Decision-Making Processes

Decision making can be described as a process which results in the selection of something among its alternatives. It can also be simply described as the act of making an individual's choice as regards a certain field of study. Decision making is based on stages and steps which are to first be followed before reaching any conclusion. Thus it can be concluded that decision making is a continually used process that is very vital in our lives such that it is required for making not only simple but also tough decisions at stake. For instance making a decision about what you will have for breakfast, making a decision to solve a tight problem at your work place among others.

Decisions are not made straight; there are several approaches that are to be considered before taking this step. These approaches include the rational style, the fatalistic style, the compliant style, the learning style among others. Under these, an organization may use the learning style as it soot's it, and hence acts as a link to benefit the entire organization. In summary, every organization and department use its own style of approach. Thus it can be concluded that every style has its own strength and weakness.

Strength will cover all the positive achievements that a style may impact an organization with whereas weakness may cover mostly the failures a style brings to an organization. In an organization, a shareholder is a very important person such that he should play a vital role regarding the decisions made in an organization. He is thus expected to have the opportunity to use a decision making style to express what he feels as this will serve as a positive way to solve a problem in hand.

In our case we have a team of two members; Peter and John. They all work in different organizations. Peter works in a Spring Valley Hospital, which is a private organization while John works in Bellevue Hospital which is a public hospital. According to John, the workers in senior levels use the intuitive style of decision making. In hospitals, there come a time where workers at senior levels may be absent, due to their fixed schedules. This is where those workers at slightly lower levels in the organization might be allowed to make decisions. In our case here, John uses the rational style in decision making which is different from the workers at senior level. Thus John acts as an expert as he makes a decision based on what he feels.

Rational style as per John's case is useful when one has enough expertise as regards a problem. On the other hand it favors no group interaction and it is also very difficult to determine who the expert is as each individual has his own opinion. Spring Valley Hospital uses the intuitive style. According to Peter, this style is directly made by the authority such that all the team members are not supposed to air their opinions. This style takes very minimal time to make a decision and it is commonly used in organizations in assessing problems. On the other hand, it favors no group discussion, the cooperation among members is very minimal and it might take long for a team to understand any decision that is made. In conclusion, all organizations have their different approaches towards decision making.