The need for developing and honing decision-making techniques, both individual and group ones, dates back thousands of years. In this article, we will focus on collective decision-making methods, some of which appeared in antient times and are still used today.
In particular, in ancient Greece, the first democratic political systems created the necessity for the active participation of people in decision making.
Decisions became a social activity, based on the principles of justice and egalitarianism.
3,000 years ago, Greece with its advanced views, where citizens were taught to form independent opinions, gave birth to some methods of decision making that are still widely used. The portfolio of traditional techniques has become richer thanks to new methods. Social, technical and scientific progress has transformed decision-making techniques in political, research and business management tools. Brainstorming sessions of NASA engineers and technicians dedicated to sending the first man to the Moon have become a textbook example and made history!
Let’s have a look at the main methods used in decision-making processes.
The main group decision-making methods
Voting or the majority method
The first and the simplest method of group decision making is based on the principle of voting.
The majority method also known as voting, means that a decision is made on the basis of voting for a solution to a problem in question.
Undoubtedly, this method is the easiest to apply. It is useful in group decision-making processes, where decisions are made by individuals, colleagues or team members, and enables everyone to express their opinion, while the final decision is taken by the majority, i.e., when more than 50% of decision makers favour a particular solution. Sometimes the 2/3 principle is applied: an option is chosen only when 2/3 of voters approve of it.
Although this method allows making effective decisions, it does not take individual opinions into account. Today, this system is used for political elections.
Consensus method
This decision-making method consists of a process that allows participants to find a solution based on the opinion of the majority still considering contrasting views.
This method is extremely democratic, it fosters equality, collaboration and careful analysis of data that can lead a group to a common decision. The consensus method dates back thousands of years and was widely used by Native Americans that used to hold meetings around a fire passing a stick to each other that enabled every member to express their opinion. It was adopted by the Quakers who adapted and developed it even further: modern literature provides us with lot of evidence of how they used the consensus method. It was particularly popular during the student protests of the 70-s and is still widely used in various public events, brainstorming sessions, strategy meetings, etc.
This method consists of several phases, the first being the phase of discussion, which helps to analyse the problem and suggest potential solutions.
It is followed by the phase of voting to establish the level of approval.
All the members who disagree are asked to motivate their opinion, and it is during the phase of debate that participants can compare and contrast their views and find new solutions to the problem.
The process can be repeated until a unanimous decision is reached.
The strength of the consensus method lies, precisely, in strongly considering disagreeing views, which makes it one of the most egalitarian and inclusive methods.
The consensus method is an inclusive, egalitarian, and cooperative decision-making system.
Delphi method
It was in the 40-s that the Rand Corporation first used the Delphi method. This method was developed during the Cold War to prevent, analyse and screen possible enemy attacks.
The Delphi method is based on a multi-phase decision-making process and has an interactive structure. The main goal is to come to a common decision by engaging a heterogeneous panel of related experts.
One of the most common Delphi schemes consists of 3 phases:
Discovery phase: a group of experts are invited to analyse a particular problem and each of them formulates an independent anonymous opinion. Every participant expresses their view, gives answers to a series of questions and suggests possible solutions;
Analysis phase: all experts’ answers are collected, processed and put together in a single document;
Evaluation phase: the participants analyse each other’s anonymous answers. Now they can review their positions based on the others’ opinions and reformulate their own views in a new assessment session, repeating the discovery phase.
This method is extremely efficient when it comes to analysing a problem from various points of view, enabling all participants to properly justify their decisions. This method favours comparison, collaboration and teamwork as all opinions are anonymous.
A unanimous decision is achieved through rounds of voting.
MCDA method
MCDA and MCDM stand for, respectively, a multiple-criteria decision analysis and a multiple-criteria decision making.
These terms refer to the phase of analysis that enables to establish contrasting criteria within a single decision-making process.
This method is useful for particularly complex situations that require considering multiple factors.
This method provides the decision maker/user with the necessary support and planning allowing them to choose the best decision.
Still, there is no single solution to an MCDA problem. This process is affected by the preferences of the decision maker, solutions that have not been mentioned and external factors. This is why MCDA decision-making processes can be improved by using various engineering, computing and economics tools. MCDA allows you to establish a ranking or a scale based on preferences, based on analytical principles and considering multiple objectives, even contrasting ones (multi-objective method), or a single objective (a “pure” multi-criteria method), assessing proposals by taking into consideration quantitative or qualitative criteria. To establish a quantitative scale, you need to decide whether the maximum or the minimum value is considered the best result, while qualitative parameters require an assessment of an expert panel.
MDCA in a nutshell
The MCDA decision-making method is based on:
- Scenarios of all possible solutions, even those that were not considered at the beginning;
- Criteria that allow you to assess possible solutions;
- Creating a scale that enables measuring and assessing all possible options;
- Decision makers’ opinions who express themselves during the process of decision making.
5-finger voting
Also known as a method of 5 fingers, 5-finger voting is a decision-making method that allows you to find a solution to a problem in a unanimous way using a voting system. It falls into the group of consensus methods and consists of phases but is based on the technique of preference voting.
The first phase enables active participants of decision making to familiarise themselves with the case.
An appointed facilitator invites the participants to vote using their fingers.
The result is calculated on the following basis:
- 5 fingers: the participant expresses their full approval of the proposed solution,
- 4 fingers: the decision maker agrees with the solution;
- 3 fingers: the participant expresses their partial agreement and is open to discussion;
- 2 fingers: the participant expresses their partial disagreement;
- 1 finger: the participant fully disagrees with the proposal.
If the results of the first voting sessions vary between 3 and 5 fingers, the decision-making process can enter a new phase.
If there are low scores, such as 1 or 2, a new discussion takes place and the participants vote again until reaching a unanimous decision.
By and large, this decision-making method allows participants to come up with a solution that reflects the ideas of the majority. Everyone has a chance to express themselves and review their opinion.
Conclusions
We have made an overview of the most common decision-making methods.
However, there are many others that are worth mentioning. One of the methods that still proves to be effective is Protagoras, also known as the Protagoras’ Logic. This is a dialogue-based method of developing two contrasting statements, both considered to be true. The system allows you to compare and contrast the statements until reaching the point when one of them appears to be indisputable, and is therefore accepted as the right solution to the problem.
Technological development has given birth to amazing combinations of power and precision of artificial intelligence, on the one hand, and a human opinion, which acts as a moving force of comparison and dialogue, on the other.
Every method has its benefits and can be used in a particular context. However, we can identify two common features in all of them: examining multiple options and obtaining a result through a series of sessions and assessments.
No matter which method you consider the most appropriate in your situation, don’t pick up the first one you come across: determine your deadline and take your time to find the right solution by thinking out of the box.
The combination of these two aspects constitutes the strength Butterfly, a group decision- making support platform. It is a tool that optimises, facilitates and supports decision making by applying high-quality decision-making methods. A combination of behavioural sciences, machine learning and risk analysis algorithms, Butterfly Decisions helps to compare and analyse various alternatives, overcome complex decision-making nodes and evaluate feedback to obtain more measurable, participative and faster decisions.
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