Decision-Making Model

Decision-Making Model

Decision-making is a process that everyone has to endure at some time in his or her life, whether for business or personal reasons. The method used to get to the best practical decision can be achieved by using a form of critical thinking that is devised into a model. One such model is the rational model. This paper will address my personal experience with the rational decision-making model.

Although I do not have any formal experiences with any decision-making model, I have used critical thinking and some of the elements of the rational approach to decision making. The rational approach allows an individual to identify and define the problem, create alternatives, evaluate the alternatives, make a choice, implement a decision and reflect on the decision. When approaching any problem, personal or business, I often think about the desired results and/or benefits before developing alternatives. Once the desired result or benefit is identified, under normal circumstances and with time to think, I think of solutions to the problem. The solutions are generally evaluated to see if they would completely satisfy a problem. If I find that none of my solutions will completely satisfy the problem, then I develop a primary and secondary plan from the solution that meets the majority of the required criteria. By having a secondary plan created in advance, I am prepared to implement in the event the primary plan does not produce the desired result. In some cases, a third plan is developed. Once the plan is implemented and working, I look for criteria and/or measures that are established in advance in order to determine if the plan is working to the desired results. If the plan is not working toward the desired results in which I developed, the plan is generally modified.

At the close of the completely implemented plan, reflection upon the decision made becomes a critical part of my process.