E-Training WHAT IS NOMINAL GROUP TECHNIQUE

session (NGT)?
When we want to select which problem to work on and in which order, it often happens
that the problem selected is of the person who speaks loudest or who has the most
authority. It creates the feeling amongst the team that their problems will never be
worked on. This can lead to lack of commitment to work on the selected problem and
selection of wrong problem in first place. This Nominal Group Technique tries to provide
a way to give everyone an equal voice in problem selection.
The steps in these processes are {The working methodology is explained on next page}
1. Have everyone in the team write the problem title that (s)he feels important.
2. Write the problem statements, for all the titles, where the team can see them
clearly.
3. Check with the team whether same problem is not written more than once.
4. Ask the team members to write on a piece of paper the letters corresponding to the
number of problem statements the team has produced. E.g. If team has identified 5
problems, they can denote the problems by serial numbers (1 ~ 5) OR
characteristics (A ~ E).
5. Let each & every team member prioritize every denotion in the scale of number of
identified problems, i.e. if problems are 5, then the top most problem gets 5, second
top most problem gets 4, third top most problem gets 3, fourth top most problem
gets 2, and least important problem gets 1. If number of identified problems are
more, then team may rank few problems which can be worked on immediately.
6. Sum up all the numbers allotted to particular problem. The item with highest total
is the most important one.
7. The team will then work on problem with highest total and then move through the
list.
E-Training
session
WORKING METHODOLOGY OF NGT
I have considered 5 problems and 5 team members for demonstration purpose.

Sr. Problem identified Ranking by team member # Cumulative

No. 1 2 3 4 5 total
A Space 2 5 2 4 1 14

B Safety 1 4 5 5 5 20

C House keeping 4 1 3 3 4 15
D Quality level going down 5 2 1 1 2 11

E No preventive maintenance 3 3 4 2 3 15

Sr. Problem identified Cumulative

No. total Start working on
1. Safety.
B Safety 20
2. Housekeeping.
C House keeping 15 3. No preventive
E No preventive maintenance 15 maintenance.
4. Space.
A Space 14
5. Quality level
D Quality level going down 11 going down.