Leadership Roles

Task Roles:
Define a problem or goal of the group

Social Roles:

Request facts, ideas or opinions from

Support the contributions of others

members

Provide facts, ideas, or opinions

Clarify a confused situation
Summarize the discussion
Determine whether agreement has

been reached

Sense the mood of the group and help

members become aware of it

Reduce the tension and reconcile

disagreements

Modify your position, admit an error

Facilitate participation of all members

Check for consensus

Evaluate the groups effectiveness

Test for ethicality

Deal with team stress

. Structured
Approaches
- four important alternative structures are Brainstorming, Nominal Groups,
Delphi decision making and Dialectic Inquiry.

Brainstorming
is a popular method of encouraging creative in groups of about eight people. It is

built around four basic guidelines for participants. 1. Generate as many ideas as
possible. 2. Be creative, freewheeling and imaginative. 3. Build upon (piggyback),
extend, or combine earlier ideas. 4. Withhold criticism of others ideas.

Principles Underlie
Brainstorming
Deferred Judgment-

by which all ideas- even are unusual

and impractical ones - are

encouraged without criticism or
Electronic brainstormingevaluation

Quantity Breeds Quality

as more ideas come forth,

eventually higher-quality ones will

be developed.

The marriage of computer technology and groupware

programs has allowed the development of a modified
version of the method.The marriage of computer
technology and groupware programs has allowed the
development of a modified version of the method.

Nominal Group Technique

A nominal group exists in name only, with members having minimal interaction prior

to producing a decision. Here are the steps that nominal groups often follow:

1. Individuals are brought together and presented with a problem.

2. They develop solutions independently, often writing them on cards.
3. Their ideas are shared with others in a structured format (e.g. a roundrobin

process that ensures all members get the opportunity to present their ideas).

4. Brief time is allotted so that questions can be asked- but only for clarification
5. Group members individually designate their preferences for the best alternatives

by secret ballot

6. The group decision is announced.

Delphi Decision groups

a panel of relevant people is chosen to address an issue.
The Major merits of the process include:
1. Elimination of interpersonal problems among panellists
2. Efficient use of experts time
3. Adequate time for reflection and analysis by respondents
4. Diversity and quantity of ideas generated
5. Accuracy of predictions and forecasts made

Dialectic Decision methods

Some face-to-face decision-making groups converge too quickly on one alternative

while overlooking others.

Group Decision Support

System
. These support systems use computers, decision models, and technological

advances to remove communication barriers, structure the decision process, and

generally direct the groups discussion.