Extract:

Modern museum projects usually require cooperative action. Choosing among the many good ideas and programs which a museum could do, is an axiomatic activity for the museum director. But, in order to make good decisions, the CEO requires solid information and museum staff need to understand when and how to contribute to the analysis. The authors present a process for cooperative decision making intended to improve the quality of decisions and reduce the cost of implementation.

Cooperative:
Engaged in joint economic activity.

Decision:
The passing of judgment on an issue under consideration.

Process:
A continuous action or series of changes taking place in a definite manner.

Introduction

If you are old enough to read this article, you are skilled enough at life to rarely consider the brain process as it activates decisions which fill your day. Breathe. Eat less fat. Concentrate on what your boss is saying. Play racquetball and don't work late. Pick up the kids. Individuals make thousands of decision every day which work effectively in their lives.

Unfortunately, the skills we have mastered as individuals do not usually mesh seamlessly when we are required to apply them in the work place. People are different. They think differently. The effective processes developed by one individual to deal with the vagaries of life are not the same for all other (or maybe any other) individuals.
When people come to the work place with dissimilar values, the decisions they make can be very different. Different choices can be easily misunderstood and mis-interpreted by their colleagues. Much unproductive conflict occurs among museum teams because the process of decision making is sub rosa. Introducing and developing the discipline to use a cooperative decision process (CDP) can dramatically improve implementation of museum projects.

Standard operating procedures, disciplinary methodologies, and professional codes of ethics provide guidance to the individual seeking to understand how and why the work place operates as it does.

As Neil Harris reports, museums are now in a period of "existential scrutiny." The AAM has postponed the adoption of it's revised code of ethics for the second time. Museums endlessly revise their procedures, usually with technological solutions, seeking to streamline (read save money). Disciplines which hold fast to old methodologies risk obsolescence, as evidenced by the struggle scientists report in their inability to attract funding for systematic research.

Cooperative Decision Process

Understanding and using a cooperative decision process is practical. It provides a map which allows teams to explore new territory. Employing cooperative decision making allows team members to focus on the project content, not the process, as is true with any well understood procedure or methodology. People with different leadership and management styles tend to regard different steps in the process differently. Having a shared process guarantees that each step will be taken, reducing risk to the organization and increasing individual confidence in the decisions taken.

In museums, it is often necessary to agree on a single alternative from several competing, sometimes mutually exclusive options. When faced with this potential, individuals will reach incompatible decisions unless they adopt a disciplined approach leading to a cooperative decision. It is not surprising that two isolated decision makers start with identical data but conclude differently.

Problem Solving Fundamentals

Everything that occurs in a team setting can be divided into two broad categories:

Content: the task; what the team is trying to accomplish.

Process: how the team approaches and accomplished its task.

A cooperative decision process can constructively be applied to the four stages of problems solving: diagnosing, defining, deciding, and implementing.

Stage	DIAGNOSIS	DEFINE	DECIDE	IMPLEMENT
Input	The Apparent Problem	The Real Problem	Well Defined Task	Good Decision
Warm-up	1	1	1	1
Accumulate	2	2	2	2
Deliberate	3	3	3	3
Incubate	4	4	4	4
Illuminate	5	5	5	5
Accommodate	6	6	6	6
Finalize	7	7	7	7
Reinforce	8	8	8	8
Output	The Real Problem	Well Defined Problem	Good Decision	Solution Implemented

Projects habitually get off-track in the first, and most important stage of problem solving: diagnosis. Taking sufficient time to carefully step through the cooperative decision process presented in this paper at the first stage of problem solving increases the success probability for two reasons. First, projects usually fail because the problem is insufficiently understood by the participants. A careful diagnosis of the problem leading to understanding the interrelationship between problem components will improve the team's ability to implement. Second, consciously applying the cooperative decision process in the beginning of a project will dramatically improve the solution, reducing the time and resources needed for implementation. Ultimately, using the cooperative decision process saves time and other resources.

STEP 1: WARM-UP

The Warm-Up prepares everyone in the room for the task. Time is taken to ensure clarity and remove barriers which may prevent individuals from using their full abilities when working together. A typical Warm-Up involves four elements:

1. Surface and dispel distractions. Get everyone's mind in the room.
2. Focus on the task. Align expectations, interests, assumptions.
3. Get to know team mates, their strengths, viewpoints, agendas. Build an esprit de corps.
4. Relax participants. Free creative, intuitive abilities. Understand the team responsibility to create an open, honest environment which allows time to think.

At the end of Step 1: Warm Up everyone on the team should have realistic expectations, common understanding of the purpose of the team, what the task is and what it is not, and they should be ready to go to work.

STEP 2: ACCUMULATE

This step gathers information and builds a common foundation of data for the team. Hard data (facts) and soft (feelings, opinions) are both appropriate, depending on the nature of the task. In problem solving this is the critical step because it is here that people create their perceptions of the problem. Reformulating the team members' perception of the problem, and thus the possible solutions, is key to creative problem solving.

The Accumulation process has three key elements:

1. Set the stage: Define the focus and boundaries of data that is to be Accumulated. Limit data collection to areas where the team has authority to act. The team must be non-judgmental and thorough. Controlled divergence, or diversity, is sought.

2. Collect data: facts, feelings, and opinions that relate to the task. The critical action here is to determine what information the team should Accumulate. Specificity is important, as is avoiding prematurely determining solutions.

3. Share data: Sharing the collected data with team members provides a critical forum for learning.

STEP 3: DELIBERATE

Deliberation focuses on making sense of the Accumulated data. The goal is to identify and prioritize the issues, uncover interrelationships, clarify misunderstandings, jettison irrelevant or incorrect data. Patience and the willingness to ask the so-called "dumb" questions often provide insight into the data.

There are literally dozens of Deliberation techniques. Most training in problem solving focuses on this stage of CDP. In most cases, teams will succeed if they address the following elements:

1. Clarify the data. Semantic deliberations become relevant. Define terms for the team's use.

2. Categorize the data. Determining the right categories can make the data comprehensible. The wrong categories may obscure viable solutions.

3. Uncover the patterns, sequences, or cycles.

4. Learn the history of the problem and previous solution efforts.

5. Search for cause and effect; look for root causes. Enormous effort is contributed in American museums to dealing with the effects of problems which rarely get addressed at the root. Conflicts in space scheduling, for interest, may be caused because institutional priorities shift as leaders try to adapt to the changing external environment. Staff competes for space, with it's incumbent messages about power and prestige, without reckoning with the root cause--the changing external environment. Identifying the root cause of a problem can release unexpected energy and resources as staff no longer must address and readdress the effects of recurring problems.

6. Agree on criteria for judging future solutions to be Illuminated (Step 5).

Individuals in academic organizations are judged on their ability to accumulate data and deliberate about it. It is little wonder that museum teams surrender to the familiarity of research methods and loose sight of the team's goal: to reach a decision which can be implemented to further the museum mission.

STEP 4: INCUBATE

This step stimulates subconscious innovation and creativity to synthesize the Accumulated, Deliberated data into new ideas and perspectives. Incubation requires conscious inactivity, a withdrawal from the problem. Time, at meeting breaks or between meetings, is the essential ingredient for Incubation, along with the team understanding that Incubation requires relaxation. Creativity can be increased if time is allowed between defining the problem and seeing a solution.

STEP 5: ILLUMINATE

After withdrawal (incubation), illumination returns the team to the problem. This step stimulates the team to generate the maximum number of insights, ideas, or possible solutions. Elements for creative Illumination include:

1. Generate the maximum number of ideas. Brainstorming. The more ideas, the better the odds of coming up with a viable solution.

2. Discuss insights, ideas, and solutions. This discussion allows the group to reach common understanding of the ideas proposed, before any are rejected.

3. Narrow the possibilities. Based on the selecting criteria determined in Element 6, Step 3: Deliberation the group matches the options against the criteria.

Ideas appear like a geyser. Periods of inactivity are followed by a dramatic rush. Research has shown that the best ideas come with the second and third gush, wave, or rush. Teams do well to recognize that patience and persistence are required.

STEP 6: ACCOMMODATE

This step requires the team do a reality check, to test their best idea(s) and make modifications until they have developed a superior, workable final product. Accommodation produces a convergence as the team's thinking moves from more than one likely alternative to one option. Accommodation has four basic elements.

1. Present and review the strength and weaknesses of the proposed alternatives(s) until all team members fully understand the option.

2. Raise questions about the practicality and reality of each alternative. Team members record the pros and cons of the alternative(s), probing thoroughly why it won't work or why it is an inferior solution.

3. Continuously modify and improve the alternatives. Modification is a desired and expected out growth of Element 2 above. Continuous improvement and adaption is normal and necessary.

4. Make a final selection and do a reality check. Usually only one options remains viable by the Accommodation step. Final doubts can only be resolved during implementation. A final reality check should include the commitment to monitor the implementation and specify follow-up procedures in the Finalization Step.

A major purpose of adapting a CDP to museum team work is to provide a common foundation for action. Achieving a successful Accommodation may require that individuals modify their personal expectations. Doing so is made easier by the application of CDP.

STEP 7: FINALIZE

This step brings the team's decision making process to closure and initiates implementation. The CDP is a participative team decision.

Warm up	Making the decisions by the team.
Accumulate	Making the decisions by the team.
Deliberate	Making the decisions by the team.
Incubate	Making the decisions by the team.
Illuminate	Making the decisions by the team.
Accommodate	Making the decisions by the team.
Finalize	Taking the decisions by the team.
Reinforce	Accepting the decisions by the team.

In each of the preceding steps, the team has been making the decision. Now it is time for the museum director or team leader to take the decision and begin the process of turning it into reality. A decision is not a decision until what, when, and who have been clearly specified. The elements of Finalize are:

1. Specify WHAT will be done. What results are to be achieved.

2. Specify WHEN it will be done. In most cases, it helps to set separate dates for solution design and for when the solution will be producing the desired results.

3. Specify WHO will do it and WHO will be effected. Supply actual names or a specific, unambiguous job title, of the people held accountable for implementation of the decision. Those effected by the implementation and results should also be specified.

4. Specify boundaries and constraints which limit HOW the task will be accomplished.

5. Design the monitoring and FOLLOW-UP procedure. Specify what, when, and who for the implementation, monitoring, and improvement procedure.

STEP 8: REINFORCE

The propose of Reinforce at the end of the CDP is to learn how each participant feels about what was accomplished and how it was done. Reinforce examines the team's acceptance of the leader's decision. Once the decision is Finalized, Reinforcement aims to surface the team's attitude and emotional commitment to the decision. The commitment to success is actually more critical to implementation than the quality of the solution. No solution is perfect. Every solution needs nurturing and fine tuning. A high degree of commitment can often make a mediocre decision succeed because committed people will notice the imperfections and work hard to toward improvement.

Step 1: Warm-Up is analogous to the stretching activities needed at the beginning of an athletic event; Step 8: Reinforce can be likened to the cooling-off period recommended after a strenuous workout. Both steps are needed every time the team meets. These steps are intended to keep the team open and honest. When Step 8 is skipped, the team looses the opportunity to uncover unresolved concerns and issues.

A typical Reinforce has three elements:

1. Review progress, assignments, and decisions.
2. Surface feelings on progress and/or decisions.
3. Ascertain commitment and support of the decisions.

CONCLUSION

In this paper we have presented a structured method for museums to apply to solve problems present in all sorts of museum situations: exhibition management, strategic planning, mission development, collections programs, and public service endeavors. This structured method, which we have called the Cooperative Decision Process (CDP), improves the way diverse groups of people work together and leads to more effective and efficient decision implementation.