Page 166 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

particularly well ..tisfed for routine group meetings that fo

cus primarily irdination of activities or an exchange of

information. Nor is it appropriate for negotiating or bar-

gaining situations.

As with brainstorming, the NGT uses a group of six to twelve
people. The leader is also the secretary and records the
group's responses, at the appropriate time, on a sizable writ-
ing surface that is visible to all participants.

The process of decision making using the nominal group tech-
nique consists of four distinct steps, which can be adapted
to special conditions as suggested in the following para-
graphs.

Step I: Generation of Ideas

The leader phrases the problem, stimulus question or other
focal issue for the participants, and writes this on the white
board or other writing surface. Group members are given a
specified period, usually five to ten minutes, to write their
suggested solutions on notecards. This reflective period helps
avoid some of the pressure for conformity to a particular
person's ideas. Yet there is still a sense of belonging and
responsibility.

Step 2: Recording of Ideas

In the second step the ideas generated in step 1 are recorded,
in round-robin fashion, on the board. The leader asks each
person in turn for the first idea on his or her list that has not
yet been presented by someone else. The process continues
until every participant has exhausted his or her list of items
and all items have been recorded on the board. When a
person's list is exhausted, he or she passes when called upon
for solutions. The round robin continues until everyone
passes. This process emphasizes the equality of ideas and
serves to build enthusiasm. It also depersonalizes the ideas
presented and helps prevent prejudging. And it helps en-
sure that no ideas are lost.

101
CREATIVE
PROBLEM
SOLVING
TECHNIQUES

151