The Rational Decision Making Process

Most of us have to make decisions from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed at night. Answering questions like what should I eat for breakfast, can I make that yellow light and should I go to the gym or go out for pizza all require us to make a choice or a decision (Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A., 2009). At work I am challenged with collaborating with managers and other leaders to make decisions based on scenarios and events that occur in the hospital.

The ability for one to make rational decisions is vital, and this is especially true for decisions that can have enormous consequences. The process for making rational decisions is tedious, it requires one to have the opportunity to deeply process, evaluate, and re-evaluate available options. This suggests that rational decisions must be made in the absence of external parties because external influences are capable of preventing individuals from processing information for themselves. Otherwise, this would likely result in the individual coming to rash conclusions that cater to the external parties. Unfortunately, under most circumstances, it is a challenge to make rational decisions, because as social animals, we constantly expose

Most decisions are made with analysis, but some are judgment calls not susceptible to analysis due to time or information constraints. Please write about a judgment call you’ve made recently that couldn’t be analyzed. It can be a big or small one, but should focus on a business issue. What was the situation, the alternatives you considered and evaluated, and your decision making process? Be sure to explain why you chose the alternative you did relative to others considered.

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.

Rational choice theory originates from the oldest criminological school of thought and criminological theorists, but the theory itself is new, only forming in the last five decades. Ronald Clarke and Derek Cornish, using the work of previous criminologists, put forth the rational choice perspective as a criminological theory (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). This theory has its roots in the classical school of thought in which individuals had the power to make decisions after weighing the consequence of such actions (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). The work of Cesare Beccaria in the late 1700’s cemented this theory’s existence from the beginning of criminology (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). Rational choice theory was also greatly influenced by Jeremy Bentham and his idea of felicific calculus, in which a decision to commit crime is made after putting risk variables in an equation (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). Bentham says all humans work this way, evaluating whether a crime is worth committing (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). Bentham was inspired by utilitarian theory, which states that individuals make decisions to maximize profits and minimize pain (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). In addition, rational choice theory is also based on traditional economic choice theory that states people will choose what will appease their desires after weighing their options (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). This paper will examine the effectiveness of the application of rational

A department head who does not display qualities of a good leadership is a recipe for disaster. Dealing with someone who is incompetent and takes credit for your job can be frustrating and exhausting at times. There are ways to deal with such situations at work and this paper deals how to manage

Bounded rationality is defined as a major revision to the theory of rational decision making. It incorporated assumptions that accounted for imperfect information, decisions under uncertainty and perceived probability. It offered two new ways to attack decision problems using science and mathematics.

The rational choice theory states that people make decisions in a rational but also in a self- interested manner (Class Notes 4/4/2017). Bounded rationality is the theory that when individuals make decisions, their rationality is limited by the information they have as well as the time available to make the decision. The time constraints and lack of full information are what differentiates bounded rationality and the rational choice theory. However, the garbage can model is said to represent most real life organizational decisions as they are random and unsystematic (Class Notes 4/4/2017). This model of organizational decision making is a collection of problems and solutions. The problems look

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.

Owing to limited rationality of man, Herbert Simon contends that most decisions are based on limited rationality, that is, the organization is working like a brain. It would be impossible for organizations to attain perfection since their members have limited information-processing abilities (Morgan, G, 1997)

This is an argument between the conceptuality and the practicality of Nash equilibrium in Economics. To understand it we need to first look into what economics is about, which is the study of social and human interaction and rational decision making quantitatively. Nash equilibrium can act as a tool to provide an insight into such interaction. In the first part of this essay, I am going to evaluate why the statement ‘economics without the concept of Nash equilibrium is conceptually flawed’ is true, by looking into the importance of rationality in economics and the mechanism of the Nash equilibrium. In the second part, I am going to assess why the argument for ‘Economics with the concept of Nash equilibrium is practically useless’ is true

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.

Parker’s budgeting decision is a good example of an individual acting with bounded rationality. This term was introduced by Simon in 1957 (as cited in Tolbert & Hall, 2008) to argue that normative models of decision making, which assume fully rational and objective judgement (Teale, Dispenza, Flynn & Currie, 2003), are unrealistic because human rationality is limited. Parker’s judgement may have seemed rational to him, but it was not rational for the organisation, a subtle distinction about rationality made by Storing (as cited in Tolbert & Hall, 2008). Parker’s judgement was also not rational in that he did not have all available knowledge and awareness of risk, which are the conditions of normative models (Teale et al, 2003) and the “official theory” of management (Anthony, as cited in Teale et al, 2003, p. 14). For example, Parker did not know about the variations in the terrain when he made his decision, and he also assumed that the assistant workers could work at the same physical rate that he could. Both of these limitations were factors resulting in a risk to on-time task completion.

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