INTRODUCTION

Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the

selection of a course of action among several alternatives. Every decision
making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an
opinion of choice.
Defined simply as:
"A process of making a choice between a numbers of options and committing to
a future course of actions".
STAGE 01 STAGE 02 STAGE 04 STAGE 05 STAGE 06

STAGE 03

Impleme
Evaluat nting
e Select and
Identifyin Alternat follow up
g the best
ives alternati action
Problem Diagnosing ve
the
Problem Discov
ering
Altern
atives
 Stage 1

Identifying the Problem

This stage involves understanding with absolute clarity what the issue is and what type of decision is going to be made.

• The first thing one has to do is to state the underlying problem that has to be solved. You have to clearly state the
outcome that you desire after you have made the decision.

This step includes:

Make sure it's a problem and not just a symptom of a problem.

Problem identification is subjective.

 Stage 2

Diagnosing the Problem

• This stage is where you will do an extensive analysis of the issue and really delve into many facets.

• This is necessary to classify the problem in order to know who must take the decision and who must be
informed about the decision taken.

• This step includes:

• ✓ Explore the issue from different perspective(ex: using the diverse expertise of your decision-making team)

• ✓ Ask what, why, when, who, where, and how questions so the issue is fully revealed.)

• ✓ Refine the decision statement based on this analysis.

 Stage 3

Discovering Alternatives
• In this step of the decision-making process, you will list all possible and desirable alternatives.

• Here, you do not have to restrict yourself to think about the very obvious options, rather you can use your
creative skills and come out with alternatives that may look a little irrelevant.

• You would also have to do adequate research to come up with the necessary facts that would aid in solving the
problem.
 Stage 4

Evaluate Alternatives
• One of the most important stages of the decision-making procedure where you have to analyze each alternative
you have come up with.

• This step includes:

• ✓ Finding out the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

• ✓ Filter out the options that you think are impossible or do not serve your purpose.

• Rating each option with a numerical digit would also help in the filtration process.
 Stage 5

Select best alternative

• In this step is where the hard work you have put in analyzing would lead to a proper decision.

• This includes selecting the alternative which seems

• to be best suited to you.

• Choice of the best alternative is the most critical point in decision making.
 Stage 6

Implementing and follow up action

• In this step you experience the results of your decision and evaluate whether or not it has "solved" the need you
identified in Step 1. If it has, you may stay with this decision for some period of time.

• If the decision has not resolved the identified need, you may repeat certain steps of the process in order to make
a new decision.

• Ex: gather more detailed or somewhat different information or discover additional alternatives on which to base
your decision.