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B.8 Decision-making Techniques
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- Brainstorming
- The Delphi Technique
| B.8 Decision-making Techniques Decision-making techniques can be defined as tools that managers can use to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making. There are different techniques discussed in this section that are used at different stages of the decision-making process. These techniques consist of an orderly, systematic framework for defining, analysing and solving problems in an objective and scientific manner. They are intended to improve the manager's decision-making ability and provide them with a means for justifying and evaluating their own managerial performance. Brainstorming In many situations, groups are expected to produce imaginative solutions to organizational problems. In such instances, brainstorming has often enhanced the group's creative output. Brainstorming is a process where a group of individuals generate ideas according to a set of rules designed to promote the generation of new ideas while at the same time avoiding members inhibitions that face-to-face groups usually cause. The basic rules area) No idea is too ridiculous. Group members are encouraged to state any extreme or outlandish ideas that occur to them. b) Each idea presented belongs to the group, not the person stating it. In this way, group members utilize and build on the ideas of others. c) No idea can be criticised. The session's purpose is to generate ideas, not to evaluate them. The Delphi Technique The Delphi technique is a systematic procedure sometimes used for developing a consensus of opinion among a group of experts. Here, the experts are given a series of detained questionnaires about a problem and then are asked to provide their own written opinions. The use of questionnaires avoids direct contact and debate among experts, which might induce hasty formulation and commitment to certain ideas. After reading the anonymous answers of other participants, each expert revises his or her own answers. Eventually, after a series of rounds of 131 this type, convergence of opinion usually occurs. (Stoner, 1978:208). When the opinions stabilize, the average opinion is taken to represent the decision of the group of experts (Griffin, 1999:281). The underlying belief is that the consensus estimate results in abetter decision after several rounds of anonymous group judgment. While it is possible to continue the procedure for several rounds, research has shown that, typically, no significant changes occur after the second round of feedback. Download 3.37 Mb. Share with your friends:
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