Handbook of Decision Analysis

Appendix C

Decision Conferencing

TERRY A. BRESNICK

Decisions of the kind the executive has to make … are well made only if based on the clash of existing views, the dialogue between different points of view, the choice between different judgments. The first rule in decision making is that one does not make a decision unless there is a disagreement.

—Peter Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices

None of us is smarter than all of us.

—Japanese proverb

C.1 Introduction

C.2 Conference Process and Format

C.3 Location, Facilities, and Equipment

C.4 Use of Group Processes

C.5 Advantages and Disadvantages

C.6 Best Practices

C.7 Summary

Key Terms

References

C.1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of a specialized group facilitation approach that has been in use since the late 1970s known as decision conferencing. According to the website of the International Decision Conferencing Forum, a professional association of decision conference practitioners, the formal definition of a decision conference is as follows: (IDCF, 2012)

Decision Conferencing is a scientifically-grounded methodology that managers of an organisation can adopt to take decisions as a group. It is basically a series of intense day-long meetings, normally stretching for no more than 2-3 days, attended by all the decision makers that are in one way or the other involved, impacted, or interested in a particular issue requiring a decision. Unique features of Decision Conferencing ...