Decision Making in Groups and Teams

In the book, “The Essential Guide to Group Communication” by Dan O’Hair and Mary O. Wiemann, there is a topic called “The Process of Decision Making in Groups and Teams.” This is a part of the third chapter in the book titled, “Leadership and Decision Making.” This caught my attention because it gives a process for decision making which is shown. It is an eight-step process that starts with identifying the problem. Next, is conducting research. , then establishing guidelines and criteria. Followed by, generating alternatives, evaluating the alternatives, selecting the best alternative, implementing the solution, and lastly evaluating the results. What I learned in this chapter is, when you are identifying a problem, there should be a thorough understanding of the problem from each group member. For instance: “There needs to be more recycling done in this town.” What type of recycling are people not doing enough of? Are they not recycling bottles, cans, or are wasteful of too many paper goods? What is specifically going on here that is the issue? This was something useful to me.