ASSESS THE ENVIRONMENT

Your job in the decision-making process will depend in part on the environment:

ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERISTICS YOUR JOB

SIMPLE • Familiar, repeating patterns • Sense, categorize, respond

• Clear cause-and-effect links • Ensure that proper processes are used
• You know what’s known • Delegate
• Use best practices
• Communicate in clear, direct ways

COMPLICATED • Expert diagnosis required • Sense, analyze, respond

• Cause-and-effect links not • Create panels of experts
immediately apparent • Listen to conflicting advice
• You know what’s unknown

COMPLEX • Flux and unpredictability • Probe, sense, respond

• No right answers • Create experiments that let
• You don’t know what’s unknown patterns emerge

• Many competing ideas • Foster interaction

and communication
• Need for creative approaches
• Encourage diverse, fresh ideas

CHAOTIC • High turbulence • Act, sense, respond

• No clear cause-and-effect links • Look for what works
• There are things you can’t know • Take immediate action to
• Many decisions to make and no reestablish order
time to think • Provide clear, direct communication
• High tension

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