$2.$ The Rational Approach to Decision Making

The Rational Approach to Decision Making

The rational decision$-$making approach is a logical$,$ step$-$by$-$step process for making decisions. It assumes that decision makers are entirely objective and that they have all of the information they need to make the best decision.

Please be sure to review all of the following tabs before answering the questions below.

Steps in Rational Decision Making

Steps in Rational Decision Making$$Example

Steps in Rational Decision Making$$Example $($cont$.)$

Evidence$-$Based Decision Making

This all sounds pretty straightforward, right? But consider this:

You have chosen a goal, but did you choose the right one? How would the process be different if your goal was deciding how to get an education or how to reduce the costs of going to college? What other considerations should you have included when defining the problem? Did you really have all the information you needed when identifying your alternatives? Say you used Google to identify all the colleges in the Bay Area. But for some reason, Google left Stanford off its list. How would that affect your decision? Are you sure you have all the information you need to evaluate your alternatives? Maybe there are aspects of college life you can discover only by talking with other students at a particular college. Are you going to go to every college and do those interviews? Is it realistic to assume you are going to evaluate your choice without emotion? Will you have considered how the atmosphere of the college affects you? Is the culture studious, cutthroat, or collaborative? Or is it a party school? And will that make a difference in your decision about whether you picked the right college?

Select the best answer to the following question.

Which of the following is NOT a problem with the rational decision$-$making approach?

Rational decision making is not logical$.$

People may not define the goal or the problem correctly.

People base their decisions on emotions as well as hard data.

People often don$$t have the information they need to make rational decisions.

Select the best answer to the following question.

What is the first step in the rational decision$-$making process?

Implement the decision.

State the situational goal.

Decide if it is a programmed or nonprogrammed decision.

Identify the problem.

Select the best answer to the following question.

Evidence$-$based decision making involves making a commitment to:

Treat your organization as a finished product.

Build a collaborative culture in which people respect each other.

Treat emotions as evidence in decision making.

Use the best theories and data possible.