Hirokawa and Gouran state that group interaction has a positive effect on decision making. They believe that in order to arrive at high-quality solutions then the group must work together and adhere to the four functions.
First, the group members must analyze the problem, they need to take a realistic look at current conditions; they must determine the nature, extent, and probable cause of the issue at hand. Then the group must establish criteria (Goal Setting) for judging proposed solutions; without the criteria being set, it is likely that the decision will be driven by politics rather than reason. Next, the group must Identify the Alternatives; they need to come up with as many ideas to solve the problem as possible. The last of the four functions is to evaluate the positive and negative characteristics of the alternatives.
The two also stress that the order isn’t as crucial as the fact that all four functions are completed. However, they also agree that to arrive at the HIGHEST quality solution, the group will adhere to the functions in a step-by-step order.

With the theory of functional perspective on group decision making created by Randy Hirokawa and Dennis Gouran, it consists of four different parts. The four different parts are analysis of the problem, goal setting, identification of alternatives, and evaluation of positive and negative characteristics. Hirokawa and Gouran believed that group decision making would help groups communicating reach conclusions better than when you are alone.

this movies is about 12 men that are a group and have to come to a conclusion on a verdict of a murder trail.

Functional Perspective is a prescriptive approach that describes and predicts task-group performance when four communication functions are fulfilled. One of the four functions of Functional Perspective is Evaluation of Positive and Negative Characteristics, which is testing the relative merits of each opinion against the criteria selected; weighing the benefits and costs. An example of the Evaluation of positive and negative characteristics is from the movie Hangover 2. Stu is getting married in Thailand and is inviting Phil and Doug, but not their delusional friend Alan. When Doug finds out that Stu is not inviting Alan, he continuously begs him to invite him because it is the right thing to do and because Alan is Doug’s brother-in-law. Stu tries to put his foot down and give Doug the positives of Alan not going to Thailand and tell them the disadvantages they would encounter if he came along. They were weighing the positives and negatives, but in the end Alan ends up joining them in Thailand anyway.

Randy Hirokawa and Dennis Gouran strongly encourage group decision making because they believe communication helps the group reach conclusions better than when you are alone. Their theory is called functional perspective which “specifies what communication must accomplish for jointly made decisions to be wise.” In this theory, there are four different functions: analysis of the problem, goal setting, identification of alternatives, and evaluation of positive and negative characteristics. The last function, evaluation of positive and negative characteristics, is when the group tests the benefits and disadvantages of their options.

In this scene from the movie, Bridesmaids, the maid of honor, Annie, is planning the Bachelorette party for Lillian. Annie sends out an email to the other bridesmaids suggesting they go to the lake house, however, she is then bombarded with phone calls from the girls telling her how they want to go to Las Vegas instead. Annie is very hesitant about this because she is low on cash right now so she tries to list the disadvantages of going. She tries to convince the girls that the party should be at the lake house by listing the positives to her plan. This part of the planning is the evaluation of positive and negative characteristics function. This last function of the group planning process is very important because one has to compare the pros and cons to make any effective decision.

http://www.anyclip.com/movies/bridesmaids/planning-the-bachelorette-party/#!cast/

In the functional perspective on group decision making theory, it states that there are four functions of effective decision making. These functions include: analysis of the problem, goal setting, identification of alternatives, and evaluation of positive and negative characteristics. Hirokawa and Gouran call these the requisite functions of effective decision making.

Identification of alternatives is defined as, “generation of options to sufficiently solve the problem”. When coming up with a plan it is important to weigh your options. One must consider all sorts of different choices before making their final decision. Knowing all your options can only improve your end result.

In the movie, Non Stop, the air marshal on board receives a text message from someone on the flight that there is a bomb somewhere and that its timer is almost out. Eventually he finds the bomb, but still hasn’t figured out who brought it on board or how to disable it. In the video, a couple of the passengers and the air marshal are all thinking of ways to solve the problem at hand. The african american male suggests paying off the person or finding him, but both of those options are insufficient. Knowing that all of the ideas mentioned aren’t going to be apart of an effective decision, the air marshal comes up with a plan that is used in the end to rescue all the passengers aboard.

This example is just like the one from the book where the green and blue groups are weighing their options about when to have their classes each day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yveEomTpEFs