Brainstorming and delphi technique

The Delphi Technique:

In this technique, the leader identifies the primary problem and creates a questionnaire out of the issues. The leader then chooses a group of individuals who answer these questions anonymously. Based on the responses to the questionnaire, the responses are combined and then sent to all the members again. Now, the group of individuals is asked for a new solution or idea based on the other team members’ responses. The process is now repeated until a consensus is reached. Since there are only a group of individuals involved in the decision making, it is not considered to be a fair and even methodology. Despite this, there are arguments that focus groups are more effective in making decisions at a workplace than a collective team decision-making process (Eggins, O'Brien, Reynolds, Haslam & Crocker, 2008)

Brainstorming:

Brainstorming is a technique generally used for generating ideas. In this technique all the team members. This boosts creativity and a lot of ideas are presented and pitched by each of the team members. Also, the members are enforced to work collectively. There may be clashes of ideas in this methodology but everyone gets a fair chance and freedom to think out-of-the-box and present any idea they think about without any restraints.

Nominal Group technique:

Nominal Groups technique is an enhancement of the brainstorming technique where there is a process of voting. Here, the first step is similar to brainstorming. Each member presents his/her own idea to everyone. After everyone has individually presented their own ideas, a general discussion takes place regarding the ideas. Once this discussion is over, a secret ballot voting takes place where the team members vote for their favorite idea. The idea with the most votes wins and is chosen for implementation.

Sometimes, a combination of above techniques is used to achieve a higher goal of risk leveling (Rasheed, Chang, Memon & Yaqub, 2015). These methods are commonly used in various organizations for example in medical education research (McMurray, 1994) where these techniques are proved to be extremely effective (Humphrey-Murto, Varpio, Gonsalves & Wood, 2017).

References:

· Rasheed, S., Chang Feng, W., Memon, S., & Yaqub, F. (2015). Risk Leveling in Business Environments - A Novel Approach for Macro Risk Management. Journal Of Industrial Engineering & Management, 8(3), 738-762. doi:10.3926/jiem.1293

· Eggins, R. A., O'Brien, A. T., Reynolds, K. J., Haslam, S. A., & Crocker, A. S. (2008). Refocusing the Focus Group: AIRing as a Basis for Effective Workplace Planning. British Journal Of Management, 19(3), 277-293. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2007.00541.x

· Humphrey-Murto, S., Varpio, L., Gonsalves, C., & Wood, T. J. (2017). Using consensus group methods such as Delphi and Nominal Group in medical education research. Medical Teacher, 39(1), 14-19. doi:10.1080/0142159X.2017.1245856

· A. R. McMurray, "Three decision-making aids: Brainstorming nominal group and Delphi technique", J. Nursing Staff Develop., vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 62-65, Mar./Apr. 1994.