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• Remain impartial and refrain from stating preferences at the outset of
decisions.
• Set a tone of encouraging critical evaluations throughout deliberations.
• Create an anonymous feedback channel where all group members can

contribute to if desired.
Tools and Techniques for Making Better Decisions
Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was developed to help with group decision
making by ensuring that all members participate fully. NGT is not a technique to be
used at all meetings routinely. Rather, it is used to structure group meetings when
members are grappling with problem solving or idea generation. It follows four
steps. First, each member of the group engages in a period of independently and
[5]
silently writing down ideas. Second, the group goes in order around the room to
gather all the ideas that were generated. This goes on until all the ideas are shared.
Third, a discussion takes place around each idea and members ask for and give
clarification and make evaluative statements. Finally, individuals vote for their
favorite ideas by using either ranking or rating techniques. Following the four-step
NGT helps to ensure that all members participate fully and avoids group decision-
making problems such as groupthink.
Delphi Technique is unique because it is a group process using written
responses to a series of questionnaires instead of physically bringing individuals
together to make a decision. The first questionnaire asks individuals to respond to a
broad question, such as stating the problem, outlining objectives, or proposing
solutions. Each subsequent questionnaire is built from the information gathered in the
previous one. The process ends when the group reaches a consensus. Facilitators can
decide whether to keep responses anonymous. This process is often used to generate
best practices from experts. For example, Purdue University professor Michael
Campion used this process when he was editor of the research journal Personnel
Psychology and wanted to determine the qualities that distinguished a good research
article. Using the Delphi Technique, he was able to gather responses from hundreds
of top researchers from around the world without ever having to leave his office and
distill them into a checklist of criteria that he could use to evaluate articles submitted
to the journal.
[6]
Majority rule refers to a decision-making rule where each member of the group
is given a single vote, and the option that receives the greatest number of votes is
selected. This technique has remained popular, perhaps because of its simplicity,
speed, ease of use, and representational fairness. Research also supports majority rule
[7]
as an effective decision-making technique. However, those who did not vote in
favor of the decision will be less likely to support it.
Consensus is another decision-making rule that groups may use when the goal
is to gain support for an idea or plan of action. While consensus tends to take longer
in the first place, it may make sense when support is needed to enact the plan. The
process works by discussing the issues, generating a proposal, calling for consensus,
and discussing any concerns. If concerns still exist, the proposal is modified to
accommodate them. These steps are repeated until consensus is reached. Thus, this
decision-making rule is inclusive, participatory, cooperative, and democratic.

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