Instant play-back of results which can be seen by all participants helps to generate new perspectives, and to stimulate new insights about the issues. The approach was taken up at the LSE s Decision Analysis Unit by Dr Larry Phillips, who integrated into the facilitator s role many of the findings about groups from work at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. The service and supporting software continued to be developed throughout the 1980s in association with International Computers Limited and Krysalis Limited. As Decision Conferencing spread around the globe, facilitators felt a need to share experiences, so they created the International Decision Conferencing Forum, which meets annually, and the UK Decision Conferencing Forum, which gathers twice a year. Decision Conferencing is now offered by about 15 organisations located in England, the United States, Australia and Hungary.
Topics typically cover operations, planning or strategy.
Any issue that would benefit from a meeting of minds in the organisation can be effectively resolved with Decision Conferencing , which provides a way for many heads to be better than one. First, the style of decision making in the organisation should allow for consultation and deliberation, time allowing. Second, communication links should exist across the organisation s divisions and departments, so that information flows laterally as well as vertically. Third, a climate of problem solving should exist, so that options can be freely explored. Finally, authority and accountability should be well-distributed throughout the organisation, neither concentrated at the top nor totally distributed toward the bottom.