Decision Making

Decision making

Decision making in an organization is basically defined as identifying and solving problems from a variety of alternatives. It can occur in response to a problem, or it may relate to a desire to increase effectiveness or innovate. The rationalistic model has a widely held conception in the decision making process. In this model, a decision maker becomes aware of the problem, posits a goal, carefully assesses the possibilities of all the consequences, evaluates each set of consequences and chooses among them according to his/her estimates of their respective merits with reference to the state of affairs. In incremental model, a decision-maker focuses only on those policies that differ incrementally from the existing policies. In this model, relatively small numbers of policy alternatives are considered, only a few “important” consequences are evaluated, a problem is continuously redefined, and there is no best solution. In a garbage can model, decision opportunities are viewed as fundamentally ambiguous stimuli. Incrementalism is best suited for an organization in a stable environment where routine is the best policy. Public organizations usually perform routine based activities, and they mostly debunk on incrementalism. Most of the private organizations work in an unstable, competitive and turbulent environment. Therefore, decisions in private organizations are often based on rational thinking because they need to consider all the constraints and opportunities in a logical way in running the business and tackle the market forces. The garbage can model of decision making was based on the idea of organized anarchy. Incrementalism, on the other hand, can be easily practiced by both types of organizations when the decision point does not require a critical analysis.