Problem-Solving Skills Robert Harris, (2009) Indicates That

Problem-Solving Skills Robert Harris, (2009) indicates that problem solving or the art of decision making is actually a process that is targeted at the best solution out of an array of them that will best fit the situation or meets the intended goals and values best. Robert further emphasizes that in the course of the process of decision making, there is reduction of doubts and uncertainty on each alternative to create room for a reasonable choice to be made.

People will always tend to form groups in order to solve problems or advance significant plans to their lives. These groups could be informal or formal groups, but their aims are always geared towards a given goal. The idea of having groups especially among employees and students gives the people involved a sense of power, security, self-esteem, achievement, affiliation and even status to some extent. If well utilized in any setting, groups can help the establishment meet the targeted goals.

The group In relation to this paper, the group under discussion is my summer expedition group. This is a group that we formed three years ago that helps us to make use of the summer holidays and the constructively relate with one another and the people we meet during the break. We are ten people in total and started by gathering age mates who lived around the same neighborhood.

This has continued despite the various relocations that people have had, we always ensure we coordinate and convene during the summer holidays. The most significant contributions that I have made to the group from my skills and personal strengths is the ability to coordinate events.

This skill has helped the group in many ways, being that we always strive to have change of locations during each holiday, I have always strived to find out information about locations, the requirements for groups and passed down the information to the rest of the members and coordinated the responses and worked out means of getting the venue that is most liked by the members. After that, I ensured there is coordination information on the departure date, the venue of convergence and the means of transport.

My organization skills have also helped the group to consolidate their efforts in ensuring that the trip is a success each year and the constant reminders I give helps them slot it in their calendars. My skills have also enabled a coordination of ideas and contributions fro each member toward ensuring that the annual event is full of fun and positive experience.

This gives room to all the ideas, contributions, possible solutions and all the possible action plans that any member might have without locking out any one idea from the group member in the process encouraging each member to be a full participant. Because of the zeal that I have for working with people and coordinating things among people, I have induced the team spirit into the groups.

This team spirit has benefited the group since being a voluntary group it needs a spirit of togetherness and a team spirit fro it to thrive. There are drawbacks that have come with the two skills I display among the group.

It is apparent that my ability to coordinate activities and the love of the same has inevitably made me dominate most of the activities concerning coordination of the event hence some people have once in a while felt deprived of the chance to do coordinate the event yet it is the majority of the group members who annually choose me to handle the event planning.

The other group members have shown a wide variety of strengths and skills that have been useful to our group and have influenced significantly the cohesion and operations of the group. One of the strengths of one of the group members is the negotiation ability or the ability to build consensus.

In as much as I supply the various choices and information from the several sources, he is one gentleman who knows how to push people toward consensus on a given venue having looked at the available choices and he does this easily despite the distance between the team members. This helps the group to expedite the activities they choose to do and saves valuable time for other things.

All the group members are also extremely gifted in ability to socialize since they all strike a rapport with each other and even with the other teams that we usually meet at the expedition sites. There are a few areas that the group can improve on to ensure that there is absolute convenience and cohesion among the group members. There is need to improve on the crisis management skills among ourselves.

This is in light of the time t takes to resolve the issues that arise among the group members when people disagree on an issue, or when whatever was planned by the group fails to take off or be implemented, finding an alternative plan becomes a real problem. There is need for our group, considering that we wish to stay together for a longer period of time, to go for training on crisis management and anger management as well as troubleshooting.

These are skills that will enable us guide each other in the group and solve our problems amicable whenever they come up. Problem Solving Techniques and Group Decision Making In the process of working with our group, there is a method that I use frequently. Considering that the group meets physically only once in a year, the critical examination technique of solving problems usually comes in handy in solving the group problem and decision making.

This is the technique where once asks some pertinent questions like what, how, when, where and who in order to have a clear guide toward making a decision (The Happy Manager, 2012). My technique has a positive influence on the group and the decision making process of the group.

This is the easiest technique in coming up with the venue of the expedition (where), the distribution of responsibilities (who), the contribution that each member is to make to facilitate the access to the destination (how), the activities that we would engage in once we are at the venue (what) and the date of the expedition (when). This technique therefore covers all the essentials for the group to make the annual event a success hence accepted by many of the group members.

There are other decision making techniques that can be used while making decisions for a group; Interacting Group Technique which involves the members meeting one on one to exchange.