Decision-Making: The Administrative Model - Essay Example

? Decision-Making Introduction Decision-making can be defined as the process of recognizing and selecting options on the basis of the values as well as inclinations of the individual who is making the decision. The decision-making process comprises of a numbers of optional choices that are required to be considered when making the final choice or decision. An important consideration in decision-making is that an individual involved in the process would try to identify the utmost number of alternatives available to him and then subsequently select the one that is the most suitable with regards to his objectives, aspirations and goals (Rassin,  Muris, Booster & Kolsloot, 2008).  A decision-making process can be categorised into a number of stages. The initial stage of the decision-making requires defining the problem, following which one needs to ascertain the necessities that the answer to the problem should meet. This stage is also referred as formulation. The subsequent stage requires the determination of goals that should be achieved by means of solving the problem. The following stage requires the identification of options that would resolve the problem. The next step involves building up the assessment criteria with the consideration of the goals, following which one needs to choose a decision-making mechanism. The subsequent step of decision-making is the appliance of the mechanism to choose an ideal alternative i.e. implementation of the best possible alternative. Finally, one needs to confirm whether the chosen alternative resolves the problem successfully and efficiently (Baker, Bridges, Hunter, Johnson, Krupa, Murphy, & Sorenson, 2001). Models of Decision-Making The two popular models of decision-making are the rational economic model as well as the administrative model. The rational economic model of decision-making is a prescriptive model based on a normative approach. The rational economic model recommends how an individual or an organization should make decisions. On the other hand, the administrative decision-making model is a descriptive model, which proposes how decisions are essentially made (Lewis, Goodman, Fandt & Michlitsch, 2006 ). Rational Economic Model The essential foundation on which the rational economic model is based is that the process of decision-making would be rational, methodical and coherent. The assumptions associated with the rational economic model states that comprehensive and perfect information is obtainable for decision-making. Moreover, there exist agreed upon goals as well as a set of optional routes of action. Furthermore, the rational economic model assumes that the decision makers function for the best interest of the organization and there are no ethical quandaries in the decision-making process (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). It is implied from the assumptions of the rational economic model that this decision model does not take into account and also does not deal with the influences that have an effect on the decision environment. The rational economic decision model does not depict how managers essentially make decisions. On the contrary, this model makes available guiding principles to assist organizations or groups to arrive at an ideal conclusion (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). As a result, in reality the rational economic model might not be a practical representation of managerial behaviour at all times. This is because it is very difficult to meet all the assumptions of the rational economic model. Firstly, decision makers hardly ever have access to total and ideal information. Secondly, even though all information related to the feasible options were accessible, individuals would be able to understand and process huge quantities of information to a certain limit only (Rassin,  Muris, Booster & Kolsloot, 2008).  Moreover, decision makers rarely possess sufficient knowledge about the upcoming outcomes of the available alternatives. Furthermore, in majority of the decision-making scenarios, several factors, for instance attitudes, behaviours or motives, are expected to prevent a decision maker from acting in an absolutely rational manner all the time. Finally, the decision process is also impacted by the cultural as well as ethical values of the decision maker (Rassin,  Muris, Booster & Kolsloot, 2008).  Administrative Model The administrative model is an approach of decision-making which highlights that the decision makers assess only partial and manageable quantities of information during the process of decision-making. The administrative model also accentuates that the decision makers utilize shortcuts and select solutions that appear to be sufficient but are in reality less not most favorable (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). The emergence of the administrative model was mainly due to the drawbacks of the rational economic decision model. Herbert Simon was one of the foremost critics of the rational economic model on the basis of its ‘bounded rationality’. Herbert Simon’s thought was that rationality is limited or bounded by various factors, which can be both individual as well as external. Alternatively, he put forwarded the administrative model for the process of decision-making (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). The administrative model is a behavioral decision model and is descriptive in nature. It makes available a framework of comprehending the procedure that managers utilize in reality when making a choice from among the obtainable options. The concepts involved in the administrative model are bounded rationality, intuition and intensification of commitment among others (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). Factors Affecting Decision-making Individuals The decision-making process is influenced by a range of organizational as well as cultural factors and as a result there are diverse individual decision styles. There are considerable dissimilarities in the approach of different managers toward problems and their decisions relating to those problems. As a consequence, there are four chief decision styles based on the dissimilarities amongst people with regard to how they observe problems and subsequently make their decisions. The four decision styles are ‘directive’, ‘conceptual’, ‘analytical’ and ‘behavioural’ (Daft & Marcic,2010). The directive style is utilized by individuals who favor uncomplicated and definite solutions to problems. Managers exercising this style are able to develop their decisions with rapidity because they do not prefer to cope with a great deal of information and might instead prefer to consider few options. On the other hand, individuals applying the analytical style consider multifaceted solutions based on maximum amount of information they can collect. Such managers look for the finest possible decision on the basis of the accessible information (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). The managers who utilize the conceptual style also consider a wide range of information just like those employing the analytical style. However, under the conceptual style the managers are more socially oriented and hence choose to discuss with others about the problem and the potential option for resolving it. The behavioral decision style is generally implemented by managers who are apprehensive about the personal growth of others and hence make their decisions in such a system so that they can assist others to accomplish their objectives (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). It should be further noted that indecisiveness is a vital factor that impacts the decision-making procedure. Indecisiveness is anticipated to be related with an increase in the need for information acquirement and dependence on compensatory policies throughout decision-making (Rassin, 2007). Groups The possible benefits of group decision-making are greater accumulation of resources, specialization of work inside the group and greater approval of the decision. There are various issues that surround the process of decision-making involving groups. Some of the issues are group polarization, group problem solving and groupthink among others. These factors influence the decisions made and also benefit the individuals involved as they can collectively access and evaluate more information for the decision-making procedure (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). However, there are potential difficulties involved in group decisions. This is because issues like group thinking and group polarization can at times lead to an imperfect decision process and little possibility of successful consequences. As a result of group thinking as well as group polarization, there would be a propensity that the average post-discussion outlook of a group would be extremely different from its pre-discussion approach on an average. In this context when the group thinking and the group polarization dominate, there is a higher probability that shortcomings in the decision-making would occur (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). Organization There are several organizational level factors that impact the decision-making. Some of the significant factors in this context are the pattern of the organizational hierarchy, prevailing social principles and trends in addition to political and time pressures (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). Conclusion Decision-making is a course of making selections among various alternatives available and finally choosing the most appropriate one. The process of decision-making gets complicated due to the huge number of options available in addition to the vast information required to assess all the options. Moreover decision-making is influenced to a large extent by factors which can be individual or organizational in nature. Hence, the process of decision-making is seldom completely rational and instead includes the impact of various influences. References Baker, D., Bridges, D., Hunter, R., Johnson, G., Krupa, J., Murphy, J. and Sorenson, K. (2001). Guidebook to Decision-making Method. US Department of Energy, Report WSRC-IM-2002-00002. Daft, R. L. & Marcic, D., (2010). Understating Management. USA : Cengage Learning. Griffin, R. W. & Moorhead, G., (2011). Organizational Behavior. USA : Cengage Learning. Lewis, P. S., Goodman, S. H., Fandt, P.M. & Michlitsch, J. F. (2006). Management: Challenges for Tomorrow's Leaders. USA : Cengage Learning. Rassin, E., Muris, P., Booster, E., & Kolsloot, I. (2008). Indecisiveness and informational tunnel vision. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 96–102. Read More