TradeOff design criteria

Management Decision Support for Individuals and Groups

GSA Consulting

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TradeOff

GSA Consulting

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Download an evaluation version of the system

Show the design criteria when TradeOff was created

The strongest advantage of TradeOff is that it provides a tool to assist a group of individuals with divergent ...More

"We find TradeOff valuable as a tool for controlling numerous inputs as is often required in the decision-making process.. More

The Department has been using TradeOff with great success to assist management at all levels in decision-making. Areas where TradeOff has proven..More

"We have used TradeOff to simplify and speed up decision-making. It is particularly helpful in situations where.... More

"We have used TradeOff and associated methodology very successfully in strategic planning and can recommend it... More

"We have found that by applying the methodology (of TradeOff) the whole process of decision-making is made far more .. More

"TradeOff's strongest attribute is that it facilitates decision-making despite... More

"TradeOff is an indispensible tool for decision-making, making possible... More

"TradeOff is a fantastic way of getting to the crux of... More

At the outset, when the ideas for a qualitative decision aid system were conceived, several key criteria were formulated. These criteria are listed in the panel on the right.

It took several years of research at a leading South African university to transform these criteria into a workable system for use by individuals and groups.

Many private and public institutions have implemented the system with outstanding results, as can be seen on the testimonials listed in the left panel.

It takes only a short while to get used to the Trade-Off methodology, but once hooked, you will find that it becomes impossible to manage without it.

TradeOff Design Criteria

Main objectives:

to increase the productivy in making management / political decisions by 90%; and
to improve the quality of decision-making in groups.

Secondary objectives:

to ensure collaboration by all participants in a group by the contribution of proposals shaped into decisions that will meet the concerns of everyone;
to ensure equal inputs into the process by affording all members the opportunity of presenting and amending proposals;
to ensure inclusiveness by co-opting the participation of all concerned;
to ensure active participation by all members by activly soliciting their inputs in a non-threatening way through keyboard inputs; and
to provide decision support for the major categoroies of managerial / political decisons.

Additional objectives:

to address the negative impact of the Robert's Rules of Order;
to reduce personal stress in dealing with uncertainty;
to provide a system that could be used by individuals as well as groups;
to measure consensus in group discussions to avoid arguments about matters on which a meeting may basically already be in agreement;
to highlight areas in the decision analysis where people will never reach consensus in the first place;
to identify the strong points of every participant in a group exercise, making use of, and allocating a greater weight to these when synthesizing a synergistic group decision;
to reduce the effect of an individual's bad points and confusion;
to curb partiality in meetings, and prevent some members ridiculing fellow decision-makers;
to analyze the lack of group consensus, if present;
to accommodate persons with a relatively low level of literacy in important decisions;
to produce concise reports on decisions reached, which reflect both overall and detailed decision variables and issues, suitable for communicating to higher executive levels for further action, for providing permanent records and for compiling minutes; and
to provide concise documentation with a date and time stamp which can stand up in a court case should there be legal enquiries into the decision-making process followed in the case of controversial decisions.

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