Group Methods of Decision Making

Group decision-making methods (or expert assessments) are necessary in the development and implementation of most innovations. The essence of them is to get the best answers to the questions posed to experts.

For the examination, an organizational group is usually formed, which provides the conditions in order to carry out effective work. Its main tasks are:

• Staging the main problem of expertise;
• Development of the main procedure for its implementation;
• Selection and formation of an expert group;
• Conducting a survey among experts;
• Processing and interpretation of this information.

There are different models and methods of decision-making in group work. Let us consider in more detail the most common and used in practice.

The Brainstorming method is widely used and is aimed at forming the final solution on the basis of ideas that are haphazardly put forward by the group when working together. In the future, they are refined and discussed.

The decision-making methods "635" are a variant of the previous method. But the exchange of data and opinions in the group will be carried out in a written way and necessarily in five rounds.

The method of targeted discussions is applied when there is no need to rush. This is an open discussion on the problem, which is conducted in order to develop a common opinion of experts. And the collective opinion will be determined, as a rule, as a result of voting. But similar methods of decision-making have some drawbacks:

• There is no anonymity, which in a number of cases can lead to conformism;
• The debate often turns into a polemic of authorities.

The inversion method is a complex way of making a decision. He will demand from the head of the group attention and special competence. The fact is that such decision-making methods involve the search for ideas in such directions that are opposite to conventional beliefs, views, logic and common sense. The method is very effective if it is correctly used.

The Delphi Method. It was developed by Helmer and Delki. This method is a method of decision-making, which is united by unified requirements for the conduct of examinations and a way of obtaining estimates. It implies that it is necessary to create conditions that will ensure more productive activities of the commission.

This method is a multi-round procedure for questionnaires. After each stage, the data will be refined, and the results will be reported to the experts. In the first round, no argument is given, in the second, any answer that is different from the others must have an evidence base. Only after the ratings are stabilized will the survey be terminated. The decision is the one that is proposed by experts, or it is corrected.

The nominal group method is usually used to find the best options for solving the problem. The main condition should be the following: to work in a team, the best experts are attracted, who have never worked together. They should not be tied up. The optimal group is one in which not more than fifteen, but not less than six people.

The content of the method. The leader sets a task for all participants, within ten minutes each makes his offers on the cards. After that, other experts should evaluate them, rejecting impossible, unrealistic ideas and exposing scores. As a result, the solution of the same problem will contain at least fifteen variants.

The most common group decision-making methods were presented, but it is very difficult to draw clear boundaries between them.