Chp. 17 Func. Perspective on Group Decision Making

Chapter 17, Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making, discusses the four functions a group must fulfill to make a good decision. The four functions, analysis of the problem, goal setting, identification of alternatives and the evaluation of positive and negative characteristics, may be completed in any order, but every step must be fulfilled in order for progressive group work to occur.
When working in groups the other day in class, we were to create a commercial about a reality television show that has never been done before. This seemed like a very difficult task because SO many reality television shows are out there today. However, the three girls I worked with and I worked together and included all four of the steps into our developmental process. We followed, without knowing it, the "traditionally successful path" and succeeded at completing the task. We demonstrated promotive, disruptive, and counteractive communication, when we began formulating ideas and getting our thoughts out on the table, then got side tracked by talking about what reality shows we personally like/dislike, and then finally brought it all back together when we brought our strongest ideas together. Our group communication helped us to develop the ideas and quantitative analysis that is needed for successful group decision making.