[Gabriel]

I think that Churchill said something like "democracy is the worst system of government ever devised except for all the other ones."

Giving everyone input and making decisions by a large committee will enable you to hear a wide variety of ideas and it will make everyone feel good about their place on the team and maybe will give them a better experience in terms of FIRST's goals of Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. On the other hand, large groups take a long time, don't have the experience, or necessarily the brains of a few select individuals and might very well end up making the wrong choice. Which system you use should depend on your goals for the team.

The absolute WORST thing to do is to say that things will be done democratically, but then either reject the groups decision or get fed up with the amount of time they're taking and make the decision yourself. And if you give a few people lots of responsibility - don't take it away from them unless you absolutely have to. I've seen mentors do both these things and the results are disastrous.