The Stepladder Technique: An Alternative Group Structure Facilitating Effective Group Decision Making

A new group problem-solving structure entitled the stepladder technique is introduced. The steplad- der technique is intended to allay the problems associated with group decision making by structur- ing the entry of group members into a core group and by ensuring that each member contributes to the decision-making process. Four-person groups, randomly assigned to either the stepladder group condition (15 groups) or the conventional group condition (15 groups), performed Johnson and Johnson's (1987) winter survival exercise. Stepladder groups produced significantly (p < .05) higher quality decisions than did conventional groups (in which all members entered and worked on the problem at the same time). Furthermore, stepladder groups' decisions surpassed the quality of their best individual members' decisions 56% of the time. In contrast, conventional groups' decisions surpassed the quality of their best members' decisions only 13% of the time.