Week 3 Discussion #3

One topic I found useful in The Essential Guide to Group Communication was the process of decision making in groups and teams. The process is as follows:

-Identify the problem (what is it?).
-Conduct research (what is the background and details of this problem?).
-Establish guidelines and criteria (what should the possible solutions contain?).
-Generate alternatives (brainstorm possible solutions).
-Evaluate alternatives (are these solutions reasonable?).
-Select the best alternative (which will be most effective and practical?).
-Implement the solution (take action).
-Evaluate the result (how did the solution affect the problem?).

An example of this would be:

-What should we eat for lunch?
-We can eat any genre of food. We have not eaten all day.
-We can spend up to $20 per person. We must eat a big meal in order to feel like we spent our money well.
-We can eat Philly cheesesteaks, Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s, or Hometown Buffett.
-If we eat Philly cheesesteaks, we will only get a sandwich and fries for $10. If we eat at the Cheesecake Factory, we can get large portions. We could eat at Chili’s because we haven’t eaten there in a while. If we eat at Hometown Buffett, we will get all sorts of food, dessert, and drinks for under $10.
-We will eat at Hometown Buffett.
-*Eats at Hometown Buffett (pasta, fish, meat, fries, chicken, mashed potatoes, cake, yogurt).
-We made the right choice eating at Hometown Buffett because we were able to eat various items at a low cost.

As with all group work, there is bound to be a problem that the group is unable to solve. Being able to work through the problem effectively and efficiently are key in teamwork. There must be structure or a procedure to go about solving these problems like the one listed above. Looking back at the groups I have been in, I now can see that the assignments went more smoothly when we were organized. This is primarily because all the group members were on the same page and we were not jumping from one idea to another randomly.