Decision-making

Decision-making (alternatively spelled, decision making) is the action, process, and/or creative behavior of making decisions.

Tasks

Structured vs unstructured

Task structure. One of Fiedler's situational contingencies that describes the degree to which job assignments are formalized and structured.

• Structured task.
• Unstructured task.

High-priority vs low-priority

Task attribute.

• Consequence of error. How serious would the result usually be if the worker made a mistake that was not readily correctable?
• Degree of automation. How automated is the job?
• Freedom to make decisions. How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer?
• Frequency of decision-making. How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?
• Impact on enterprise. What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer?
• Importance of being accurate. How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job?
• Importance of repeating same tasks. How important is repeating the same physical activities (e.g., key entry) or mental activities (e.g., checking entries in a ledger) over and over, without stopping, to performing this job?
• Level of competition. To what extent does this job require the worker to compete or to be aware of competitive pressures?
• Time pressure. How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? How important is it to this job that the pace is determined by the speed of equipment or machinery? (This does not refer to keeping busy at all times on this job.)
• Work schedule. How regular are the work schedules for this job and what is the number of hours typically worked in one week?
• Work virtualization. The degree to which work is done remotely rather than at some specific physical location.

Decisions

Decisional discretion

Any decision is a choice made from among two or more alternatives. The criteria that define what's important or relevant to resolving a problem are known as decision criteria. The freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation is known as decisional discretion.

Programmed vs non-programmed

1. Programmed decision. Any decision to follow a policy, operative rule, another regulation, or to routinely repeat one's previous decision that has been made while handling a similarly structured task.
2. Non-programmed decision (creative decision). A unique and nonrecurring decision that requires a custom-made solution.

Individual vs collective

1. Individual decision-making. Decision-making made by an individual as opposed to group decision-making.
2. Group decision-making.

Consequential vs sounding

Problem, solution, and project

Factors

Controlled vs uncontrolled

Controlled expectancy. A situation in which a decision maker is able to estimate the likelihood of certain outcomes.

1. Certainty. A situation in which a decision maker can make accurate decisions because all outcomes are known.
2. Uncertainty. A situation in which a decision maker has neither certainty nor reasonable probability estimates available.

Internal vs external

Core self-evaluation. Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capacities, competence, and worth as a person. In other words, self-believing in one's inner worth and basic competence.

1. General mental ability. An overall factor of intelligence, as suggested by the positive correlations among specific intellectual ability dimensions.

Emotion.

Mood.

Approaches

Decision-making approach

Decision-making approach. A particular manner of taking preliminary steps toward making a decision.

Rational

Rational decision-making. Decision-making that produces choices that are logical and consistent and maximize value.

• Rationale. A reasoning characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within specified constraints.

Intuitive

Intuitive decision-making. Unconscious decision-making on the basis of distilled experience, feelings, and accumulated judgment.

• 

  Intuition
  Intuition. An instinctive feeling not necessarily supported by research.

Ad hoc

Ad hoc decision-making.

• Design thinking. Approaching management problems as designers approach design problems.
• Heuristic. A rule of thumb that decision makers use to simplify decision-making.

Tendencies

Decisional tendency.

Optimizing vs. satisficing

1. Satisfice. Acceptance of solutions that are "good enough."

Conservative vs aggressive

1. Allostasis. Working to change behavior and attitude to find stability.
2. Risk aversion. The tendency to prefer a sure gain of a moderate amount over a riskier outcome, even if the riskier outcome might have a higher expected payoff.

Process types

Thorough vs shortcut

1. Bounded rationality. Decision-making that is rational, but limited (bounded) by an individual's ability to process information. In other words, bounded rationality is a process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity.
2. Escalation of commitment. An increased commitment to a previous decision despite evidence it may have been wrong.

Considerations

Decision-making dilemma. Optimizing vs. satisficing, intuitive vs rational vs ad hoc, Agile vs rigid, conservative vs aggressive, linear vs nonlinear

Self-regulation

Self-regulation strategy.

1. Prevention focus. A self-regulation strategy that involves striving for goals by fulfilling duties and obligations.
2. Promotion focus. A self-regulation strategy that involves striving for goals through advancement and accomplishment.

Ethics

Ethical dilemma

Ethical dilemma. A situation in which individuals are required to define right and wrong conduct.

• Ethics. Principles, values, and beliefs that define what is right and wrong behavior.
• Behavioral ethics. Analyzing how people actually behave when confronted with ethical dilemmas.