The Robin Hood Dilemma – A Decision-Making Exercise

[Sven Gade]

In this activity, team members analyze information, negotiate, and cooperate with one another. It encourages them to listen and to think about the way they make decisions.

Set-up:
• Material: Team members need a pen and a paper
• Time: 15 – 20 minutes (depending on length of debrief)
• People: Tram of any size divided in groups of ideally 3-4 people
• Environment: Can be physical or virtual

Instructions:
Step 1: Give all participants following text to read:
The Sheriff of Nottingham captured Little John and Robin Hood and imprisoned them in his maximum-security dungeon. Maid Marion begged the Sheriff for their release, pleading her love for Robin. The Sheriff agreed to release them only if Maid Marion spent the night with him. To this she agreed. The next morning the Sheriff released his prisoners. Robin at once demanded that Marion tell him how she persuaded the Sheriff to let them go free. Marion confessed the truth, and was bewildered when Robin abused her, called her a slut, and said that he never wanted to see her again. At this Little John defended her, inviting her to leave Sherwood with him and promising lifelong devotion. She accepted and they rode away together.
Step 2: Ask team member to take 1-2 minutes on their own put Robin, Marion, Little John and the Sheriff in the order in which they showed the most morality with regard to realistic everyday standards of behavior.
Step 3: Ask team members to come together in small groups of 3-4 people, give them 10 minutes to confer and decide on their group rankings.
Step 4: Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with their collective ones and consider why any results differ. Did anyone change their mind about their own rankings during the team discussions? How much were people influenced by the group conversation?
The ideal scenario is for teams to arrive at a consensus decision where everyone’s opinion is heard. However, that does not always happen naturally: assertive people tend to get the most attention. Less forthright team members can often feel intimidated and do not always speak up, particularly when their ideas are different from the popular view. Where discussions are one-sided, you can already during the exercise draw group members attention to it by asking questions related to their work process.

Debrief:
After everyone has finished the exercise, invite the groups to evaluate the process to draw out their experiences. For example, ask them what the main differences between individual and team rankings were, and why. This will provoke a discussion about how teams arrive at decisions, which will make people think about the skills they must use in future team scenarios, such as listening , negotiating and decision-making skills, as well as creativity skills for thinking “outside the box.”

An issue in the decision-making process of teams might be ‘groupthink’. This can happen when a team places the desire for mutual harmony above the desire to reach the right decision, which prevents the team from fully exploring alternative solutions. In this case, investigate with the team new ways to encourage members to discuss their views, or to share them anonymously.

[Author]

Posts