As in any merger, the organization would have to deal with human resource issues (because the verification process was double-performed, one of the two teams needs to be reapplied within the organization), financial issues, etc.
The third option would be to create a sole compartment to deal with the verification process, a compartment that would employ human resource from both the ECFMG and the EICS. This compartment would deal only with the verification and would have several advantages. First of all, it would eliminate the original problem we had to deal with and, second of all, it would probably increase the efficiency of the compartment, with more employees and a better coordination.
In making the decision, we need to choose between deciding by majority rule and consensus building. In my opinion, in this particular case, it is best to build the appropriate consensus with all party involved. For additional information that would help the decision making process, I suggest that the international students directly involved in the process are also questioned about how they think a certain decision will have repercussions on the verification process (a poll, with a few yes/no questions can be used to determine if the changes will positively influence the students who are the direct beneficiaries...
Additionally, one needs to consider (1) the resources involved in effectually performing any of the three options and (2) solutions for dealing with the applications and the verification process while the changes are taking place. Indeed, the reorganizing process will probably mean that the verification process will suffer during this period.
Evaluating the decision is extremely important in this case, especially given the fact that there are no virtual quantitative methods we can use and because there are several factors to be taken into consideration. For example, while on one hand, the merging process is beneficial for the international students, who take less time to have their papers verified and pay only one fee, for the organization there is a financial problem, with only one fee charged. The evaluation process needs to consider whether the organization is performing better in the new conditions and whether the clients/students are satisfied with the changes thus produced.
Bibliography
1. Basic Steps in Decision-Making. On the Internet at http://www.boarddevelopment.org/display_document.cfm?document_id=86
