Decision making elements

Framing
Decision making begins by defining the decision itself. A common failure of
decision framing is to make assumptions or impose constraints that needlessly
restrict your options. For example, a commuter might frame a decision as "What
type of car do I need?" as opposed to "How will I get to work?" The latter leaves
open options such as locating close to the office and walking to work in the
morning. In some cases, constraints and assumptions do add value to a decision
statement as they narrow down your options from the start. A wide open decision
statement improves the chance of a creative solution while a constrained decision
statement improves decision making efficiency.

Timing
Making a decision at the right time. A decision made too early can result in a
failure to adapt to change or new information. It can also be a waste of time and
resources to make decisions that end up being irrelevant. Alternatively, making a
decision too late can result in missed opportunities. If you decide you want to be a
doctor when you're 14 years old, this may be too early as life experience may
present you with other opportunities and more insight about your talents and
weaknesses. If you decide you want to be a doctor at 40, this may be suboptimal
as your peak ability to succeed in the profession may have past.

Efficiency
Quality decisions are efficient. In some cases, a quick and cheap decision that is suboptimal can
be considered higher quality than an expensive and slow decision that is closer to optimal. For
example, a CEO of a mid-sized company becomes strangely engaged in a project to redesign an
office interior. He ends up spending a total of 16 hours considering the color scheme for the
office. This may neglect larger issues a firm is facing. As such, a reasonable choice of color
scheme made in less than 60 seconds could be considered a higher quality decision.
 Due Diligence
Due diligence is the process of researching a decision to determine the facts that are relevant.

Information Quality
Decisions are garbage in, garbage out such that a decision based on poor quality information
tends to be poor quality. For example, if a patient is given inaccurate information about the side
effects and probable outcomes of different treatment options, they may make a poor choice of
treatment.

Decision-Making skills with Examples

1.Identifying a faulty machine as the source of disruptions in the production process.

2.Facilitating a brainstorming session to generate possible names for a new product.

3.Polling staff to gauge the impact of extending retail hours.

4.Conducting a comparative analysis of proposals from three advertising agencies and selecting
the best firm to lead a campaign.

.Soliciting input from staff members on an issue important to the company’s future.

6.Surveying customers to evaluate the impact of a change in pricing policy.

7.Implementing the shutdown of a designated plant with excess manufacturing capacity.

8.Generating a list of options for a new regional sales territory.

9.Evaluating the impact of several possible cost-cutting measures.

10.Comparing the leadership potential of different team members and choosing a project
manager.

11.Researching possible legal or logistical problems associated with a new company policy.

12.Brainstorming possible themes for a fundraising campaign.

13.Analyzing data from focus groups to help select packaging for a new product.

Comparing the strengths and weaknesses of three potential vendors for processing
payroll.Remember that the critical skill in decision making is not learning a bunch of techniques,
but in knowing how and when to apply the basic principles and in constantly re-evaluating and
improving your methods. If you or the teams you are a part of consistently achieve good results,
then you are making decisions well.

Whole Food Decision Making Process(Example)

In an interview with Big Think, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey talked about how he made major
decisions at Whole Foods—decisions that helped grow the company into a $13.7 billion
organization that attracted the attention of Amazon.

During the interview, Mackey said that he “tries to make major decisions at Whole Foods by
trying to come to a consensus among the top minds in the company. When disagreements get
expressed through the decision-making process,” he says, “you generally end up making better
decisions.”

Mackey also noted that “while it takes longer to make the decision, once you begin [to ]
implement it, it goes a lot faster because there isn’t sort of resistance and sabotage that works its way
through the organization.”

In other words, by bringing others into the decision-making process and encouraging them to share their
dissenting opinions ,he could find and address the flaws in a particular solution or decision more easily.
This let Mackey address these issues and get buy-in from the rest of the leadership at Whole Foods at
the same time—minimizing delays from internecine quibbles after the decision was made and the
solution implemented.

So, your own organization might benefit from using a collaborative process on major internal decisions—
one where participants are actively encouraged (and expected) to share their comments and concerns so
that the final decision will have the best possible impact.