BUS403: Negotiations and Conflict Management (2016.A.01)

Learning Objectives

1. Define decision-making and distinguish between decision-making and problem-solving.
2. Describe five methods of group decision-making.
3. Identify six guidelines for consensus decision-making.
4. Define autocratic, democratic, and participative decision-making styles and place them within the Tannenbaum-Schmidt continuum.

Life is the sum of all your choices.

Simply put, decision-making is the process of choosing among options and arriving at a position, judgment, or action. It usually answers a "wh-" question - i.e., what, who, where, or when? - or perhaps a "how" question.

A group may, of course, make a decision in order to solve a problem. For instance, a group of students might discover halfway through a project that some of its members are failing to contribute to the required work. They might then decide to develop a written timeline and a set of deadlines for itself if it believes that action will lead them out of their difficulty.

Not every group decision, however, will be in response to a problem. Many decisions relate to routine logistical matters such as when and where to schedule an event or how to reach someone who wasn't able to make it to a meeting. Thus, decision-making differs from problem-solving.

Any decision-making in a group, even about routine topics, is significant. Why? Because decision-making, like problem-solving, results in a change in a group's status, posture, or stature. Such change, in turn, requires energy and attention on the part of a group in order for the group to progress easily into a new reality. Things will be different in the group once a problem has been solved or a decision has been reached, and group members will need to adjust.

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