Introduction to Decision Making
People often find it hard to make decisions. Some people put off making decisions by endlessly searching for more information or getting other people to offer their recommendations. Others resort to decision making by taking a vote, sticking a pin in a list or tossing a coin.Regardless of the effort that is put into making a decision, it has to be accepted that some decisions will not be the best possible choice. This article looks at one technique that can be used in decision making that should help you to make effective decisions in the future. Although the following technique is designed for an organisational or group structure, it can be adapted to an individual level.
What is Decision Making?
In its simplest sense, decision making is the act of choosing between two or more courses of action. However, it must always be remembered that there may not always be a 'correct' decision among the available choices. There may have been a better choice that had not been considered, or the right information may not have been available at the time. Because of this, it is important to keep a record of all decisions and the reasons why decisions were made, so that improvements can be made in the future. This also provides justification for any decision taken when something goes wrong. Hindsight might not be able to correct past mistakes, but it will aid improved decision making in the future.Effective Decision Making
Although decisions can be made using either intuition or reasoning, a combination of both approaches is often used. Whatever approach is used, it is usually helpful to structure decision making in order to:- Reduce more complicated decisions down to simpler steps.
- See how any decisions are arrived at.
- Plan decision making to meet deadlines.
Stages of Decision Making
Many different techniques of decision making have been developed, ranging from simple rules of thumb, to extremely complex procedures. The method used depends on the nature of the decision to be made and how complex it is. The method described in this article follows a number of stages. These are:- Stage One: Listing all possible solutions/options.
- Stage Two: Setting a time scale and deciding who is responsible for the decision.
- Stage Three: Information gathering.
- Stage Four: Weighing up the risks involved.
- Stage Five: Deciding on values, or in other words what is important.
- Stage Six: Weighing up the pros and cons of each course of action.
- Stage Seven: Making the decision.