Why We Make Bad Decisions In Groups and How to Fix It

There is very interesting analysis on group decision making coming from a non-expert at the The Toolsweneed website, Keith Axline. Take a look:

The main idea is that you can give your vote to other people. That way, if you’re not present for a decision, you’ve still participated in the vote because you said you trust this person to vote in your place. Your preferences contribute to the outcome, albeit indirectly.

Now let’s say each person in the group, like a country, has 10 votes to distribute. And let’s say that decisions are categorized by subject matter. So some decisions are about food, some are about music, etc. This allows us to give our votes out to certain people depending on the category of the decision.

Maybe I trust Dan to make good decisions about intellectual property on my behalf, but I want Sarah to vote for me if the decision has to do with public lands.

Now we see a natural weighting of expertise, based not directly on any credentials a person may have, but the level of trust they have from people in the group on certain topics. 

See the full story here.