Problem Solving in Groups

Problem Solving in Groups

1. Advantages of group problem solving: Resources, accuracy, commitment, diversity.

   • Participative Decision Making: a process in which people contribute to the decisions that will affect them.

2. Cohesiveness: the totality of forces that causes members to feel themselves part of a group and makes them want to remain in that group.

3. Focus on shared or compatible goals, recognize progress towards goals, establish shared norms and values, minimize percieved threats between members, emphasize members interdependance, recognize threats from outside the group, develop mutual liking and riendship, and share group experiences

4. Orientation Stage: when group members become familiar with one another's positions and tenatively volunteer their own.

   • Conflict Stage: when group members openly defend their positions and question those of others.
     • Emergence Stage: when a group moves from conflict toward a singel solution.
       • Reinforcement Stage: When group members endorse the decision they have made.

5. Breakout groups can be used to maximize effective participation.

   • Problem Census: when some members are more vocal than others.
     • Focus Groups: companys use this to spread new products or ideas.
       • Parliamentary Procedure: observes specific rules about how topics may be discussed and decisons made.
         • Panel Discussion: in which the participants discuss the topic formally, much like in ordinary converstaion.
           • At Comic-Con, a lot of celebrities will do this about their tv show or movie.
         • Symposium: participants divide the topic in a manner that allows everyone to talk with no interuptions.
           • Forums: allows nonmembers to add their opinions to the groups deliberation before the group makes a choice.

6. Identify the problem, analyze the problem, develop creative solutions through brainstorming or the nominal group technique, evaluate the solutions, implement the plan, and follow up on the solution.

7. Force Field Analysis: a method of problem analysis that identifies the forces contributing to resolution of the problem and the forces that inhibit its resolution.

   • Brainstorming: a method for creatively generating ideas in groups by minmimizing the criticism and encouraging a large quantity of ideas without regard to their workability or ownership by individual members:
     • Nonminal group technique: a method for including the ideas of all group members in a problem solving session.