Example of week10 project essay

What is the goal of the session?

The goal of this session is to carry out discussions on organized themes with the team and establish what has been done well and what needs to be altered. It will also entail assigning priorities to these various themes: their significance at distinct levels of the organization that the cross-function team has established. The total time accorded to this is approximately 2 hours.

How will the Nominal technique be used to achieve this goal?

The Nominal Technique is a valuable tool when it comes to facilitating group decision making. It will enable the team to point out various problems for the chosen approach and generate solutions in the most rational manner (Moore, 1994). The theorists who generated this technique meant for it to bring together participants with the purpose of pooling ideas around a question or issue and ranking these ideas. It will provide a structured approach for working with group members to prioritize their concerns, ideas, or other decisional inputs in a format that is both consensus enhancing and inclusive. The data collection will see to it that members prioritize their responses to address the question of how effective the organized themes are. The dynamic nature of the group decision-making process will ultimately ensure flexibility in the whole technique process (Witkin, 2011). It can be used several times at different steps whenever need assessment arises i. e. whenever a group with multiple perspectives has to arrive at a difficult decision.
The materials to be used in this session are flip charts, masking tapes, markers, index cards and pens or pencils. The flip charts will be recorded on the participants’ ideas, masking tapes will be used to mount these charts on the walls while the markers will be used by the facilitator to jot down participant suggestions and notes. The index cards and pens will be the materials that will be extended to the members to aid in their participation throughout the process.

Guidelines for Effective Participation

The Nominal Group Technique will foster effective participation through various ways. It will first ensure that each member’s ideas are taken to account. With the use of round cabin process, each member will be provided with an equal chance to contribute towards the issue. The method further will incorporate discussions, voting and ranking to arrive at the desired outcomes (Witkin, 2011).
Effective participation is also boosted by the creation of a facilitator guide or protocol that will set out the various stages and timelines. The protocol will also set out guidelines on how discussions and contributions will be made by individual members to enhance neutrality and rationality (Moore, 1994). The guide further provides flexibility to enable the modification of the process when there is need to factor in additional information or when sub decisions ought to be made prior other decisions. The guideline will intentionally steer the process moving the group discussions towards a decision rather than allowing discussions to continue without advancing.

Specific Steps and Tasks Involved In Achieving the Goal

– Introduction and elaboration: At this juncture, all the team members will be welcome into the session and given proper information regarding the subject matter at hand which is the effectiveness of the organized themes. They will also be furnished with steps involved in carrying out the session. Only one question will be presented to the members to enhance clarity and objectivity in the proceedings of the nominal group technique (Witkin, 2011).
– Generation of opinions or ideas by members: This stage will take approximately ten minutes. Each member will be handed a sheet of paper with the question to be addressed. Every member will be required to write what comes to mind regarding the effectiveness of the organized themes. Each member will be encouraged to write down their ideas in a bulleted abbreviated format. It is expected that this is done individually meaning consultations and discussions will be barred at this stage.
– Sharing Ideas: At this stage all the members will be invited to submit their ideas. Each participant will be given a chance on a turn-by-turn basis to express his or her ideas. This ideas will then be recorded on a flip chart. A round robin process will be implemented to ensure that all participants’ ideas have been expressed (Moore, 1994). No debate will be allowed at this stage, however, members will be encouraged to write down any ideas that may arise from the contributions made by others. Debate is discouraged in order to avoid peer pressure, arguments, embarrassments and other undesirable behaviors or emotions. At this stage, every participant will be provided with an equal opportunity to provide ideas and also there will be evidence of all generated ideas on the flip chart (Witkin, 2011). The participants will be asked to scratch items off their list if they are already added on the flip chart sheets to avoid duplication. The interaction will foster clarity in the following discussions. The slated time for this level is approximately 20-35 minutes.
– Group Discussion: At this stage, the participants are welcome to explain some of their ideas that might have been ambiguous or too technical for the rest of the team. My role as a facilitator at this level is to ensure that every individual is given a fair chance in terms of contribution and that the discussion sticks to the timelines set. Spending too much time on a single idea will not be allowed in order to adhere to the strict timeline set. At this level, the process will be carried out devoid of judgment and criticism in order to foster neutrality (Moore, 1994). The participants, at this juncture, may be encouraged to suggest new discussion items and also further combine these items into various categories without eliminating any idea. Additionally, each idea on the flip chart sheets will be assigned a unique letter. This will aid in the ranking process. This group discussion will approximately last 30-45 minutes.
– Voting/Rating ideas: It will entail the prioritization of the recorded ideas and opinions regarding the original question. This can be five ideas ranked from the least high priority to the highest priority. Index cards can be employed to write the rank order value of each response next to the letter of the response. When the participants are done, they will rearrange their index cards in an alphabetical order. The aggregation of all ranks for each response on the flip chart will be carried out (Witkin, 2011). The idea with the highest aggregated value will constitute the top priorities for the group. A repeat round of ranking may be deemed necessary to reduce the responses and direct the team towards a specific decision. The meeting will thus be concluded with the participants having reached a specific outcome.

The Expected Outcome

After the rigorous levels of the nominal group technique, the participants will have set priorities for all the themes that are integral for the targeted change.

References

Moore, C. M. (1994). Group techniques for idea building. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Witkin, R. B. (2011). Nominal Group Technique(A group consensus-building and ranking technique). A guide to assessing needs, 166-170.