What is it?

• Group Decision Making Analysis provides an opportunity for team members to discuss and agree how they can make effective decisions, using the appropriate decision-making style for particular situations.
• It enables team members to discuss how decisions are currently taken, and to contrast this with how they wish them to be made in the future.

Why is it useful?

• The way decisions are made within a group often goes unquestioned, particularly if there are dominant personalities within the group.
• If an inappropriate decision-making style is used in a particular situation, there will be negative consequences. For example, people may ‘nod’ a decision through but not buy in to it, and therefore not support its implementation.
• This leads to both ineffective and inefficient decision making.

Objective

To achieve faster, better group decision making within your team.

When would you use it?

• When you hear complaints from people that they are not getting enough done as a result of decisions being held up in the organisation.

Resources Required

• 30 minutes.
• Between 4 and 20 people.
• Copies of the blank Decision Style Analysis template for all participants.

Process

1. The Facilitator introduces the activity with a brief outline of the six decision-making styles:

   • Lack of response
   • Authority rule
   • Minority
   • Majority
   • Consensus
   • Unanimity (or Unanimous Consent)

2. Each participant takes a Decision Style Analysis template. The first rectangle represents how decisions are made today. The second represents how they should be made.

3. Participants apportion percentages to the first rectangle according to: ‘How we make decisions today’.

   • For example, if they believe a quarter of decisions are made due to unanimous consent, then Unanimous Consent is awarded 25%.
   • Repeat for the other five decision-making styles.

4. They then complete the second rectangle in the same way for: ‘How we should make decisions’.

5. The group compares their completed rectangles. The Facilitator leads a discussion on the differences and identifies steps the team can take to close the gap between where they are now and where they want to be.

Decision Making Styles

• Lack of response: Ideas are brainstormed with no discussion or evaluation until one emerges that is accepted. Others are discarded by simple lack of response.

• Authority rule: Leader makes the decision, with or without discussion. Buy-in is limited as the outcome is imposed.

• Minority rule: A small number of dominant people push through a decision. Risk of intimidation and low validation. Sometimes useful when a small group of experts is better suited to decide.

• Majority rule: Decision made by vote or poll. Risks creating ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, with some feeling disenfranchised.

• Consensus: Alternatives are discussed until one option emerges that most favour while others agree to support it. Requires time, energy and maturity but rewards commitment.

• Unanimity (Unanimous Consent): All members agree completely on the decision. Powerful but difficult to achieve with diverse groups.

Secret Sauce

• With larger groups, form breakout groups of 4 for mini-discussions before bringing everyone back together.
• The group may struggle to distinguish between Consensus and Unanimous Consent or between Majority and Consensus. Ask them to explore the differences and agree on definitions that make sense for their situation.