Week 3 - Post 3: The Process of Group Decision-Making

As mentioned in O’Hair and Wiemann’s The Essential Guide to Group Communication, there are 8 steps to the proper decision making process when working in a group. The first step is to identify the problem. The members of the group must analyze the issue at hand and then collaborate to propose a solution to the problem. The second step is conducting research. Each group member must seek out additional information to gain a greater understanding of their topic. Thirdly, the group should establish guidelines and criteria. By establishing these guidelines, the members will have a means by which to evaluate their proposed solutions. The fourth step is generating alternatives. At this point, the group leader and the members should come up with as many possible solutions to their problem as possible. The fifth step to this process is evaluating the alternatives the members have come up with. From this point, the group must select the best alternative and then implement this solution in steps 6 and 7. These steps are crucial to the entire process because they evaluate and decide the solution to the entire problem. Finally, the group must evaluate the results of their chosen solution to determine how effective it was in solving their problem. If groups work together to follow these steps, they are far more likely to be successful in their decision-making process.