Approaches to Decision Making

The challenge when working with others to make a decision is that we all have our own methods of coming to a conclusion. The rational decision-making model is comprehensive in the fact that it requires the decision maker to define the problem, identify criteria for making the decision, weight the criteria, develop alternatives, evaluate alternatives and finally select the best alternative (Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A. 2009). The challenge with utilizing this method is the fact that most of the time in real world situations, facts are either limited or missed, time compression causes an oversight on all potential alternatives and people tend to choose the easier route to make decisions (Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A., 2009). Intuition is a powerful tool, however it can also lead to quick and potentially bad decisions (Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A., 2009). I can recall a conversation with a leader about an employee that made an error administering a medication. The manager had not spoken with the employee or

The decision making process includes cognitive processes that eventually lead to a choice in action while taking into consideration the alternative possibilities (Allen, Dorozenko, & Roberts, 2016). Not all choices have to lead to an action. The values and preferences of the person making the choice also comes into play when making the final decision. Problem-solving to obtain a certain goal or satisfactory by a solution is the main reason people go through the decision making process (Stefaniak, & Tracey, 2014). This process has many factors that end with one final result or solution. The decisions made can be rational or irrational and can be determined by explicit or tacit knowledge (Qingyao, Dongyu, & Weihua, 2016). Since the decision making process can be very difficult at time, psychologists have viewed the process in different perspectives to get a better understanding (Rossi, Picchi, Di Stefano, Marongiu, & Scarsini, 2015). The different perspectives include; psychological, cognitive, and normative or communicative rationality.

Decision-making in the workforce is a process of responsibilities used by upper management to implement, enforce rules, regulations, and maintain a successful environment. Decision-making implemented more effectively by making a plan, thinking it through, accepting more than one opinion and determining what is best. However, decision-making often utilized more effectively by opening doors of opportunities for a suggestion, question, discussion, and feedback. Although, more involvement helps improve understanding, utilize behavior skills and present opportunities for better communication. Everyday life consists of decision-making, the right decision may not always be applied, but ensure room for improvement and opportunity. Individuals approached decision-making in many different ways. As stated by (Jones, Graham, & Bateman, 2006) decision making is a procedure used to recognize a problem, weigh the alternatives and evaluate a solution in which, certain situations will require different approaches to become effective.

Rational decision is a state of being agreeable to reasons. The correct decision is not just reasoned but it is also optimal for solving a problem. Mr Weekes, the operation manager, employed series of analytical steps to review possible outcomes for problems by discussing it with managers to come up withdevise particular courses of action.

Decision making is a very important skill within the overall context of health organization. Decision making is of particular importance when an immediate or urgent decision is needed. The health care profession is constantly inundated with

1. The four-step model for decision-making; See, Judge, Act, and Evaluate, applies onto the storyline by providing more insightfulness and reflection onto the decisions each character performs. In such cases, Sam uses this method by somewhat agreeing to let his daughter, Lucy, go into the foster care system. This was shown when he later confides and agrees to see Lucy on a limited amount of times each month. Even though at first, he was upset and furious having his only daughter taken away from him, he slowly managed to admit to this term when he recognized Lucy's happiness and safety.

Making prodigious decisions is an everyday challenge. A great deal of the time, those tough decisions is dependent on who it affects. Thus, when the impact of that decision touches thousands of individuals, the pressure is multiplied beyond measure. Moreover, there are several key factors that a great leader should keep in mind when the decision making time is ready. Firstly, will this pronounced decision compromise the safety of anyone? Secondly, how can the decision made by the leader be communicated throughout the workgroup?

Decision-making, within functional organizational structure, is centralized at the peak of the leadership of the health agency. Decisions are made after critical evaluation of the performance at different departments within the agency. Within each department, the formal leadership is tasked with the role of making necessary

The rational decision-making model describes a series of steps that decision makers should consider if their goal is to maximize the quality of their outcome. In other words, if you want to make sure that you make the best choice, going through the formal steps of the rational decision-making model may make sense. The following are the steps taken to come to a rational decision: 1. Identify the problem, 2. Establish decision criteria, 3. Weigh decision criteria, 4. Generate alternatives, 5. Evaluate the alternative, 6. Choose the best alternative, 7. Implement the decision, 8. Evaluate the decision.

The concept of ‘rationality’ has been talked through the centuries. According to Grey (2013), rationality is a big question because of this proposition which has the meaning and difficulties seem to be defining of a whole set of issues which have resonated through both organisation theory and practice ever since. And rationality is the basis of a decision, rational decision makers are objective and logical, they reach the goal that maximises the value. Not only rationality is important to organisations, and also it can be identified in various kinds of management theories. This essay will introduce the different aspects of the concept of ‘rationality’ and make explanations that how these are recognised in different management theories.

Inadequate information, data, and knowledge. For rational decision-making to be accurate, reliable, and complete, information about various aspects of the problem under investigation is necessary. Possible future trends can be estimated with the help of such information. This facilitates rational decision-making. However, adequate and reliable information may not be available at the time of decision-making. As a result, the decisions may become defective or irrational or may prove faulty in the course of time. This is how decisions become irrational.

The difficulties that were accompanied with this approach led to deviation from the rational model. Complexity of modern organizations and the limited cognitive ability of decision makers were most influencing factors in the deviation . The decision makers were unable to operate under perfect rationality conditions. The information about a decision was mostly unavailable or unclear, and open to different interpretations. Also, the criteria of evaluating alternative solutions were not agreed upon. It also required very long time and a lot of energy of the decision makers to pursue a maximizing outcome. These constrains led to a conclusion that the absolute rational model is unreachable.

Defining decision making is a hard task just as it would be to define knowledge: it is a process we use on a daily basis, but when it comes to find a way to describe how it works we encounter many obstacles. That is due to the fact that each one of us has his/her unique decision making process, which is continuously built in time. Several academic definition of decision making exist, depending on the kind of situation in which the decision takes place. For a manager, the decision making is a core process, and unfortunately half of the decision taken by management in an organization fail (Nutt, 1999), thus key importance has been given lately in researching this field. A business related definition states that decision making is "the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options" . This definition highlights that despite the wish of giving to this process an objective and constant trait, both time and subjectiveness are instead crucial. As a matter of fact, when a decision has to be made, even if it is a business decisions, not only rationality comes into the picture: past experience, cognitive biases, age and individual differences, belief in personal relevance, and an escalation of commitment, all influence what choices people make (Dietrich, 2010). In other words, analyzing the above

Effective decision-making is very important on how probability can be applied therefore effective decision-making must be rational. As mentioned before, people who are deciding rationally are attempting to reach goals in a systematic way. They make sure

This report will discuss about the approach to rational decision making process. It discusses how an everyday problem faced by management can be tackled by using