(I didn't have enough access to source images to embed, so screenshots indicate placement)

Welcome to this Group Decision Making course!

Group decision making is a vehicle for inclusiveness. This learning module addresses the ways in whcih group decision making can help an everyday leader address some of the limitations of individual decision making. The learning module consists of:

• conceptual videos considering three key determinants of process loss in group decision making – composition, participation, and influence – any one of which can limit the value of a leader using groups to make decisions. The conceptual videos also consider how leaders can overcome these three key determinants of process loss.
• knowledge sharing, where you bring your knowledge and experience to the table, interacting with others in a social learning environment while you developing your thinking and practice.

Upon successful completion, you will be able to:

• Explain the role of diversity in effective group decision making.
• Explain why process loss decreases the quality of group decision making.
• Describe three critical causes of process loss and how to overcome them.

The key phrases and concepts we will be exploring in this course are:

• Triangulation
• Process loss
• Composition problem
• Participation problem
• Influence problem
• Devil’s advocate

Following are the kinds of activity you will need to undertake in order to complete the course successfully:

• Make updates - think of this like making a blogposts or social media post (in CGScholar's Community app).
• Make comments - think of this like making a comment in a blogpost, a social media post, or writing a product review (in CGScholar's Community app).
• Work on a peer reviewed project - think of this like writing in a Word doc or a Google doc, then commenting on somebody else's doc (in CGScholar's Creator app).
• Take surveys - think of questionnaires or quizzes (you will will be sent a link from CGScholar's Survey App.)

Visit the CGScholar's Analytics app to view your progress towards course mastery objectives. You will receive a badge if you reach a mastery threshold of 90% or better.

Watch the colored petals grow in your aster plot. The circumference of the circle represents your anticipated learning outcomes.

To achieve mastery, you will need to:

1. Make Comments on the Admin Updates: We will be asking you to make a comment on 4 admin updates, each of which contains conceptual videos — this one and the 3 other admin updates to follow: 1) The Composition Problem; 2) The Influence Problem; 3) The Participation Problem. Your comments should be carefully considered and constructive contributions to community knowledge building, well written, and at least 50 words long. Read what others in the community have been saying in their comments, and speak to them with the @Name button. Of course, you can make as many updates as you wish as we work over the key concepts.
2. Make Updates: In this course we value your experience and knowledge, so we want you to contribute these in by making updates. An update is like a blog post.
3. Make Comments on other Community Members' Updates: Provide carefully considered comments on at least 3 other member's updates on each topic, at least 50 words long.
4. Take Knowledge Surveys: You will take 3 knowledge surveys, one after you have studied each of the three concepts.
5. Create a Peer-reviewed Capstone Project: Develop a group decision making protocol or team strategy, peer review three other members' protocols/strategies, and revise for publication (sharing) with the group on the community page, as well as your personal profile page. This should be about 1-2 pages long.
6. Opinion Surveys: Take a pre-course and post course survey, reflecting on your learning interests and learning experience.

Not only will you be receiving a lot of feedback as you work through this learning module, the Analytics app will track and report back on your progress and contributions to your learning community across many thousands of datapoints:

• Knowledge: You demonstrated knowledge.
• Focus: The amount of effort you have put in.
• Help: Your contributions to others in the learning community.

Let's get started!

Comment: When have you felt effective in participating on group decision making? When have you felt ineffective? Provide at least three factors that affected your participation. Respond to others' comments in the discussion thread.

Video Recap:

• Decision analysis is a systematic approach to making decisions.
• Decision making involves a subjective element, and not only objective information or factual data.
• One individual can have access to different objective information, and can offer valuable perspectives coming from their unique experience.
• Group decision making offers benefits: 1) more information; 2) more perspective balance out bias (triangulation).
• Process loss is when valuable information and perspectives available to the group are not put to work.
• There are three sources of process loss: 1) the composition problem; 2) the participation problem; 3) the influence problem.
• The composition problem: how do we put to best use the different knowledge and perspectives of group members A, B, and C?

Different Information and Perspectives in Group Decision Making

• Similarity-attraction theory tells us we tend to form groups and interact most successfully with people like ourselves.

Similarity-attraction: The Composition Problem

• The composition problem is one of the three main reasons for process loss.
• Diversity selection: 1) avoid the "usual suspects" syndrome; 2) go outside your comfort zone, even people you disagree with; 3) identify a variety of constituencies: stakeholders, expertise, interests etc.

Optional Deeper Dive:

• If you want to dig deeper into the research, you may like to read this:

RelationshipScience.pdf

• Reis, H.T., Aron, A., Clark, M.S. and Finkel, E.J., 2013. Ellen Berscheid, Elaine Hatfield, and the emergence of relationship science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(5), pp.558-572.

Comment:

• Write a short paragraph in the comment box below, in this format: DECISION: In one or two sentences, describe a decision that might have to be made in your organization. COMPOSITION: What roles would similarity-attraction theory predict to be the "usual suspects"? What roles would you add to broaden the knowledge and perspectives of the decision-making group? ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES: In what ways will the decision likely be better informed if the group composition is broadened? As well as posting your own comment, also comment on at least three other member's comments.

Make an Update:

• Find a short video on the web which illustrates group decision-making in a funny, tragic or serious way and that illustrates the composition problem. Go to the community page and make an update. Embed the video into your update edit window, then write two or three paragraphs analyzing the lessons of the video. Using the words in italics in the video recap above. Italicize these key decision analysis concepts in your update. Post to the other members and comment on at last three other member's updates.

Video Recap:

• We create decision making groups to deal with uncertainty.
• Diverse decision making groups help us to make more informed decisions.
• When we are uncertain, we are easily influenced by others.
• We want to be influenced, but that influence can lead to process loss.
• If you are the last person to talk in a group, what you say will be influenced by what people have already said.
• People who are hesitant to contribute but who may have important information and perspectives.
• Bystander apathy: looking to others to resolve uncertainty create process loss, self-censorship.
• Group pressure: avoiding the anxiety of disagreement. Some solutions: get people to record what they think before sharing; get the people must susceptible to influence to speak first, for instance, in vertical groups, not group leaders but group members such as grassroots workers or users.
• Diverse groups are good, but not all members are equals - there might be reporting relationships, for instance. Get the lowest status people to speak first!
• The "devil's advocate" approach can be a more comfortable way to gently disagree.
• Diverse groups promise less process loss, but this is not realized when there is an influence problem.

Optional Deeper Dive:

• If you want to dig deeper into the research, you may like to read these:

BystanderApathy.pdf

• Latané, B. and Darley, J.M., 1969. Bystander" Apathy". American Scientist, 57(2), pp.244-268.

AschExperiment.pdf

Comment:

• Write a note on your computer. (Do not post this as a comment yet! Do not look at anyone else's comments if they have posted them yet!) In about 50 words, name the most important concept you have come across so far in this learning module, and explain why it is more important than the others. Now, post your comment. Do not look at the others' comments until after you have posted. Next, write comments under three other people's concepts that are different from yours and that may have influenced you if you and seen them first. (Be open to influence! That can be a good thing, too.)

Make an Update:

• Describe a real or imagined decision that your team or a group in your organization might make. Outline the "the obvious" or most likely decision path and outcome. How be the "devil's advocate" for a plausible and realistic alternative. Be sure to use and italicize the concepts in the video recap above. Next, comment on at least three other people's "devil's advocate" propositions — how can these enrich the decision making process even when the most likely decision path is taken

Video Recap:

• The benefits of diverse groups are not realized if some members are unable to contribute or share their knowledge and perspectives.
• In spoken conversations, in person or in a videoconference, some people speak less, and this may lead to process loss.
• The problem of "getting a word in" or feeling uncomfortable to speak. Strategies to structure interaction to reduce process loss might include: giving everyone a sticky note, breaking into smaller "buzz groups," finding comfortable ways to bring in people who are not speaking, getting people used to talking by having them talk in pairs first.
• Discussion boards allow hesitant people to think a little before they post, and because there are no time constraints and repetition comes at a much smaller cost, we can ask everyone to post (like this learning module!).

Comment:

• How has the "discussion board" logic of this community been different from oral meeting, in-person or online? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Make an Update:

• Write up two sets of participation "dos" and "don'ts": 1) for spoken, synchronous meetings, in person or via videoconference; 2) for asynchronous online discussion points. Conclude with a strengths/weaknesses analyses for these two modes.

Video Recap:

• Groups offer the promise of more informed decisions by leveraging diversity of information and perspectives among members.
• Sometimes groups struggle to turn their composition diversity to advantage.
• The result may be lack of progress towards making a timely decision.
• Groups may set a decision deadline but then the time taken falls short of expectations.
• Often it takes proximity to a deadline for a group to realize it is not making timely progress.

Interim Decision Timeliness Projection

• A process revolution, or a mid-point transition, where the group changes its processes to become more efficient.

A Decision Process Revolution (improving, but still not meeting the deadline)

• Progress milestones: points when the group assesses its effectiveness in moving towards their decision deadline, and to change its processes.
• Progress milestones help a group realize earlier that progress is not being made and to have a better chance of timely completion of the decision process.

Decision Milestones: Meeting a Group Decision Deadline

Optional Deeper Dive:

TimeTransition.pdf

• Gersick, C.J., 1988. Time and transition in work teams: Toward a new model of group development. Academy of Management Journal, 31(1), pp.9-41.

Peer Reviewed Project:

Develop a group decision-making protocol or strategy. This strategy should include:

1. The Group Decision Challenge: Describe a decision your group may need to make soon, or a difficult and important decision that a hypothetical group may need to make.
2. Optimizing Composition: How, who, why?
3. Balancing Influence: How, why?
4. Managing Participation: How, why?
5. Decision Milestones: How many? What to evaluate? What possible process revolutions do you envisage?
6. Post-decision Process Evaluation Strategy: How will you analyze strengths, weaknesses and lessons learned?

Tips:

• Go through the Video Recaps and be sure you have use all the italized concepts.
• Create diagrams, and upload these as images.

Process: You will:

1. Draft and submit your strategy for peer review.
2. Peer review approximately 3 other strategies by your peers, offering them constructive feedback.
3. Revise your review based on the feedback you have received, give your reviewers feedback on their reviews, write a reflective self-review, then submit your revised strategy ready for publication by commuity admins so we can all share our knowledge.