Collaborative Decision Making

Abstract

A synthesis of the work of three noted authors provides a framework for collaborative decisions built on the foundation of decision analysis. A Nobel Prize winner provides a psychological foundation for the framework, an authority on harnessing the collective wisdom of organizations argues for the necessity of a mechanism for the aggregation of the decision makers’ understandings, and a former senior executive for a Fortune 500 company describes a series of structured dialogues that supports the aggregation of understandings. The resulting collaborative decision process aggregates, rather than compromises, the understandings of decision makers. It makes explicit the aggregation of individuals’ understandings of the frame of the decision to be made, the alternatives to be considered, the sources of value and risk, and, finally, the reasons for the resulting collaborative choice. In collaborative decision making, we do not strive for an optimum, a compromise, or a satisficing solution. Rather, collaborative decision making results in a significantly more valuable choice than the alternatives envisioned by any of the decision makers through the aggregation understandings. Though the collaborative choice was not envisioned by the decision makers, each feels ownership of it and explicitly agrees to implement it.