GROUP DECISION MAKING AND THE REFLECTIVE-THINKING PROCESS

Printed Page 640

Although there is no single method that a group must use to make decisions, research has shown that the reflective-thinking process is a particularly effective approach.5 The reflective-thinking process has five steps:

  1. Define the problem.
  2. Analyze the problem.
  3. Establish criteria for solving the problem.
  4. Generate possible solutions.
  5. Select the best solution.

In this section, we take a closer look at each of these steps.