Decision Making

I like to try to find out what prominent people have said concerning the subjects I write about.  However, that was not too helpful in gathering material about the decision making process.  I think it would be useful for students to be familiarized with the decision making process before they graduate from high school.   While earning my master’s degree, I was lucky enough to have a course in Decision Making. I will draw on what I took away from that here.

The next general election is planned for November, and Americans will be choosing which candidates to vote for.  Therefore, I thought that it might be helpful to talk about the decision making process.

Although the way each person makes decisions is unique, there are also common elements.  Decisions are usually made in an uncertain environment.  We can seldom say we have complete confidence in how things will turn out.  Therefore, decision making involves taking risks.

In routine matters, we often make decisions habitually, almost without thinking.  We can be confident of the outcome based on past experience.  Most of the time, that works out well.  However, it may be useful to examine our fund of knowledge occasionally to find ways to improve, or to avoid the often colossal blunders that can result from complacency or from impulse.

Some people tend to rely on intuitive decision making.  They make choices based on how they feel about something or someone.  It is more common than you might think.  Any good salesperson knows that the decision to buy is more frequently based on how a person is made to feel about it, rather than persuasion.  In the United States, a key factor in any candidate’s electability is likability.

Is it better or safer to base one’s choices on facts gathered and evaluated by a rational or empirical process?  Is there greater risk-taking involved in intuitive decision making?  You be the judge.  Although I favor a cognitive, analytical approach to decision making, I also have found that it is a mistake to ignore my “gut.”  I think a lot of people rely on both emotion and cognition when making decisions.

Without ruling out intuition entirely, I think a closer examination of planful, well-considered decision making is needed.  Such is done by gathering information about the subject at hand until there is enough information available to make the level of risk in reaching a decision acceptable.  Information sources may include respected friends and associates, expert opinion, empirical research, publications, and the media. How much time is available?  How much information is available?  Are the available sources of information reliable?  Will one person be making the choice, or will the decision be collaborative?  It is possible to become confused by too much information or too many alternatives to choose from.

It is easy to get trapped into thinking that ever more information is needed in order to mitigate the risks involved, and the result is indecision.  In most cases decision makers cannot gather enough information to totally nullify the possibility of failure.  The key is to know when you have enough information to act, even if it is not all of the information that might be available.  Delay or failure to act is a decision in itself.

Waiting until the best choice is made clear by subsequent events is a viable alternative … if time allows.  Choosing the opportune moment to act will definitely determine difference between success and failure.  There are drawbacks.  Others can get impatient and try to “go around” you.  People can come to believe that you are indecisive.  If one waits too long, it can sink you before you leave the dock.

In the military making a snap decision can lead to a quick victory, or it can lead you into an ambush.  Delay on the other hand can allow your enemy to regroup and victory will be more costly.  In business, indecisiveness can mean loss of the revenue that might have been realized from the opportunity that was missed.  Tomorrow is not promised to us, and if we fail to accept Christ as our Savior today, we may not be alive to do it tomorrow.

There is a “sweet spot” when you must act, or you will lose out.  Effective decision makers develop a feel for when to act.

Who will you vote for in November?  The future of the country rests on the decisions we will make.  Please start thinking about it now.  Pray about it.  If you are in Christ, if He is in control of your life, God will give you the ability, desire, and power to act according to His plan. (Philippians 2:13, 4:13)