Decision making is often a difficult task in many organizations. There are two types of decisions: analytical and intuitive. Intuitive decision making involves the accumulation of information by the person in charge of decision making. The decision maker can be biased with his values and is left with the task to make the decision alone (Nutt & Wilson, 2010). The final decision can be weak and often rejected by others since it might lack persuasive logic. Analytical decision making involves sharing of values. The decision moves from individual to strategic and finally portfolio. The decision involves stages and evaluation of right and wrong until the final decision can be accepted as unbiased (Soll, Milkman & Payne, 2015).
Timely decision making is critical, especially when involving a group decision making. First, you should be confident in your decision and understand that search for perfection will risk decision making. As an individual, you should be aware that partial consensus is inevitable since not everyone will agree with your decision (Saaty, 2000). Second, you should be clear about the intention. You should set a clear goal and communicate it to everyone in your team. Third, you should realize that errors are unavoidable. You should make sure your team learns from mistakes. Lastly, you should always come up with a decision. Postponing decision making is fatal.
Corporate decision making involves identifying the problem, why it should be solved and who is affected by the problem. The next step is gathering information and stakeholders involved in the problem. Another step is brainstorming and analyzing the different choices available to you. After that, there is an evaluation of alternatives for the positive and negative outcomes. You should then select the best alternative depending on the evaluation. The final decision remains with the decision maker but can get help from subordinates (Oxelheim & Wihlborg, 2008). Evaluation of results is critical in improving future decision-making processes.
References
Nutt, C.P., & Wilson, C.D. (2010). Handbook of decision making. John Wiley and sons.
Oxelheim, L., & Wihlborg, C. (2008). Corporate decision-making with macroeconomic uncertainty: Performance and risk management. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Saaty, T. L. (2000). Fundamentals of decision making and priority theory with the analytic hierarchy process. Pittsburgh, PA: RWS Publications.
Soll, B.J., Milkman, L.K, & Payne, W.J. (2015). Outsmart your own biases: spotlight on decision making. Harvard business review.
