DECISION-MAKING MODELS

What is Your Experience with Decision-Making Models?

What is Your Experience with Decision-Making Models?

Introduction

In the light of my experiences I will say that there is no one model of decision making. Rather, there are many theories of decision making, each of which tends to be associated with a particular area of scholarly inquiry and has different assumptions about human nature (Fritzsche, 2000), the manner in which decisions are made, and the quality of the decisions made.

Discussion

In the light of my study I organize the many theories and approaches to decision making into four broad approaches that inform, or are found in, business and society literatures, other than ethical decision making since that theory has its own entry. First, rational decision making is an orderly, cognitive process where individuals form probability estimates of outcomes to select between different courses of action. Second, political decision making emphasizes power and dependence; the balance of power among people influences decision makers' assessments and results. Third, the garbage can model of decision making emphasizes decision makers' uncertainty and lack of control over external and internal factors key to a decision (Fritzsche, 2000).

Improvisational decision making views decision making as a real-time process where decision makers harness their intuition and spontaneity to identify, evaluate, and pick options. This last model was developed largely in response to the shortcomings of the first three models. When decision makers consistently rely on a single style of decision making, it can influence their ability to make moral judgments (explore the ethical implications around a decision) and take moral action (behave in a way that is ethical).

Of all the models of decision making presented thus far, improvisational decision making is in the early stages of theoretical development and empirical support. Its development was a response to the inability of existing models ...