3.2 Decision Methods

Module 3, lecture 2. We’re going to talk about two other decision making methods and we’re gonna talk about these two together. We’ll talk about these together, discuss these, because these two look very similar. There’s a huge difference between the two. But to look at a group using both of these decision making methods could look exactly the same. If you walked into a room, you wouldn’t have any idea which decision making method was being used, if you saw a group of people using either of these. So what we want to do is figure out, okay, which one does this, which one does this? What’s the differences? How are they similar? We’re gonna look at decision by an authority with input from the group, and we’re going to look at a consensus decision, a decision by the whole group. Authority with input. Advantages of authority with input. Somebody, what authority with input says, is somebody, an authority figure with the power to make a decision and follow up on that decision, and have that decision move forward. There’s an authority figure out there that’s going to make that decision, but they’re going to work without a group to say, what do yo think about this? What’s your input? What ideas do you have? Advantages, group members are consulted, they are listened to, their thoughts and ideas are part of this whole decision process. But with this decision making process, a lot of times we find there’s really good solid support for the decision. Disadvantages, there may be confusion about the process. Sometimes, the decision has already been made. Let’s look at the first one. We look at there may be some confusion about the process. Sometimes with this decision making method, there’s a problem because the group comes together, they discuss things, they talk about the advantages, the disadvantages, and they finally come up with something they think should be done. This is the answer. This is what we’re looking for right here. They give that to the authority figure. Then, the person who’s making the final decision, they go off, think about this for a little while, come back with a completely different decision. And then the group, feels really angry. They feel angry, alienated. They feel like they’ve been betrayed. Out in the business world, there are a number of managers who would never use this kind of decision making method because they have had bad experiences where people did feel betrayed by a final decision that was not what the group came up with. The group, with this method is not coming up with the decision, this is a key element of this decision. The group is coming up with a recommendation. They are giving information to somebody who is going to make a decision. That’s a piece of the decision. This group really has a lot of expertise that can really help make decisions, but it’s not the only thing that we need to look at sometimes when making a decision. Sometimes there are regulatory issues that this group doesn’t know about, there are financial issues in the organization that this group doesn’t know about, there are contractual issues that this group doesn’t know about. There could be any number of other inputs into this decision that this group doesn’t know about. But this group has some expert knowledge that this authority figure making the decision needs to have, so they can make a good decision. So with this decision making method, the group is making a recommendation, not a decision. So, if people are clear about that, there shouldn’t be any confusion here. It shouldn’t be a problem. That should never be an issue at all. Sometimes the decision has already been made, and people want to make it look like an authority decision with input. We talked about a decision made earlier about hiring someone into the group after there had been a bunch of interviews by the group. They had determined a priority listing of who they thought should be hired for the position. And the person selected for the position by the authority wasn’t even on the priority list at all. In fact, this group doing the recommendations had said and this group of people should not even be considered. And the authority figure just went over and picked out of that list, should never be considered. Oh, I want that one because they speak Italian. Completely disregarded anything that this other group had done. So sometimes, the decision’s already been made. Doesn’t make any difference what the group does, but sometimes, people want to make it look like the group has some input, so that’s a disadvantage to this, that sometimes it’s not being used properly by the authority figures. Another one that we’re going to look at is Consensus, and this one could look exactly the same as decision by authority. We have a group of people sitting around a table discussing things and coming up with some sort of solution,some sort of decision along the way here. Advantages, group members are all involved, so we get a lot of good buy in and support for this thing. Implementation can be very successful. Because we already have all the buy-in, we’ve talked about all the issues. We’ve worked through all of the problems we thought we would have. We’ve probably discussed any kind of the change issues that might come up along the way. Worked through all of these things to come up with what we think is a really good decision. And now we can move forward with this. And moving forward is pretty easy after we’ve gone through this whole consensus process. Some disadvantages. It takes time, it’s not a fast way to make decisions. There’s a whole lot of discussion to goes on, and everyone has to, finally, agree to live with, then support this decision. It’s not easy, some people think consensus is an easy way to make decisions. It’s not. It’s not an easy way at all.