Product Description: Every board has one main purpose--to make and execute quality decisions. However, even the best board can be derailed by personality clashes or inherent flaws in its system. 101 Boardroom Problems and How to Solve Them offers readers practical tools to prevent and deal with every difficult situation, from collective impatience and indecision to rivalries and conflicts of interest...read more

Product Description: Timely volume describing the theme of business engineering and procedure design in a detailed account of workshop experience explaining the approach in terms of a how to JAD implementation guide. DLC: Work groups.

Product Description: An innovative proposal for understanding how mental organisms make decisions and control behavior.In this book, Whitman Richards offers a novel and provocative proposal for understanding decision making and human behavior. Building on Valentino Braitenberg's famous “vehicles,” Richards describes a collection of mental organisms that he calls “daemons”―virtual correlates of neural modules...read more

Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting. Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context. Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

Product Description: The military memoirs of Wing Commander "Sammy" Sampson, a World War II RAF fighter pilot from Scotland. Sampson's career spanned three decades; his service record was outstanding even among Battle of Britain veterans.

'This book provides a comprehensive treatment of collaborative GIS focusing on system design, group spatial planning and mapping; modeling, decision support, and visualization; and internet and wireless applications'--Provided by publisher.

Product Description: In the last decade the techniques of social choice theory, game theory and positive political theory have been combined in interesting ways so as to pro­ vide a common framework for analyzing the behavior of a developed political economy...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: The title of this book, Communicating in Groups: Building Relationships for Effective Decision Making, speaks to two fundamental components of group interaction: building relationships and making good decisions. In this text, students will discover the unique dynamics of group communication, the essential skills that lead to success, and the group roles, tasks, and processes that pave the way for effective group work...read more

Product Description: Despite the importance of group communication processes, they remain elusive and difficult to understand, and the type of theory necessary to make sense of these processes differs from those commonly found in the social sciences. This collection of essays advances a unique perspective on group decision-making which is complementary to approaches taken in management, psychology and sociology...read more

Product Description: The Complete Toolkit for Building High-Performance Work Teams is meant to empower both the leaders and the members of work teams in educational and social-service systems. It presents, in a simple yet systematic fashion, a set of tested facilitation tools that will help teams: *work more efficiently and harmoniously to achieve their goals *deal directly with both personal and work-related issues that might otherwise disrupt or hamper the progress of the teams *make their work a more lively, enjoyable, and growth-producing learning experience | From direct experience we know that these tools can help teams accomplish their mission, whatever the teams' size, composition, structure, or desired outcomes...read more

Product Description: Section One of this volume makes a singular contribution to the study of social movement decision making through seven focused case studies, followed by a critical commentary. The three papers in Section Two focus on Northern Ireland...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Are you frustrated by that common challenge called group decision-making? Consensus-Oriented Decision-Making can help! Clearly written and well organized, keep this book by your side and refer to it often. Groups you are part of will function better as a result...read more

A guide for managers, consultants, and facilitators outlines the consensus-building process, explaining how it can be an effective tool for decision making, and identifying such common pitfalls as false agreement and the 'illusion of inclusion.' Original.

Why do people make decisions based on their own perspective without considering alternative points of view? Do differences of opinion enhance or obstruct critical thinking? Is it wise to seek out people who disagree with you and listen to their objections to your conclusions? Focusing on the theory, research, and application of constructive controversy, this book analyses the nature of disagreement among members of decision-making groups, project teams, academic study groups, and other groups that are involved in solving problems. Johnson demonstrates that this theory is one of the most effective methods of enhancing creativity and innovation, decision making, teaching, and political discourse. The book includes entertaining and intriguing examples of how constructive controversy has been used in a variety of historical periods to advance creativity, achieve innovations, and guide democracies. It will be welcomed by students in the fields of social psychology, management/business studies, education, and communication studies.

Product Description: The monograph gives a theoretical explanation of observed cooperative behavior in common pool situations. The incentives for cooperative decision making are investigated by means of a cooperative game theoretical framework. In a first step core existence results are worked out...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)