Group Decision-Making

This section will help you distinguish between decision-making and problem-solving. The author describes five methods for group decision-making and defines autocratic, democratic, and participative decision-making styles.

Exercises

  1. Think of major decisions made in the last couple of years by two groups you're a part of. Which method from this section did the groups use in each case? Which of the decisions are you more satisfied with now? Why? To what degree do you feel the decision-making methods the groups used fit the circumstances and the characteristics of the groups themselves?
  2. Tell a classmate about a decision that a group you're part of needs to make shortly. Ask the classmate for his/her advice on which decision-making method the group should employ.
  3. A major hesitation raised by some people with respect to consensus decision-making is that it requires much more time than voting or other direct methods. In what kind of situation would you be, or have you been, willing to invest "as much time as it takes" to reach consensus in a group?
  4. If you were compelled to make every decision either totally by intuition or totally by analysis, which would you choose? On the basis of what experience or value do you feel this way? If you could choose to have every group leader around you make decisions by only one of the two methods, which would you prefer, and why?