Types of Decision MakingMost would agree that there are three types of decision making methods in life and in the workplace. Imagine for a minute that you had received permission from upper management to purchase a new piece of equipment that your staff has wanted for several years. This new equipment will make their day to day routine much easier and will increase productivity by more than 25%. You just finished meeting with your staff and informing them that you will finally be getting the new equipment. You will be submitting the order tomorrow morning. They were all very excited to finally be getting the new equipment. Later that day you get a call from the facility maintenance office and they inform you that your heating and air conditioning system needs significant work. The cost of the repairs equals the cost of the new equipment you had just informed your staff you would be ordering tomorrow. There is only money available for one or the other. The First Decision Making Method is Autocratic What do you do? Again there are three ways you could go about making the decision. The above situation will require a relatively quick response; however, that should never force you into the wrong choice. The first decision making method would be called autocratic. This would be where you make the decision solely on your own based on whatever experiences and research you chose to draw upon. See my article on Decision Making Exercises
The second method would be referred to as consultation. This would be where you discuss with another individual, preferably an expert in the field or someone with equal to more experience than yourself. Sounds like an easy decision, but is it? The third method would be the group method. This is where you get together a group of individuals; preferably with individuals that have a stake in the final decision. Let's continue our discussion about the dilemma I presented above. Do we choose the new piece of equipment that your staff really wants or do we repair the air conditioning system. In this case it sounds like an easy decision on the surface. But is it? We know that the air conditioning system must be repaired now or very soon. We also know that with the new equipment productivity will go up by 25%. You can see a simple decision is not so simple after all! What are the costs of the repairs? What would be the cost savings or revenue increases be with the increase in productivity? Can the company use borrowed money, and if so what is the rate of interest? There are additional questions based on these answers that will weigh into the final decision, but this at least gives you a chance to start thinking. As you can see this simple decision still takes some decision making techniques. If this were my decision I would most likely apply the autocratic or consultation method. I would not use the group method in this scenario but you may feel differently. My reason for not using the group decision method is that it generally takes significantly more time, and this decision needs to be made relatively quickly. Good Luck!
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