Page 114 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Decision making 103

clear rejection of discussion, the conversation leader can hold the group to the agreement
that during this stage ideas are collected and not yet evaluated. The conversation leader
may use the skill ‘situation clarification’ to achieve this end.
During the testing of strategies in phase 5, the possibility exists that participants do
not thoroughly think through the consequences of all strategies because they already have
a definite preference. Another obstacle during this phase is the tendency for people to
identify a strategy with the person who put it forward, meaning that the strategies can no
longer be objectively compared. The conversation skills that the conversation leader
should use frequently at this phase are ‘asking questions’, ‘paraphrasing’, ‘concreteness’
and ‘summarizing’.
The closing phase, in which the decision is taken, has difficult moments of its own.
One of the problems, the overvaluing of strategies contributed by important or likeable
people, has already been mentioned. Another difficulty is getting the approval of all those
present. Unjustly, silence is often interpreted as consent. During this phase conversation
leaders will make especial use of the listening skills ‘concreteness’ and ‘summarizing’. If
they suspect that the silent people are not in consent, then in order to attain clarity they
should voice this suspicion with a reflection of feeling: ‘I see some people frowning. Are
there any objections to the proposal?’
Here we have sketched a number of problems per phase, which the conversation
leader can handle with the help of the communication skills covered in Part I. In this way
his leadership should ensure that:
• all those present get the opportunity to offer their contributions
• all contributions receive attention
• all contributions are thoroughly thought through
• all contributions have an equal chance of selection.

Three techniques to develop strategies

To conclude, we shall briefly cover three techniques that can be used during the phase in
which the most possible solutions are searched for: brainstorming, the Delphi technique
and the nominal group technique.

Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a method of suggesting unprepared solutions to a problem that come to
mind spontaneously. This method is especially distinguished by the freedom with which
the people who are confronted with the problem seek solution strategies. As soon as the
problem is clear to all participants, the group members are asked to react spontaneously.
They may say anything that comes to mind, without asking themselves if it is crazy,
foolish, stupid or unfeasible. Moreover, they are asked to allow themselves to be inspired
by the statements of others, to associate with them, or to elaborate upon them. All orally
expressed strategies are listed and written on a board or flipchart. There are a few
guidelines for the brainstorm phase:
• criticism is not accepted