Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘ Blink ’ and Tony Buzan’s work on Mind Mapping are other good resources that can help you. Once you have come up with an appropriate number of alternative ways of achieving your task you can evaluate each in turn and choose the best course of action. I find that 3 to 5 options is optimal.
Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.” The ‘Which’ question relates to selection. There are generally many roads we can choose to get to our destination.
Once you have come up with an appropriate number of alternative ways of achieving your task you can evaluate each in turn and choose the best course of action. I find that 3 to 5 options is optimal.
Having looked at alternatives in the planning process you will find it much easier and quicker to adapt your plan and move on when you face obstacles. Therefore it is more about the planning than the plan itself.
This phenomenon is known as perceptual defense. 26. What effect do mental models have on the decision-making process?
What is Rational Decision Making? Rational decision making leverages objective data, logic, and analysis instead of subjectivity and intuition to help solve a problem or achieve a goal. It's a step-by-step model that helps you identify a problem, pick a solution between multiple alternatives, and find an answer.
What is the result of a manager that chooses a course of action but fails to act on it? It is the same result as not making a decision at all. In the last step in the decision making process, effective managers always conduct a retrospective analysis.
Decision making is the mental process of selecting a course of action from a set of alternatives.
Rational and nonrational decisions are thought out with common sense, irrational are not. An irrational decision is a decision that goes against or counter to logic. Summing-up: Rational decisions are carefully considered and negative outcomes are weighed. Nonrational decisions are based on intuitive judgment.
Rationality is the idea that as humans we always chose the most optimal decision when it is made in our own self-interest. By contrast, bounded rationality says that we cannot do so as we are limited by three key factors: Cognitive Limitations, Imperfect Information, and Time Constraints.
The four categories of decision making1] Making routine choices and judgments. When you go shopping in a supermarket or a department store, you typically pick from the products before you. ... 2] Influencing outcomes. ... 3] Placing competitive bets. ... 4] Making strategic decisions. ... The constraint of decision making research.
Description. Decision making is the process of identifying and choosing alternative courses of action.
Types of Decision MakingProgrammed And Non-Programmed Decisions: Programmed decisions are routine and repetitive in nature. ... Operational and Strategic Decisions: ... Organizational and Personal Decisions: ... Major and Minor Decisions: ... Individual and Group Decisions: ... Tactical and Operational Decisions:
Decision making can also be classified into three categories based on the level at which they occur. Strategic decisions set the course of organization. Tactical decisions are decisions about how things will get done. Finally, operational decisions are decisions that employees make each day to run the organization.
Under classical approach, decisions are made rationally and directed toward a single and stable goal. It is applied in certainty condition which the decision maker has full information relating to the problem and also knows all the alternative solutions. It is an ideal way in making decision.
Decision making is the process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions. Using a step-by-step decision-making process can help you make more deliberate, thoughtful decisions by organizing relevant information and defining alternatives.
If you start with the whole group it is likely that some of the individual ideas will be lost.
Contingency planning. The time spent on this process is not wasted as the courses you don’t choose become your contingency planning. There is an army phrase that “no plan survives contact with the enemy.”. In other words, there will always be unforeseen circumstances meaning you will have to adapt your ideas.
Edward de Bono has written some excellent books on the topic such as Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats . Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘ Blink ’ and Tony Buzan’s work on Mind Mapping are other good resources that can help you.
Other people will always bring an alternative view of a problem. So, I would recommend involving at least one other person in the thinking . Even if they just act as a sounding board of your ideas it will bring diversity to your thinking.
In other words, there will always be unforeseen circumstances meaning you will have to adapt your ideas. Having looked at alternatives in the planning process you will find it much easier and quicker to adapt your plan and move on when you face obstacles. Therefore it is more about the planning than the plan itself.
The rational choice decision-making process selects the choice with the highest value through the
Often management is "under the gun" to solve problems and meet deliverables. This can lead to
According to the rational decision-making process, Alvin should select the vendor that offers the most
The representativeness heuristic refers to the tendency
Further, ongoing leaders may perceive a failing project as a personal failure, and may be thus motivated to persist with a previous decision by further committing to their initial plans because of a need to protect their own self-image ( Aronson, 1968; Brockner et al., 1986 ). These leaders may even choose to invest further resources to not only prove to others that they were not wrong in an earlier decision ( Keil et al., 2000 ), but also to remain consistent for their current and future decisions. Moreover, abandoning a previous plan might also be especially difficult for teams with leaders who were personally involved during plan generation, because individuals responsible for previous failures are generally more likely to invest additional resources to these projects than people who have taken over in midstream ( Bazerman et al., 1984; Staw, 1981 ). Therefore, by committing to the initial plan of action, ongoing leaders are more likely to engage in further escalation behaviors, which becomes increasingly difficult to break.
During transition phases, teams will tend to evaluate feedback from previous performance episodes and develop new plans of action for subsequent performance episodes ( Marks et al., 2001 ). Teams that are able to adapt and avoid committing further resources to the initial course of action should still be driven to improve their future performance. In such cases, a primary way to improve performance without additional cost is to identify and correct prior mistakes ( Tovey, Uren, & Sheldon, 2010 ).
Given a leader's core role within a team, leadership change may be particularly detrimental to team functioning by disrupting the team's structure and processes ( Rao & Argote, 2006 ), interfering with effective task coordination, and undermining the team's ability to effectively perform its tasks ( Moreland & Levine, 1982 ). Likewise, it forces the team to spend time and effort adjusting to the new leader ( Levine & Moreland, 1999; Moreland & Levine, 1989 ), while eliminating access to the knowledge of the departing leader ( Argote, 1999 ). Nevertheless, when a situation requires adaptation, leadership change might actually facilitate effective team performance by establishing behaviors that are more appropriate to the situation at hand. In particular, new leaders may enable teams to break out of counterproductive routines and cycles of escalation of commitment ( Gersick & Hackman, 1990 ).
During the second stage of escalation, the negative consequences of a team's initial investment are clear and unavoidable, indicating that the original course of action is unlikely to be optimal, which represents a sunk cost. Decision-makers must then either continue with further investment in an attempt to recover the previous costs or to withdraw entirely from the course of action ( Staw & Ross, 1989 ). Escalation of commitment begins to compound when decision-makers choose to invest further resources in a failing course of action even when the available information indicates that it should be abandoned ( Keil & Robey, 2001; Staw, 1976 ). Unfortunately, the more resources (e.g., time, effort, and money) that have already been spent on an investment, the more likely a decision maker escalates commitment to it ( Whyte, 1986 ). The decision to persist is based not just on the action's initial gains, but also on psychological and social determinants ( Staw & Ross, 1989 ).
Drawing on theories of team leadership, team processes and escalation of commitment, we propose that a change in leadership can help the team reduce commitment to outdated plans and avoid further escalation over time. Across two studies, we tested and found support for our hypotheses and provide evidence that leadership change can break the cycle of escalation by enhancing leader-driven team reflection and refocusing the team on error correction instead of additional investment. We discuss how the results of these studies extend existing theory and add to our understanding of the important role leaders play in enhancing team adaptation and preventing team escalation.
Furthermore, demonstrating that a new leader can actively influence the team performance shortly after taking over an existing team, may help management better plan leadership transitions. Specifically, the leader's ability to decrease team initial plan commitment and thus reduce the tendency for escalation might be a critical determinant in deciding which teams may most benefit from a leadership change. New leaders may not make a meaningful difference for teams that struggle with efficiency or coordination issues, but might be very helpful for teams that tend to become stuck in a failing course of action that are facing critical investment decisions.
Teams with ongoing leaders, still committed to their initial plans, may have trouble detecting errors because they may engage in biased information processing, actively seeking evidence that support their prior decision and ignoring evidence that does not (e.g., confirmation bias, Kelly & Milkman, 2013 ). Due to confirmation bias, individuals do not fully analyze evidence that contradicts their preconceived notions of a current situation ( Jonas, Schulz-Hardt, Frey, & Thelen, 2001 ). Moreover, even if the team does recognize errors and seek to correct them, a leader that has been working with the team to develop the initial plan may be unwilling to accept critical feedback and thus will be less likely to alter the plan ( Brockner, 1992 ). When team leaders feel personally responsible for team performance, being objective about negative feedback may be difficult. Therefore, ongoing leaders might have difficulty engaging in reflective behaviors. They are less likely to challenge previously made decisions or consider new ideas ( Hambrick & Fukutomi, 1991 ).