Page 301 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

288 C o n t i n u o u s I m p r o v e m e n t D e f i n e S t a g e 289

This minimum condition for group movement can be facilitated when
the team leader adopts the following behaviors:

• Avoid arguing for your own position. Present it as lucidly and logically
as possible, but be sensitive to and consider seriously the reactions
of the group in any subsequent presentations of the same point.
• Avoid “win-lose” stalemates in the discussion of opinions. Discard
the notion that someone must win and someone must lose in the
discussion; when impasses occur, look for the next most accept­
able alternative for all the parties involved.
• Avoid changing your mind only to avoid conflict and to reach agreement
and harmony. Withstand pressures to yield that have no objective or
logi cally sound founda tion. Strive for enlightened flexibility, but
avoid outright capitulation.
• Avoid conflict-reducing techniques such as the majority vote, averaging,
bargaining, coin-flipping, trading out, and the like. Treat differences of
opinion as indicative of an incomplete sharing of relevant informa­
tion on someone’s part, either about task issues, emotional data, or
gut­level intuitions.
• View differences of opinion as both natural and helpful rather than as a
hindrance in decision making. Generally, the more ideas expressed,
the greater the likelihood of conflict will be, but the richer the array
of resources will be as well.
• View initial agreement as suspect. Explore the reasons underlying
appar ent agreements; make sure people have arrived at the same
conclusions for either the same basic reasons or for complemen­
tary reasons before incorporating such opinions into the group
decision.
• Avoid subtle forms of influence and decision modification. For example,
when a dissenting member finally agrees, don’t feel that he must
be rewarded by having his own way on some subsequent point.
• Be willing to entertain the possibility that your group can achieve all the
fore going and actually excel at its task. Avoid doomsaying and nega­
tive predictions for group potential.

Collectively, the above steps are sometimes known as the “consensus
tech nique.” In tests it was found that 75 percent of the groups that were
instructed in this approach significantly outperformed their best individ­
ual resources.

Stages in Group Development
Groups of many different types tend to evolve in similar ways. It often
helps to know that the process of building an effective group is proceeding

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