I found this section (chapter 9) valuable on many levels. For one, I started imaging how a board would effectively make decisions within an emerging non-profit - for example, which projects to create and which funders to involve and what evaluative tools to use, etc. I was seeing some of the working teams which I have been on which have been hasty to enact decision making processes and have then failed in implementation. "It is psychologically easier to adopt a quick solution strategy rather then to be patient, listen and search for collaborative solutions" (p. 161). I had never read or thought about the connection between decision making and implementation in this way before; and this definitely allowed me to think about how that connection plays out in the achievement of the goals (or the failure of implementation). Have you seen this happen in your workplace or in another setting?
I am fascinated by the concepts of group polarization and the Ringi Technique used for decision making. Group polarization could help explain extremism in many settings - critically important in understanding politics both locally and globally. This is obvious when someone who is not really religious becomes very religious within an outspoken religious group. It is also visible in cliques, when you have people enacting a stereotype to an extreme because that is the way to "fit in." Can you think of examples of group polarization? How do you think it has played out in history or is currently playing out in politics?
On the Ringi Technique, I tend to think that this could be a powerful way to avoid confrontation and to alleviate animosity when it comes to controversial issues. Also I am sure that it is not entirely anonymous, it would at least distance those members from each other who might otherwise be explosive in a group setting. However, I can also see that it might hinder the growth of the team in handling conflict. Do you see this as an avoidance strategy and if so, is it good for group development? Does it hinder the "process gain" (p. 148) which is the result of group decision making?
Your blogs always force me to exercise my brain because you gravitate to different aspects of the reading than I do. You force me to find life applications for paragraphs I chose to skim! Alas, in this situation, I've got no life experiences to apply. As an aside, I do think that the written conflict solving techniques would not fly in a traditional American setting. BUT... Given the fact that the millennials would rather text each other than talk, even when they are in the same room, you should revisit your question in twenty years. We might be "going Japanese" in ways we never dreamed of in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems with written negotiation (ringi, etc) is that there's no social context to what you are reading. For example, I might write something and be absolutely in love with how I wrote point one but very indifferent to point two. You might edit both points significantly even though you care more about point two than point one. I feel hurt that you slashed point one when in reality if you knew how much I loved point one, you might not have killed it, but focused on what you truly cared about, which was point two. I felt a little of this when I wrote the first draft of our team charter (who knew at the time we were doing a ringi :)). There were only two sentences in that whole thing that I felt strongly about. You guys could have deleted the rest and I wouldn't have cared. But how were you to know that? How much of the collective lack of editing was you didn't care enough that you wanted to risk hurting my feelings? I don't know. There's definitely more room for error when doing this online versus in person
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the Ringi. I like the non confrontational part of it, yet it is a veryyyy long process on making a unified decision. Resolutions are passed around and comments could be added. Those comments could be good or bad, and it seems as though they keep going around until the comments decrease, and some sort of consensus is reached.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I must admit the nominal group technique is the same exact thing just verbally addressing the issues.