The process of Delphi method
PROCESS:
· The Delphi technique comprises several
steps involving participants who may
or may not meet
face to face.
· The participants (or panel) might be
employees of a specific company
conducting a
Delphi project or experts selected from the outside for their indepth
knowledge of a
given academic discipline or manufacturing process.
ADVANTAGE:
There are several advantages to the Delphi technique.
· One of the most significant is its
versatility. The technique can be used in a
wide range of
environments, e.g., government planning, business and
industry
predictions, volunteer group decisions.
· Another important advantage lies in the
area of expenses.
· For example, the Delphi technique saves
corporations money in travel
expenses.
· They do not have to gather participants
from several points of the globe in one
place to resolve a
problem or predict the future, yet they still can generate
relevant ideas
from the people best suited to offer their expertise.
· This is particularly beneficial to
multinational corporations, whose executives
and key personnel
may be based in cities as far apart as Melbourne, New
York, Tokyo,
Buenos Aires, and London.
· The technique also protects participants'
anonymity. Thus, they feel better
protected from
criticism over their proposed solutions and from the pitfalls of
"groupthink",
i.e., the
withholding by group members of different views in order to appear in
agreement. On the
other hand, the technique has its drawbacks.
DISADVANTAGE
· The Delphi technique is somewhat time
consuming, which renders it
ineffective when
fast answers are needed.
· It might also be deficient in the degree
of fully thought-out resolutions. People
acting together in
a group setting benefit from others' ideas. Thus, there might
be more insightful
and pragmatic resolutions to problems offered by people in
interactive
settings, e.g., through the nominal group technique,
· In which participants are gathered in one
place but operate independently of
one another.
However, in situations where time is not of the essence or group
interaction is not
important, these
disadvantages diminish in importance.
.
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