Decision making approaches

Read the decision-making strategies below and compare them. They are all expressed as sets of stages:

A. The classical model

1. Recognize the need
2. Diagnose the problem
3. Develop alternative solutions
4. Select one or more solutions
5. Implement the selected solution
6. Follow-up and evaluate

The Management of Organizations: Strategy Structure Behavior Jay B. Barney, Ricky W. (Boston, MS: Griffin, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992), pp. 150-54.

B. The optimisation model

1. Recognize the need
2. Identify the criteria for the decision. (What will make it a good decision?)
3. Allocate weights to the criteria (Which criteria are most important?)
4. Develop alternative solutions
5. Evaluate the alternative solutions
6. Select the best alternative
7. Implement the selected solution
8. Follow-up and evaluate

Organisational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies and Applications Stehen P. Robbins, Terry Waters-Marsh, Ron Cacioppe (Sydney: Prentice Hall, 1994), pp. 176-79.

C. The consensus model

1. Recognize the need
2. Identify the people who should make the decision
3. Build a common understanding of the problem
4. Develop and compare alternative solutions
5. Select a solution and agree on it
6. Delegate the implementation of the solution

D. The pilot project model

1. Recognize the need
2. Diagnose the problem
3. Decide on a solution
4. Test the selected solution
5. Check whether you interpreted the problem correctly, and modify the solution if necessary.
6. Implement the solution
7. Follow-up and evaluate

E. The specific situation model

1. Recognize the need
2. Identify the factors comprising the situation (temperaments, group dynamics, location, legalities, risk factors, etc.)
3. Evaluate relevance of current specific procedures.
• If there is a suitable specific policy or procedure, follow it.
• If there isn’t a suitable specific policy or procedure, generate a solution that is suitable for the situation.
4. Implement the solution
5. Follow-up and evaluate

F. The risky information model

1. Recognize the need
2. Gather information
3. Evaluate the information:
1. How accurate is it? (Assume some information will probably be inaccurate.)
2. How complete is it? (Assume the information is probably incomplete.)
3. Do you have time an means to get more information?
4. What questions do you need to ask to get the information you need?
4. Generate alternative solutions
5. Risk-assess each solution, comparing benefits to risks
6. Select the best available solution based on what you know now
7. Implement the solution

Questions

1. What’s similar between them?
2. What’s different?
3. What elements do you think would be essential in a decision-making model for crisis management?
4. What framework would you recommend as a basis for crisis management?
5. Does your organization prefer one model to the others?
6. Perhaps you could combine the best features of these models into a very complete framework. But at what point does a framework become too complicated to be useful?