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- Fairness --- Every group member’s opinion is weighed equally in the decision making process.
- Efficiency --- The entire decision making process should take at most 5 minutes.
- Openness and honesty --- Every member of the group should feel comfortable expressing his/her true opinions (e.g., preferences, rejections) without fear of judgment and confrontation.
Obstacles
The following problems lie in the way of making a fair, efficient, open and honest group decision:
- People can be unpredictable ---Their dispositions and opinions may change depending on the context. For example, a hungry person may be more willing to compromise, whereas a person who has had a rough day may be less patient. a person who normally loves Chinese food may not want to go may be strongly averse to going to a Chinese restaurant because he/she has had Chinese food for the past three meals.
- People are not open and honest about their true opinions --- this This often happens because people are afraid of judgment and confrontation by their peers, especially those whom they don’t know as well.
- People have different personalities (e.g. aggressive vs. passive, rigid vs. flexible) --- Weaker personalities tend to be dominated by stronger ones, and consequently, their opinions are given less importance.
- People are unaware their true opinions --- Sometimes, people are not aware of their preferences until a concrete suggestion is offered. At that point, they do have rejections, but no concrete suggestions.
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