As a manager, making decisions is not always easy, especially in this fast-paced, rapidly changing world. It is often difficult to find relevant information to ensure that decisions are based on evidence and lead to desired outcomes. Often, managers must make decisions without much time to deliberate or consider implications and potential consequences. In addition to sorting through the available information, it is difficult to eliminate emotion and bias from the critical-thinking process.

To prepare for this Discussion, consider a time when you had to make an important decision.

As you formulate your initial Discussion posting and prepare replies to your colleagues postings, review your class readings and conduct additional research in the Walden Library. Contemplate the following statements and questions about decision making and incorporate them into your writing as you formulate your response. You do not necessarily have to answer these directly, but they are intended to stimulate your critical-thinking process, and they should form a background for your response. Evidence of your reasoning will be a component of your weekly Discussion grade.

Think about the time and effort you spent gathering information prior to making the decision, and consider how you balanced that process with the need to make your decision in a judicious manner. How did you ensure that you had obtained enough information for a sufficiently clear and comprehensive understanding of the situation?

Reflect on the resources you used. Where did you look for credible resources, or where should you have looked? How did you know the information was credible, and how would you discern that?

By Day 3

Post a cohesive response based on your analysis of the Learning Resources and your professional experience. Be sure to discuss the following:

• What role did intuitionor gut feelingand emotion have in your decision? Looking back, how would you evaluate your use of critical thinking as you deliberated your decision? As a manager, when would you follow logical steps of critical thinking, and when would you use intuition and emotion?
• What were the results of your decision? Looking back, what might you have done differently, based on what you have discovered thus far in this course?
• How will critical thinking help you make the best decisions in the future?