A constraint is a condition or limitation that restricts a decision-maker's decision-making. More specifically, constraints restrict possible

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Aconstraintis a condition or limitation that restricts a decision-maker's decision-making. More specifically, constraints restrict possible alternatives of action the decision maker can choose from as the best decision. No constraints or too many constraints can make a decision analysis become meaningless. If no constraint exists, we will have unlimited possible alternatives to choose from; if too many constraints are present, there is no alternative or only one alternative for us. So, every decision analysis scenario must involve some constraints. In business settings, such constraints usually belong to one or more of the following three categories.

Financial resourcesare probably the most common constraint companies face in their decision-making.

Human capital resourcesare increasing to be a concerning constraint not because of the workforce size but because of the needed skills of the workforce. For instance, as reported in theCorporate Recruiters Survey 2018prepared by Graduate Management Admission Council,

Companies generally face a shortage of talents with strong data analysis, interpretation, and problem-solving skills.

Law/Policy/Regulationis becoming increasinglyimportant, especially because of emerging ethical awareness about data-driven business decision-making. We will briefly discuss this in the next section.

You may be surprised that I don't consider data shortage as one possible constraint in nowadays's decision-making. No, I don't. There is never a shortage of data in today's business world because advanced computer and information technologies make data collection an extremely simple task. And there is already a sky-high volume of data collected. If you feel a data shortage in your organization, that is usually due to one of the above three constraints.

Discussion: Of the three types of constraints, what is your organization facing most? Or your most often faced constraint does not belong to any of the three types? And how has the constraint restricted decision-makings in your organization?