The Art of Decision-Making

INTRODUCTION

Keypoints

* Who among you would admit to not being a good decision maker? Of course! No one would dare say that he or she is!

* Most especially managers! If you would suggest something like improving their decision-making techniques, what reaction will you expect? Probably, they would elicit a highly defensive reaction.

* Managers’ opinions about their own decision-making abilities are heavily influenced by what they feel a good decision is. What about you? How far are you in your decision-making abilities? What influence you to say so?

* “There is no universal agreement on what constitutes a really good decision, and there is no generally accepted approach to good decision making.”

* Just like what the economists have said.. “there will never be a perfect model for a particular economy”

* Back to our topic, what might be a good decision to one might not be a good decision to another. The word “good” itself is bounded with the idea of relativism. What may be good to one may not or may not be necessarily good to others.

* For some it is a choice arrived at by the consensus of one or more groups in the organization. For others it is any decision that does not elicit unfavourable reactions from those affected by it. Or it may simply be the choice among available alternatives that offers the highest possible payoff. Or perhaps it is a decision that is reached only after a careful search for alternatives within clear boundaries and that is implemented smoothly with obvious benefits for those it affects.

* Much is assumed, but considerably less is known about this most important managerial activity.

PROFILE OF A DECISION

* In discussing decision making, it is customary to focus on one or more of three things: (1) the decision making process, (2) the decision maker, and (3) the decision itself.

* Let us focus our attention first to the term “decision”.

* To illustrate, Ofstad states alternative definitions in...