Problem-Solving and Decision-Making in Groups

This text summarizes common characteristics of problems and the five steps in group problem-solving. The reading describes brainstorming and discussions that should occur before group decision-making, compares and contrasts decision-making techniques, and explores various influences on decision-making. The section "Getting Competent" emphasizes the need for leaders and managers to delegate tasks and responsibilities as they identify specialized skills among their teams and employees.

Brainstorming before Decision Making

Before groups can make a decision, they need to generate possible solutions to their problem. The most commonly used method is brainstorming, although most people don't follow the recommended steps.

Brainstorming refers to the quick generation of ideas free of evaluation. The originator of the term brainstorming said the following four rules must be followed for the technique to be effective:

  1. Evaluation of ideas is forbidden.
  2. Wild and crazy ideas are encouraged.
  3. Quantity of ideas, not quality, is the goal.
  4. New combinations of ideas presented are encouraged.

To make brainstorming a decision-making rather than an idea-generating method, group communication scholars suggest groups take some additional steps that precede and follow brainstorming.

  1. Do a warm-up brainstorming session. Some people are more apprehensive about communicating their ideas publically than others. A warm-up session can help ease apprehension and prime group members for task-related idea generation. Anyone in the group can initiate the warm-up. It should only go on for a few minutes.

    For example, someone could ask, "If our group formed a band, what would we be called?" or "What other purposes could a mailbox serve?" The first warm-up gets the group's more abstract creative juices flowing, while the second focuses more on practical and concrete ideas.

  2. Do the actual brainstorming session. This session should not last more than 30 minutes and should follow the four rules of brainstorming mentioned previously. To ensure the fourth rule is realized, the facilitator could encourage people to piggyback off each other's ideas.

  3. Eliminate duplicate ideas. After the brainstorming session, group members can eliminate (without evaluating) ideas that are the same or similar.

  4. Clarify, organize, and evaluate ideas. Before evaluation, see if any ideas need clarification. Then try to theme or group ideas together in an orderly fashion. Since "wild and crazy" ideas are encouraged, some suggestions may need clarification. Eliminate ideas that have no foundation or are too vague, abstract, and cannot be clarified. However, it may be wise to keep off-the-wall ideas that are hard to categorize and put them in a miscellaneous or "wild and crazy" category.