Decision- Making Skills

DECISION-MAKING SKILLS:

(An important skill that makes much difference in our lives)

DECISIONS

In day-to-day life, Decisions play a major role from very small things to many important things.

Day by Day we all make decisions on everything and every time. We decide when to go to sleep when to awake from the bed, what to do, and how to do something, etc. The decision can be a simple thing such as whether to brush the teeth or not too much important thing such as risking our own life to achieve something big.

A decision is a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration.

A decision is not something that is meant to be made while we are progressing but Decision is something that is made to progress well, though there will be some situations to decide while progressing. A decision is a strong conclusion and a plan to act. It is a resolution made after considering all the alternatives about something for the future.

Everyone makes Decisions Every time and Every Place on Everything.

Decisions are made throughout our life, everywhere at all times. Every person has his own freedom for making a decision based on the choices around. Though the situations of a person influence to a certain extent, it is true that everyone makes their own decision aligning themselves to their situations or excluding themselves from their situations. At all the times of life and at all the places we come across decision-making situations and we decide something.  

Making Decisions is an unending process and it continues till our destiny. 

The process of Decision making is never-ending. There are some points in our life, we are much dependent on other people, especially during earlier childhood and later adulthood. Even during the period of dependency, we all make decisions in accordance with our dependence. Decision making continues to be an important thing until our destiny.

TYPES OF DECISIONS

Programmed Decisions

It is a decision that is taken on routine, repetitive, and regular basis.

Programmed decisions are certain decisions that are very usual and it is habitual without much consideration and thinking. They are regularly made with repetition and a considerable interval of time.

It doesn’t need much thought and is structured.

The programmed decisions are usually followed regularly with the same pattern unless there is a will to change the pattern. It has a form and structure that is followed without the process of thinking.

It doesn’t have a long term impact.

The Programmed Decisions were structured and regular without the intervention of much thinking, so they usually don’t have any long term impact unless it is mistaken and followed.

Non-Programmed Decisions.

It is a decision that is taken on a new and novel situation that needs extra attention.

Certain decisions are usually made on non-regular occasions and it needs different things to be considered with extra attention. Some situations will be very new and complex and need non-programmed decisions.

It needs much thought as they are mostly important and they are strategic and critical.

Non- Programmed decisions need much thinking to get choices and consequences. They are very important as the impact of the decision will be significant. They need various strategies for its implementation with critical thinking.

It usually has a long term impact.

The Non- Programmed decision can change a person’s life upside-down. It can make life glorious and also pampering, if not made right. They usually have a long term impact through some non-programmed decisions that may be rectified.

IMPORTANCE OF DECISION MAKING

Decision Making is an important process that affects our behavior and achievements.

All of us have goals and we follow various paths to achieve it. We do plan a lot of things in our lives and make use of the available resources to chase our goals. Only when we make effective decisions and stick to a particular path with values, we would be able to have good behavior and make desirable achievements.

There are certain decisions that have short term impact and there are certain decisions that have lifetime consequences.

The Decisions that are followed regularly are usually based on our own background and it doesn’t have much impact mostly. Even if the impact is negative, it could be manageable. There are certain novel and ideal situations where the decisions can completely turn our lives upside down and have a very long term consequence.

Effective Decision Making helps a person to carry his life forward with much satisfaction and success.

Decisions can influence all the things we do in the present, we did in the past and we are yet to do in the future. A Decision to get rid of the past failures and learn from it helps to move our life forward. An effective decision will make the present and future actions to be much satisfactory with success. 

Effective Decision making makes a person to develop a lot of skills, especially the leadership skills.

A person who drags things isn’t usually appreciated but a person who is concrete considers a lot of things and chooses the best option out of it, so he is praised. The Decision Making process involves much cognition and makes a person develop a lot of skills. Effective Decisions with ethics and morals are made by the balance of heart and mind considering the common good of others, thereby enhancing leadership skills.

FACTORS INFLUENCING DECISION MAKING

Personal factors

Past Experiences, Present Beliefs, and Future Expectations play an important role in Decision making

A person’s past experiences can bring in some preconceptions in a person which could influence decision making. Also, Beliefs play a vital role in many decisions regarding a person’s life. The Beliefs of a person makes a person feel important towards certain things in life. Expectations in the future also considerably influence the decisions taken in the present.

Social factors

The Cultural practices, family environment, Study/work environment, etc. play an important role in Decision making.

A person’s association with the society, his family background, his cultural background, his linguistic background, his study/Work environment plays a vital role while making some important decisions. These social factors influence a lot in the life of a person.

Economic factors

The financial situations, Power and Prosperity, also play an important role in the decision-making process.

The Status of the person with reference to the Money and Wealth they hold can influence a lot of decisions in their life, especially the decisions relating to helping others or Making Profit. The power and prosperity of a person can also influence a lot while making certain decisions.

PROCESS OF DECISION MAKING

1.      Define the problem

We need to identify the problem for which the decision is made.

All human beings have different environments and needs/wants. When their need/want is not met satisfactorily and disrupted, they consider it as a problem and desire a solution for it. Identification of the problem is the first step in the process of decision making to make a solution for it.

Then we need to define the Problem 

Once the problem is identified, we need to analyze the cause(s) of the problem, the background of the problem, people/things involved, possible consequences of the problem, for effective Decision making.

2.       Clarify your objectives

We need to know the objectives for making decisions on the Problem.

There are always problems around us unless we are prepared to face the situations of our lives. There are certain problems that need to be solved and there are certain other problems that need to be overruled/ deviated instead of trying to solve it. We need to know the objectives before making some decision on the problem

The Objectives should be achievable and beneficial for a Long term or short term

Only when the objectives are very clear and practical, it could be achievable with good decisions. Also, the Objectives to solve a problem should be beneficial either for achieving the Short term goal or Long term goal, it should also be valuable with morals and ethics.

3.       Identify alternatives

After getting clarified with the objectives, we shall find the alternatives that could be utilized to achieve the objectives.

There are many paths to achieve a Goal. There are many choices for making a decision. At first, we need to get clarified with the objectives accompanied by Values, so that the alternatives can be filtered and the best of it can be chosen to achieve the Goal which would be an effective Decision.

Some alternatives can be beneficial and needed and some others aren’t.

All the alternatives aren’t effective with values, though it could be carried out with less effort. There are some alternatives that are tedious and time-consuming to get a very perfect result. Only some alternatives can be beneficial, to be utilized in a decision-making process.

We shall leave the alternatives that are not beneficial and needed.

It is not possible and necessary to consider all the alternatives though most or all the alternatives need to be thought of finding the best in it. The alternatives that are not beneficial and needed can be left out.

4.     Analyze the consequences

The limitations present in the different alternatives should be analyzed. 

All the alternatives needn’t be desirable for attaining the objectives. There will be some limitations that could be usually negotiable and certain limitations that could not be tolerable. The possible alternatives should be analyzed with the Consequences and the best choice in which the limitations could be negotiable or nil should be considered while making a decision.  

The advantages present in the different alternatives should also be analyzed.

There will be some advantages available in the alternatives while attempting to attain the objectives and at the same time the advantages will violate the ethical and moral values; effecting the people or the environment directly or indirectly. So, it is necessary to analyze the advantages and find out the best possible alternative that doesn’t affect our environment and our people.  

5.      Make a choice

After analyzing the Consequences in the alternatives found, make a choice that would be according to the factors that you could bear.

The Decision on the choices should be made only after analyzing the effectiveness and Consequences in the alternatives found. Also, we should not decide something that we couldn’t pursue due to the lack of resources, so the factors that we could bear should also be considered carefully while making a decision.

The Choice should be something needed and help to accomplish all our objectives that were previously found.

The Decision on the Choice should be a filtered one and it should be the best one among the alternatives. The choice should be a needed one that helps to accomplish all the objectives without compromising the standards. It can compromise with certain things that are negotiable, only if it is appropriate and applicable.

The Choice made should meet the urgent and important objectives in order of priority, if the objectives could not be met in a single stretch.

There is always something that is important and something that is urgent. The things that are important but having some time to complete can be given later priority while the things that are important and urgent need to be given former priority. The Choice that is decided should be able to accomplish urgent as well as important objectives in the order of priority.

MAKING BETTER DECISIONS

Be rational and confident, having balance

We need to be logical and reasonable while making a decision, for its effectiveness. We need to have a balance by considering the resources available, capability, etc. for making better decisions.

You are responsible for your life, so Never Give Up. Doing something on an issue to solve it would be better than being Idol.

We all are responsible for our own life though there are a lot of factors that influence diverse situations, so giving up should not be an option. We need to practice doing something on the problems to solve it or overrule it than being an idol without doing anything and waiting simply.

Increase your knowledge by learning something new regularly.

Decisions can be better only when we are able to find and consider the maximum choices that are available to make a decision. So, it is necessary to increase our knowledge by learning some new things regularly.

Experience helps to learn many things, so consider the advice/suggestions of the Elders.

There are many things that can be studied, understood and applied, but there are certain things that need some experience. So learn to get advice or suggestions of the Elders and people who are exposed in the field wherever applicable. At the same time, don’t allow someone to make the decision for your life, then you may be blocked to proceed further when nobody is there. It is very true that no person comes along with you all over your lifetime.

Don’t heed to your negative emotions, have a positive attitude while making decisions.

There are always unexpected situations in our life that happens all of a sudden, that could leave us frustrated. Also, everyone need not accept us when our actions are dependent on people. So, there are a lot of chances for us to get into negative emotions. Always have a positive attitude while pursuing a goal, for making better decisions.

DECISION MAKING AND SUCCESS

All Decisions are not much important, but there are certain decisions that have lifetime consequence and hinder the personal growth.

There are certain decisions on which we spend our time, treasure, or talents, and those decisions are usually meant for pleasure and gratification. And there are certain decisions on which we earn our time, treasure and talent and those are very tedious and costly. There are positives and negatives in both cases. There are certainly some decisions that are very important having a lifetime consequence, hindering our personal growth.

Success is achieving the objectives set by a person. When no objectives are set, then it is difficult to achieve and measure success.

Setting up Objectives is much important in the process of decision making. Without the objectives, there will not be any direction and purpose in proceeding something. There will not be any success that is achieved or measured without the objectives being set.

When we start making Effective Decisions, we never stop even when a stumbling block comes. We will proceed with our life by taking alternative choices.

There will be always some stumbling blocks and uncertainties that could occur in the progress of something. Effective decisions were usually made after careful consideration of choices around us. So, even when a stumbling block occurs we would be able to override it by considering some other better alternative.

Effective Decision making helps in the Success of a Person.

Effective Decisions will be implemented and so the desirable objectives will be achieved or pursued, though there are hindrances. Thereby, it helps a person to be successful always, because success need not be a product always but sometimes it can be a process too.