The Mess We Called Decision Making

The activity that took place on Monday was actually my first time engaging in a decision making process with a classroom of that many people. It was a whole new experience for me. My first thought was that we will never reach a agreement because everyone is pursuing their own interests and there were too many possibilities since the professor didn't specifically establish any restrictions. The goal differences among the group and the fact that we are doing this under time constraint definitely made the whole process difficult.

In my opinion I think the leader did a excellent job at facilitating the whole process because otherwise we probably wouldn't have reached a conclusion in a timely manner. As far as the leader and group interaction goes, she defined the problem and highlighted alternatives as suggested from the group while she had very low influence in considering the alternatives and in making the decision. Even though her opinions weren't involved in the process, she was able to come up with a system to help the group to reach a decision that everyone agreed on. For instance, she erased any suggestions that was rejected by at least one person in the group. So at the end, we were able to arrive with a conclusion that satisfies everyone.

In the beginning of the activity, I was using more of the avoidance approach in the decision making process. I had a feeling that there was almost no chance that we will all agree on something by the end of the class. Everyone was talking to the person sitting next to them while the clock was ticking. However, when someone stepped up to be the leader I changed my approach to accommodation. It was hard to make a decision since all the suggestions that was written on the board was tempting. I didn't raise my hand to eliminate any of the alternatives because I felt like some people needed this more than me and no matter which solution we ended up with, it will be better than getting nothing at all.

If we can do it over again, then I think a collaborating approach would have been more effective. When everyone form small groups, everyone's voice will be heard and the group can then compromise and come up with the best solution. Each individual group will then tell their decision to the group leader. As all the possibilities are laid out, the whole class can take a vote and pick the optimal solution.