ABC Mortgage had a major problem; HWY 40's continual construction created a nightmare for employees in the South St. Louis location on Hampton Avenue. All the employees lived outside the city and took HWY 40 for part of their daily commute. The lease was up January 9 and the Home Office decided to not renew it. Instead, the employees were moved to the Wildwood Location in the Valley.
The Hampton location had 30 employees while the Valley had only 20; however, the space in the Valley was much larger than needed for 20 employees but not large enough for 50. Office space was at a premium and most employees now find themselves working in cubes - reduced size cubes at that. Management knew that they had to reconfigure work assignments and that the entire operation had to be restructured. Some cubes have windows (previously, all Valley employees had windows); most do not. The Hampton employees were accustomed to being arranged around the office kitchen, the fax and copy machines, and the supplies area. The Valley location has a long hallway and the commons portion is at the front of the complex, some people have a hike to make copies.
It was expected that there would be dissatisfaction, however, not as much as occurred. There is constant complaining about the facilities, the inconveniences, the people who were in the "in group" made decisions that impacted everyone, and just life in general.
Using the work of Vroom and Jago, management decided that a CI or a CII method of decision making is the right direction to go. They brought together a group of seven employees from each location to make recommendations concerning working arrangements, size of offices, and related issues.
A. Why would management have decided that a CI or CII was the better method? What might have gone wrong with this decision making process?
B. Would either of the two methods have been your choice? If "yes," why; but if not, what Vroom-Jago strategy would you have used and why?
C. What advice about group decision making would you give management for the future?