Student Involvement & Improved Decision Quality

Organisational Behaviour

Essay:

Student Involvement & improved decision quality

There has been a strong trend amongst teaching circles in recent years involving enhancing the role of students in the decision making process and quality assurance of their education. Within Australia, there has been recognition of the importance of adequate preparation of students and their facilitation of this process (Ainley, Batten, Collins & Withers, 1998). As these students have a vested interest in obtaining a both an improved and enhanced learning experience, involvement often begins with classroom decisions. This participation can manifest itself through active feedback, and a contribution to the learning and teaching of their subject area. A representation of student views can also be involved in the decision making process via a student union or other representative body. This essay will explain the decision making process and its influence on both the individual and the group. Potential challenges will also be outlined regarding the effectiveness of involving individuals in the decision making process.

Decision making itself is based upon the cognitive process of reaching a decision. This involves a position, opinion or judgment being reached after consideration. A choice between alternative courses of actions is developed using cognitive processes such as memory, thinking, evaluation, etc. This process maps the likely consequences of the decision, working out the importance of individual factors, and choosing the best course of action to take. Although reaching a consensus is the favoured model in many decision making processes, it is not the only mode of decision making possible. In order to best understand this practice, this essay will provide clarification of the decision making process and how the nature of the task, as well as the size and composition of the group, influence decision making. This leads to an enhancement of consensus through collaboration, empowering individuals to make decisions as independent spirit beings in conscious collaboration with others.

There are several models concerning the decision making process. Within the student/ teacher relationship, the approaches based on group dynamics are best implemented. These involve Autocratic, Democratic, Consensus and Collaborative Decision making processes. Within the classroom, a Collaborative and Consensus based method would be better suited, as just like the business world, facts can be outlined with both pros and cons stated. This process fully utilizes the resources of a group, namely a class full of students. It is more difficult to represent the input of a group of people, rather than just an individual. Democratic or Autocratic decisions require more time to reach consensus. With regard to both the requirements of students and teachers, many of the issues may also face a trade-off. In this case, the alternative decisions will not satisfy all members of the group.

Decisions that have been made entirely by an individual are based on that person’s perception of what the desired outcome is how it is reached. Therefore, if the individual has an inaccurate perception of the situation they may not consider all of the facts that are involved such as external factors. This in turn leads to an inappropriate decision, in turn causing negative consequences for the group and the individual. With regard to the students, a group consensus is a reflection of unity. There is a potential for several different perspectives to be gained which may result in better ideas. Nevertheless, complete unanimity is not the goal as this is rarely possible. The aim is to create an atmosphere where a real opportunity exists for each member to have their opinion communicated. It is common knowledge that communication is key to effective management. Within the corporate world, effective communication is component to whether employees understand the message being directed towards them, for instance a decision made by management. In the classroom, this atmosphere requires the mutual trust and respect of each team member.

In order to reach representation of the classroom’s desires, the consensus decision must represent a reasonable decision that all members of the group can accept. It therefore is not necessarily the optimal decision for each individual member. When all the group members feel they have reached an optimal decision, consensus is granted. This means that a single person can block consensus if he or she feels that it is necessary.

This process is based upon participatory decision making. In relation to the involvement of students, the encouragement