Module 6 Decision-Making

Module:6 Problem Solving and Decision Making
Decision-making styles
Made by
Dr. Mohd Owais Khan
Assistant Professor Senior Grade I
School of Social Sciences and Languages (SSL)
Vellore Institute of Technology
Decision making
In the decision making process, we choose one
course of action from a few possible alternatives.
The decision making process is the method of
gathering information, assessing alternatives, and,
ultimately, making a final choice.
Decision making process
Step 1: Identify the decision that needs to be made
When you're identifying the decision, ask yourself a
few questions:
What is the problem that needs to be solved?
What is the goal you plan to achieve by
implementing this decision?
How will you measure success?
Step 2: Gather relevant information
Collect some pertinent information before you
make your decision: what information is needed,
the best sources of information, and how to get it.
This step involves both internal and external
“work.” Some information is internal: you’ll seek
it through a process of self-assessment.
Other information is external: you’ll find it online,
in books, from other people, and from other
sources.
Step 3: Identify alternative solutions
This step requires you to look for many different
solutions for the problem at hand
 In this step, you will list all possible and desirable
alternatives.
Step 4: Weigh the evidence
Identifying the pros and cons of each option, and
eliminating alternatives from those choices.
There are a few common ways your team can
analyze and weigh the evidence of options:
 Pros and cons list
 SWOT analysis: SWOT stands for Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and so a
SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing these
four aspects of your business
Step 5: Choose among the alternatives
The next step is to make your final decision.
Consider all of the information you've collected
Sometimes the right decision is not one of the
alternatives, but a blend of a few different
alternatives. Effective decision-making involves
creative problem solving and thinking out of the
box, so don't limit you or your teams to clear-cut
options.
Step 6: Take action
Once the final decision maker gives the green
light, it's time to put the solution into action. Take
the time to create an implementation plan so that
your team is on the same page for next steps. Then
it’s time to put your plan into action and monitor
progress to determine whether or not this decision
was a good one.
Step 7: Review your decision and its impact (both good
and bad)
This is how you determine whether or not this solution
meets your team's criteria of success.
Here are a few questions to consider when reviewing
your decision:
 Did it solve the problem your team identified in step 1?
 Did this decision impact your team in a positive or
negative way?
Decision-making styles
The four decision-making styles include:
Analytical
Directive
Conceptual
Behavioral
 Tolerance for ambiguity can be defined as the degree
to which an individual is comfortable with uncertainty,
unpredictability, conflicting directions, and multiple
demands.
Decision-making styles determination
Two spectrums work together to create the decision-
making style framework.
The first spectrum is structure vs. ambiguity. This
spectrum measures people's propensity to prefer
either structure (i.e., defined processes and
expectations) or ambiguity (i.e., open-ended and
flexible).
The second spectrum is task/technical vs.
people/social. This spectrum measures if the
motivation to make a specific choice is guided more
by a desire to be right, or to get results
(task/technical), or if it's to create harmony or
social impact (people/social).
Analytical Style Decision Making
Analytical style decision making describes people who
feel comfortable with ambiguity but are motivated to
find the best or most comprehensive solution.
If you are an analytical style decision maker, you
likely take a long time to process big life decisions.
Your comfort with ambiguity doesn't mean that you
are a risk-taker or would be likely to decide without
knowing how it would work out. That would stress
you out a lot!
Your comfort with ambiguity means that you enjoy
considering all options before making a decision.
You only like to move forward once you are as close
to certain as possible that that choice is best
Strengths and weaknesses of Analytical
Decision maker
Strengths
Making responsible decisions is a strength of
analytical style decision-makers
weaknesses
Their weaknesses tend to be making timely
decisions, communicating with others and managing
stress during the decision-making period.
Directive Style Decision Making
Directive style decision making describes people who
prefer structure and are motivated by the results their
decisions will bring them.
If you are a directive style decision maker, you likely
make decisions quickly and have a "decide and move
forward" mentality.
To help you make decisions quickly, you tend to rely
on case studies and rules to tell you how to move
forward.
Conceptual Style Decision Making
Conceptual style decision making describes people

who enjoy the ambiguity of open-ended options and
are motivated to make an impact on the world.
If you are a conceptual style decision maker, you
likely day-dream often and quickly come up with
creative ideas when needed. You see how most things
connect and affect each other. You desire to come up
with holistic solutions.
Behavioral Style Decision Making
Behavioral style decision making describes people
who prefer structure and stability and are motivated to
maintain harmony.
If you are a behavioral style decision maker, your
relationships are probably the most important thing in
your life. You are likely to put the needs and opinions
of family, friends, and colleagues above your own
They use the information they gather to come up with
solutions that they believe others will respond well to
and typically ask for advice before moving forward
with a decision.
Strengths and weaknesses of Behavioral Decision
maker
Strengths
The strengths of behavioral style decision-makers are, most
notably, their ability to make others feel included and
important, getting buy-in from others and communicating
their decisions.
Weaknesses
Their weaknesses are not trusting themselves and difficulty
dealing with conflict. Behavioral style decision-makers can
easily lose themselves in the advice and opinions of others.
They may be called "people pleasers." Conflict is challenging
for them to manage. To avoid it, they sometimes take on
unnecessary amounts of responsibility and stress.

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Module:6 Problem Solving and Decision Making

Conceptual style decision making describes people

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