Compare And Contrast Two Group Discussion Techniques

Delphi Technique Versus Nominal Group Technique

The Delphi Technique:

When a team cannot agree on a critical issue, the leader might use the Delphi technique to facilitate collective decision-making. RAND created the Delphi technique in the 1950s to anticipate the impact of technology on conflict. Since then, it has been used in health care, education, management, and environmental research (Niederberger & Spranger, 2020).

The Delphi Technique aggregates all the thoughts of a team of experts for the team manager to analyze and come up with new questions and ideas. He then returns those ideas to the team for further discussion.

If the group cannot come up with a resolution, the leader will narrow the options, making it easier for the group to reach a final agreement. The fewer the options available, the simpler it is for the team to achieve a consensus.

Although the team leader utilizes questionnaires to collect ideas and knowledge from the experts, their responses are kept anonymous to the stakeholders to maintain honesty.

The questionnaires are distributed in stages. The questions in each step are chosen based on the replies from the previous step, coupled with participant-specific inquiries or requests for explanation from the stakeholders. If requested anonymously, team members may contribute additional responses (Niederberger & Spranger, 2020). 

The Nominal Group Technique:

The Nominal Group Technique is a one-of-a-kind group decision-making approach like brainstorming but adds a voting procedure. However, the Nominal Group Technique is more complicated than just tallying how many arms are lifted for each given a choice. Instead, each participant is offered the option to cast a vote and explain why they believe it is the most incredible option (Derrick, 2018).

Depending on the subject matter, this method may be used in various ways. If it's a hot-button issue, the moderator can collect everyone's thoughts in a private email and then anonymously deliver the findings and justifications. Or the moderator may open the floor for each member to voice their opinions in a debate and then take a vote for each member once they have had a chance to express themselves (Derrick, 2018).

Index cards with numbers one through five are occasionally used as a voting procedure. The corresponding numbers represent the relative importance of the ideas being considered. Five represents the highest priority, and one is the lowest priority for ideas. Afterward, the votes are counted. Starting with the most essential ideas, the team will then work down to the least important ones based on their priority scores (Derrick, 2018).

References

Derrick, L. (2018, September 15). 6 Group Decision Making Techniques Your Team Needs Now. https://toggl.com/blog/6-group-decision-making-techniques-your-team-needs-now

Niederberger, M., & Spranger, J. (2020). Delphi Technique in Health Sciences: A Map. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 457. https://doi.org/10.3389/FPUBH.2020.00457/BIBTEX