Decision Making

Decision Making
Introduction
Decision making is a daily activity for any human being. There is
no exception about that. When it comes to business organizations,
decision making is a habit and a process as well.
Effective and successful decisions make profit to the company
and unsuccessful ones make losses. Therefore, corporate decision
making process is the most critical process in any organization.
In the decision making process, we choose one course of action
from a few possible alternatives. In the process of decision making,
we may use many tools, techniques and perceptions.
In addition, we may make our own private decisions or may
prefer a collective decision.
Usually, decision making is hard. Majority of corporate decisions
involve some level of dissatisfaction or conflict with another party.
Let's have a look at the decision making process in detail.
Steps of Decision Making Process

Following are the important steps of the decision making
process. Each step may be supported by different tools and
techniques.
SEVEN STEPS IN DECISION-MAKING:
STEP 1: Identify the decision to be made. You realize that a decision must be
made. Your Awareness may be triggered by a variety of things: the need to
declare a major, Pressure from friends and family to make a vocational choice, or
a general sense of dissatisfaction or unease. You then go through an internal
process of trying to define clearly the nature of the decision you must make.
STEP 2: Gather relevant information. Most decisions require collecting pertinent
Information. The real trick in this step is to know what information is needed, the
Best sources of information, and how to get it. Some information must be sought
from within yourself through a process of self-analysis; other information must be
Sought from outside yourself-books, people, and other sources.
STEP 3: Identify alternatives. Through the process of collecting information you
will probably identify two or more possible paths of action. You may also use your
Imagination and information to construct new alternatives.
STEP 4: Weigh evidence. Draw on your information and emotions to imagine
what it would be like if you carried out each of the alternatives to the end. You
must evaluate whether the problem or need identified in Step 1 would be helped
or Solved through the use of each alternative. Eventually you are able to place
the available alternatives in priority order, based upon your own value system.
STEP 5: Choose among alternatives. Once you have weighed all the evidence,
you are ready to select the alternative which seems to be best suited to you. You
may even choose a combination of alternatives.
STEP 6: Take action. You now take some positive action which begins to
implement the alternative you choose in Step 5.
STEP 7: Review decision and consequences. In this step you experience the
results of your decision and evaluate whether or not it has solved or helped to
solve the problem in Step 1. If yes, you may stay with the decision. If no, you may
repeat certain steps of the process in order to make a new decision.
DECISION MAKING POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Decisions are tentative; you can change your mind.
2. There is probably no one right choice; and few decisions are totally wrong.
3. Deciding is a process, not a static, one-time event. We are constantly reevaluating in Light of new information.
4. When it comes to a career decision, remember you are not choosing for a
lifetime; in all probability, you will have several careers during your working life.
Choose for Now and dont worry whether youll still enjoy it 20 years from now.
5. Theres a big difference between decision and outcome. You can make a good
decisions based on the information at hand and still have a bad outcome. The
decision is within your control, but the outcome is not. All decisions have that
element of chance, risk.
6. Think of the worst outcome. Could you live with that? If you could live with the
worst, then anything else does not seem that bad.
7. Indecision is a decision not to decide. There are probably risks involved in not
deciding, in not taking action.
8. Try to avoid either/or thinking; usually there are more than two options. Be
imaginative and creative.
9. You may want to consult others for information but eventually you must make
up your own mind. Sometimes it may be a good idea to consult more than one
source so that your information is not biased.
10. Listen to your inner voice; trust your intuition. What feels right?
Step 1: Identification of the purpose of the decision
In this step, the problem is thoroughly analysed. There are a couple
of questions one should ask when it comes to identifying the purpose
of the decision.
What exactly is the problem?
Why the problem should be solved?
Who are the affected parties of the problem?
Does the problem have a deadline or a specific time-line?
Step 2: Information gathering
A problem of an organization will have many stakeholders. In
addition, there can be dozens of factors involved and affected by the
problem.
In the process of solving the problem, you will have to gather as
much as information related to the factors and stakeholders involved
in the problem. For the process of information gathering, tools such as
'Check Sheets' can be effectively used.
Step 3: Principles for judging the alternatives
In this step, the baseline criteria for judging the alternatives
should be set up. When it comes to defining the criteria,
organizational goals as well as the corporate culture should be taken
into consideration.
As an example, profit is one of the main concerns in every
decision making process. Companies usually do not make decisions
that reduce profits, unless it is an exceptional case. Likewise, baseline
principles should be identified related to the problem in hand.
Step 4: Brainstorm and analyse the different choices
For this step, brainstorming to list down all the ideas is the best
option. Before the idea generation step, it is vital to understand the
causes of the problem and prioritization of causes.
For this, you can make use of Cause-and-Effect diagrams and
Pareto Chart tool. Cause-and-Effect diagram helps you to identify all
possible causes of the problem and Pareto chart helps you to prioritize
and identify the causes with highest effect.
Then, you can move on generating all possible solutions
(alternatives) for the problem in hand.
Step 5: Evaluation of alternatives
Use your judgement principles and decision-making criteria to
evaluate each alternative. In this step, experience and effectiveness
of the judgement principles come into play. You need to compare each
alternative for their positives and negatives.
Step 6: Select the best alternative
Once you go through from Step 1 to Step 5, this step is easy. In
addition, the selection of the best alternative is an informed decision
since you have already followed a methodology to derive and select
the best alternative.
Step 7: Execute the decision
Convert your decision into a plan or a sequence of activities.
Execute your plan by yourself or with the help of subordinates.
Step 8: Evaluate the results
Evaluate the outcome of your decision. See whether there is
anything you should learn and then correct in future decision making.
This is one of the best practices that will improve your decisionmaking skills.
Conclusion
When it comes to making decisions, one should always weigh the

positive and negative consequences and should favour the positive
outcomes.
This avoids the possible losses to the organization and keeps the
company running with a sustained growth. Sometimes, avoiding
decision making seems easier; especially, when you get into a lot of
confrontation after making the tough decision.
But, making the decisions and accepting its consequences is the
only way to stay in control of your corporate life and time.

Decision Making

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What are the steps involved in the decision making process?

What tools can be used at different steps of the decision making process?

Decision Making

Steps of Decision Making Process

DECISION MAKING POINTS TO REMEMBER

When it comes to making decisions, one should always weigh the

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