Decision Making

Now is the time to truly learn the process that sometimes is a very difficult act in life, ‘Making a Decision’

The following are some Tips that will hopefully help you if you are in the middle of making a choice, in any area of your life. Whether this decision is about a dinner, a business management option or even a health issue, there is always a process to making a RIGHT DECISION….and, keeping rationale in a ‘final decision’ is found in the complete this process comes from making the choice in steps. It has been found that making decisions is one of the top actions in life that the human race seems to shy away from; we all hate making decisions, in some way or another. 

Process, take the plunge…

• Objectives must first be established
• Objectives must be classified and placed in order of importance
• Alternative actions must be developed
• The alternative must be evaluated against all the objectives
• The alternative that is able to achieve all the objectives is the tentative decision
• The tentative decision is evaluated for more possible consequences
• The decisive actions are taken, and additional actions are taken to prevent any adverse consequences from becoming problems and starting both systems (problem analysis and decision making) all over again.

Decision-Making Stages

Developed by B. Aubrey Fisher, there are four stages that should be involved in all group decision making. These stages, or sometimes called phases, are important for the decision-making process to begin.

Orientation stage – This phase is where members meet for the first time and start to get to know each other.

Conflict stage – Once group members become familiar with each other, disputes, little fights and arguments occur. Group members eventually work it out.

Emergence stage – The group begins to clear up ambigiuity in opinions is talked about.

Reinforcement stage – Members finally make a decision, while justifying themselves that it was the right decision. 

Decision-Making Steps

When in an organization and faced with a difficult decision, there are several steps one can take to ensure the best possible solutions will be decided. These steps are put into seven effective ways to go about this decision making process (McMahon 2007).

The first step – Outline your goal and outcome. This will enable decision makers to see exactly what they are trying to accomplish and keep them on a specific path.

The second step – Gather data. This will help decision makers have actual evidence to help them come up with a solution.

The third step – Brainstorm to develop alternatives. Coming up with more than one solution ables you to see which one can actually work.

The fourth step – List pros and cons of each alternative. With the list of pros and cons, you can eliminate the solutions that have more cons than pros, making your decision easier.

The fifth step – Make the decision. Once you analyze each solution, you should pick the one that has many pros, and the one that everyone can agree with.

The sixth step – Immediately take action. Once the decision is picked, you should implement it right away.

The seventh step – Learn from, and reflect on the decision making. This step allows you to see what you did right and wrong when coming up, and putting the decision to use. 

Be Fearless, take the plunge, walk through the steps and Voila!