: This group create the proposals and recommendations.
• 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.
• Input: This group will provide information and facts to the recommend groups.
• Decide: The person or persons involved in this group is accountable for the whole execution process.
• You should establish some type of threshold that will need to be crossed before the RAPID method is used.

What is the Delphi Method?

• Delphi is based on the principle that forecasts (or decisions) from a structured group of individuals are more accurate than those from unstructured groups.
• It is designed to avoid the negative effects of face-to-face panel discussions and solve the usual problems of group dynamics including groupthink and deferring to authority.
• The Delphi method is based on a system of anonymity, providing everyone involved with a platform on which they can share their honest opinions without fear of any repercussions.
• The method requires a facilitator who is responsible for gathering the input from various parties, and disseminating that information to the others in the group for review.
• The facilitator needs to be someone who is impartial, trustworthy, and able to organize and display all of the incoming information in an effective manner.
• Throughout the process, everyone who participates offers up their opinions and ideas on an anonymous basis over several rounds.
• Whilst it avoids the common drawbacks of decision making in a group setting, the Delphi method does not offer any opportunity for collaborative creativity.