PART 1: Decision making is the process of identifying and choosing alternative courses of action. While we want to make rational decisions, sometimes we don’t—sometimes we make non-rational decisions.

There are four steps in rational decision-making:

1. Recognize and define the problem or opportunity. In business, the problem can come in the form of customer complaints, supplier breakdowns, staff turnover, sales decline, and so on. Organizations proactively seek opportunities to exceed goals, surpass the industry expectations, and to expand and grow the business.
2. Identify and analyze alternative courses of action. Leaders should seek input from multiple sources to interpret and analyze the problem/opportunity to come up with as many options as possible to solve the issue.
3. Choose a preferred course of action. The group want to answer the following:
   • Is the action ethical?
   • Is it feasible? (Costs, technology availability.)
   • Is it effective? If your answer to this question is the resolution is “good enough,” you want to rethink this solution—it will cause more harm than good.
4. Implement the preferred course of action. You need to the participation from all teams to successfully implement the action.

On the other hand, non-rational decisions are generally the result of either satisficing (going with the first available option without much research) or intuition (using your “gut” or just your own feelings to make decisions).

For this week’s discussion, think about a time when you made a non-rational decision on the job or in your personal life.

Respond to the following.

• Was it the result of satisficing or intuition?
• How would your decision have been different using the four steps for rational decision-making?
• How would the steps have helped you to make a better, or more sound, decision?

1a respond: shane

I am prone to over-thinking rather than under-thinking. So I don’t generally make non-rational job decisions. A time where I made a non-rational personal decision, was taking a last minute/next day trip to Denver with a friend.

* This was more me thinking to myself “I over-think everything, I’m just going to say ‘Yes.’ and do it.” It was more intuition that I needed to step outside my typical comfort zone.

* I would chosen not to go, and to instead go at a time a little further out, had I used the 4 step analysis.

* If I had used the four steps, i probably would have probably put more thought to the trip and planned it a bit further out to account for work and planning of activities/logistics, etc.

1B RESPOND: SPENCER

In the past, I made a decision by satisficing. My decision would have been very different had we used the four steps for rational decision making.If we used the four steps we would be able to accurately solve the problem. The steps would have helped us make a better decision by effectively solving the problem. We would have been able to more accurately diagnose the problem. From there we would have been able to propose more effective and efficient solutions.This would allow us to choose a better solution to our problem and be able to carry it out more effectively and efficiently.

PART 2: DISCUSSION

Review your strategic communications plan, written communication, and verbal communication. Then respond to the following:

• Do your communications plan, written communication, and presentation plan all align to meet the objectives of your goal? Explain how they align.
• What revisions will you make? Why?
• Are you planning to use these communications in your workplace or in the future? Explain.

2A RESPOND: LAUREN

Over the course of this term I wrote a strategic communications plan, developed a written communication, and presented a verbal presentation based on pitching an idea to an organization. The idea I was pitching was to implement a Leadership Development Program. My objective was to expand on an idea to prepare future leaders currently working at the organization and strengthen the skills of the current leadership team. My strategic communications plan clearly explained the goals of this program, research on my audience, and described potential problems. I chose the best channels of communication for presenting my idea and developed a written communication that supports my pitch presentation. My verbal presentation used an appropriate tone for the type of request I was making. These three communications are aligned with my objective to implement a Leadership Development Program.

Based on the feedback I received on my written and verbal presentations, I expanded on my written communication to include more information about the benefits. I also added more details to how the program will run. For my verbal presentation, I will be more enthusiastic in my opening and closing statements. I will carry a tone of excitement for this opportunity throughout my presentation to aid in convincing the audience to implement my program.

In the future, when I pitch an idea to an organization, I will use the strategic communications plan. This was beneficial for the development of my presentation and prompted thought about how to reach the audience by thinking about who they are and what experience they have. I was able to decide on a tone for the presentation based on my research of the audience.