Group Decision Making: Drawing Out and Reconciling Differences

by Thomas L. Saaty, Kirti Peniwati

When a group makes a decision, that decision carries a lot more weight than when just one person does it. Think of the founding fathers of the American constitution and how much power and influence their ideas have had in the entire world for more than two hundred years. Also think of gravity, a universal force brought about by an enormous number of minute particles that band together to make a universal law. Together, they create a massive force, a law of nature; alone they can barely be noticed. That is how our minds work by deciding together to create a power that transcends our individuality. Group decision making is a gift and an opportunity to create greater influence through the working together of many minds. This book shows how to use the Analytic Hierarchy Process for hierarchical decision making and the Analytic Network Process for decision making in networks with dependence and feedback in group decision making. Part I discusses the group and the decision and shows the importance of using a structured process, particularly for those high value decisions involving many powerful parties with different interests. It discusses how to facilitate a group decision, combine individual judgments and smooth differences to arrive at a decision that everyone can live with and get behind. Part II discusses the group in planning and how to draw out differences. Part III is about conflict resolution and Part IV is about how to address significant issues that come up in group decision making and shows that it is possible to construct an overall group preference.

385 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007