We explain what decision-making is and what the main strategies are. In addition, we explain its importance and examples.
Decision making allows you to clear up doubts and choose a path to follow.
What is decision making?
Decision making is the process of gathering information and evaluate multiple variables or possibilitiesbefore choosing an option.
There are many ways to make decisions in everyday life, for example, deciding: based on chance (flipping a coin), thinking rationally or following your own intuition.
However, for issues of greater impact or that involve several people in the decision-making process, especially in the business field, It is important to think and evaluate the options in detail or possible paths to clear up doubts and choose the best path to follow.
Decision making in the company is usually agreed or shared with the members of a team before implementing it.
For example: The decision to hire a new manager for the company must be previously agreed upon by all members of the board of directors.
See also: Big businessman
Strategies for decision making
Decision making is a process that requires careful thinking and analysis of possible alternatives or paths to follow. Through different tools and strategies, it is possible to organize the multiplicity of doubts to make an objective decision.
The key to reaching the right decision is to think and analyze, beforehand, the different ways of resolving the situation until the decision is convenient or satisfactory for those involved or, at least, without as many doubts as at the beginning.
The following steps are suggested below to make a decision and choose the best alternative:
- IDENTIFY THE PROBLEMThe first thing is to understand the need or problem to be solved. Sometimes we want to solve a situation and we lose focus by putting our attention on multiple problems at once. Therefore, it is important to focus on a specific reason. To recognize the problem we must ask ourselves questions such as: what problem arose? What is the objective of making a decision about it? How long should it take to resolve it?, among many others.
For example: You are studying at university and you will start a content generation, remote contracting job, which you will do in your free time. You need a computer and you can’t decide whether to buy a laptop or a desktop. The first is cheaper, but the second is more powerful and has greater durability, although more expensive.
- COLLECT IMPORTANT INFORMATIONYou can choose aspects to take into account and write them down on a piece of paper, according to your tastes, your economic priorities or a comparison between the advantages and disadvantages. Writing down the information on paper helps the mind to organize the diversity of variables and to clearly detect the option or decision that will offer the most benefits. In the case of choosing the computer, you can apply the following strategies:
- Decide according to your feelingsYou decide to buy a laptop because you like it, it is convenient to use it anywhere and because you like its design.
- Decide according to your priorities. You can make a list of all the aspects or priorities that you are hoping to get from a computer, such as price, the ability to take it anywhere, quality or performance. If your priority is to take it wherever you want, you can now choose the laptop option.
- Decide based on comparative scoreYou can make a comparative list between both options, including your priorities and what percentage (according to your perception) each option meets.
In the case of choosing a computer, you can apply the following strategies:
For example:
- PRICE
- 10 points for the laptop. Because it is more economical.
- 6 points for the desktop PC. Because she is more expensive.
- TRANSPORTABLE
- 10 points for the laptop. Because you can take it wherever you want.
- 1 point for desktop PC. Because it cannot be transported.
- PERFORMANCE
- 6 points for the laptop. Because you have limited space to install physical media, such as memory.
- 10 points for the desktop PC. Because it is very versatile and has enough space to install larger capacity physical media.
- Final score. It is obtained from the sum of the scores:
- 26 points for the laptop. It scored higher, therefore it is more convenient.
- 17 points for the desktop.
After the analysis carried out as an example, we can deduce that: depending on the use you will give to the computer and your priorities, it is more convenient for you to purchase a laptop.
- GET A CONCLUSION. After thinking about the most important aspects to take into account, analyzing them and writing them down on paper to clearly understand the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, you will be able to make an objective decision.
Importance of decision making
The flowchart is a useful tool to avoid making mistakes.
Decision making is a daily action in people and business management, which allows us to choose the best solution or alternative to a problem. The difference between personal and business decisions is the magnitude of variables that interfere with each decision-making.
In addition to the basic strategies, There are specific tools to optimize decision making in companies. They allow you to organize multiple tasks and track each one to have sufficient information when making decisions.
For example:
- The use of administration software or work organization systems allows for obtaining periodic reports on sales, profits, expenses, among other data.
- Flowcharts are graphics that summarize certain company processes or tasks, and allow for the application of protocols or paths to follow depending on the problems that may occur in the work environment. In this way, employees can make the right decisions and avoid errors.
Continue with: Empowerment
References
- Laoyan, S. (2022). Decision making: definition, steps, types and characteristics, from: Asana
- GCF Learn free (2019). Key steps for making the right decisions.
- Personal growth (video), from: YouTube