Effective Decision Making
by Mark Henry, Inc. on 11/14/12
Decision-making is a process an individual undergoes when endeavoring to make a choice. Individuals make decisions everyday. Many decisions such as the time to awake in the morning, the selection of breakfast foods, the choice of clothes to wear, and even the road to travel require little or no thought. Other decisions require tremendous consideration and deliberation. Engineering is one of the professions that require the practicing professional to render decisions daily, many of which have far reaching implications. Decisions on design methods, equipment selection, and product performance are a few of the areas the engineering professional will make tough choices. While many decisions are difficult, research shows and experience confirms, that it does not have to be that way. A body of knowledge consisting of books, journals, and papers documents the decision-making process and offers insight into why and how the individual often chooses or fails to choose a selected course of action (Select References). Three recurring themes surface from this body of knowledge, that when taken together serve as keys to improving the decision-making effectiveness of anyone choosing to implement the techniques. The three keys are (a) limit the number of choices to no more than four, (b) make sure the options under consideration are true options, and (c) understand the pitfalls of assigning a value criteria to a worth attribute. References Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably irrational: The hidden forces that shape our decisions. NY: Harper Collins Publishers. Gennawey, S. (2011). Walt and the Promise of Progress City. Pike Road, AL: Ayefour Publishing. Goldstein, N., Cialdini, R. & B., Martin, S. J. (2008). Yes!: 50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive. NY: Free Press. Iyengar, S. (2010). The art of choosing. NY. Hachette Book Group, Inc. Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 995-1006. Kratz, C. A. (2011). Rhetorics of value: Constituting worth and meaning through cultural display. Visual Anthropology Review, 27(1), 21-48 Osnos, E. (1997, September 27). Too many choices? Firms cut back on new products. Philadelphia Inquirer. D1, D7. Payne, j. W., Bettman, J. R., & Johnson, E. J. (1988). Adaptive strategy selection in decision making. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 14, 534-552. Picard, M. (1922). Value and Worth. The Journal of Philosophy, 19(18), 447-489.
