Valuable and Effective Decision Making: Part Two: Decision Methods

In their book, The Communication Catalyst, Mickey Connolly and Richard Rianoshek describe four types of decision-making methods:

• Authoritative
• Democratic
• Consensus
• Contributive

Each of these yields different outcomes on two critical measures: engagement or buy-in on the part of those who will carry out the decision and speed with which the decision is made. Different types of projects will require different balance points between these two. For example, a project with a “burning platform” will emphasize speed over buy-in. Said another way, a project manager on a “burning platform” project will be willing to settle for compliance over engagement as long as the project is done quickly. On the other hand, the project manager on a complex, mission-critical project may be willing to tolerate a longer time-to-decision to obtain a higher degree of engagement. The four decision-making methods listed above (and described below) have roughly the following relationship on these two measures:

Authoritative: Decisions are dictated by leaders. Even with a good decision, execution is not always rapid nor acceptance always high. Authoritative decision-making creates dependence on authority and works best where the consequences of non-compliance are high (e.g., emergencies, prisons, military).

Democratic: The right people participate in the decision through discussion, input, and fact-gathering and then vote, with the majority making the decision. Democratic decision-making is often used to reach a quick decision, but it increases the chance of non-supporting factions during execution. Works best with groups that don’t work together over a long period of time.

Consensus: The right people participate in and make the decision together. Decision-making requires everyone’s agreement or support. The weakness of consensus decision-making is that one person can stall the process by withholding their agreement and consensus may break down over time. Works best in more stable environments where speed to decision is not a big requirement.

Contributive: The right people participate in the decision-making process in clear roles. The decision owner makes the final decision after listening, learning, and taking all interests and views into account. The roles here are critical and will be described in Part Three of this article.