There may be numerous situations when a team of people will need to reach a decision to achieve a common goal.
Examples include a command team, a tactical co-ordinating group, or a crew working together on part of the operational plan. Often, teams will feed information to a leader who will make a decision for the team and control activities. But at times a crew may make decisions remote from their incident commander.
An example is the decisions made by a BA crew in relation to their task. Joint decisions are based on more than one perspective. The incident commander should be aware of this and the following factors which can affect joint decisions:
Team members may not communicate the right information to have a shared understanding of the situation.
Terms may be misinterpreted or have different meanings to individuals.
Clear briefing and communication between teams will help to avoid conflicts in understanding and what teams expect to happen.
On some occasions the group can suspend rational judgement to maintain group cohesion. People may set aside their personal opinions and adopt the opinion of the group. An example may be a team accepting an inappropriate proposal without challenge, or being hesitant to contradict their team leader with valid information. People who are opposed to the decision may remain quiet to avoid affecting the dynamic of the group, or their own status within it.
Interpersonal conflict between team members may manifest in a lack of co-operation, or a lack of motivation to engage.
Incident commanders should avoid judging how relevant information is by the status of the person who offers it. Expertise or competence may sometimes be relevant to weighing information. But not always; Leaders should understand how their pre-conceptions about status can affect their judgement. Useful information can come from any member of the team.
Team members may lack the confidence to contribute new or relevant information. They may be affected by their own uncertainty or their status in the group.
Team members may fail to challenge assumptions because they wrongly assume that others share the same understanding of the situation and task.
The culture of the organisation can drive behaviours both on and off the incident ground. Typical examples include how people react to status, and how likely they are to challenge assumptions. Fire and rescue services should understand the impact of their culture on team decision making.
