Decision Making Process

4 Pages 933 Words

“Analysis of the Decision-Making Process”
We are constantly making decisions. We make decisions that affect how and what we do in our homes and at work. Our decisions can bear consequences that carry throughout the day, throughout our careers, and throughout our lives. This paper will explore a few scenarios and outline several steps of the decision-making process, particularly as it relates to management.
Suppose that you and some friends are hiking along some mountain cliffs. As you are hiking you hear a growing noise and then feel a tremor. Looking above, you notice a rockslide coming down quickly. You all sprint until the sound has passed. Behind you, a large boulder has pinned the leg of a companion. Despite all your efforts, the boulder cannot be lifted or moved. The cliff that you are on may or may not give way from added weight of the debris. Unfortunately, you are miles away from any rescue assistance, and it appears that you only have two options. You can leave your friend, to the chance that the cliff might give way, and go for help. Or you can somehow detach the leg, rendering him disabled indefinitely, but sparing his life. Situations like these underline the understated importance of effective decision-making between alternatives, and bring to mind a few questions like these:
· Who is affected by these decisions?
· What are the long-term effects of these decisions?
· Am I prepared to handle the consequences?
· Are there any alternatives I have not considered?
It can, at times, seem that the decisions we make are unimportant and do not carry long-lasting benefits and/or consequences. The decisions that face some of our nations top business leaders are not thought of as a life and death matters, but could they be? Could the results be the life or death of our businesses?
Everyone makes decisions every single day. From the choice to get up or hit ‘snooze’ we make the decision to wake up. Next, we generall...