Unit 1 Introduction to Decision Making Influences and Models

A word cloud showing words associated with “decision making”

Image Credit: Rafal Olechowski - Shutterstock

Overview

Welcome to LDRS 320! Thinking about ethics and decision making, it could be related to any personal and professional decisions in our lives. Take for example the COVID-19 pandemic. It seems that all of our decisions personally, culturally, socially, and globally are influenced by this virus. In this type of situation, we face decisions that may not be a personal choice but we abide by them in support of the greater good. For example, decisions to close a business to keep families safe result in revenue loss. International border closures support quarantine practices but negatively impact commerce.

Jobs and activities are deemed essential/non-essential, but who has the right to decide?

We think about our duty to provide financial assistance to some while knowing that it will be a tax burden on future generations. We consider, do we have a right not to wear a mask when others have a right to expect it? We want to think that our approach to the quarantine is fine, even though legal mandates differ from our approach.

Discussion on the decisions and ethics related to COVID-19 will continue as we walk through the course.

LDRS 320 is divided into two sections. The first half of the course will look at the basics of decision making and consider the following questions:

  • What is a decision?
  • Who impacts a decision?
  • Why are group decisions different than individual decisions?
  • When do decisions go off-track?

Section two looks at ethics, beginning with how our values and biases shape our ethical decision making. Consider these questions:

  • Is it most important to have the right outcome no matter what it takes?
  • Is it most important to do the right thing no matter what the outcome?
  • Is the way your culture does things make it better than another culture?

We will explore how our ethics and decisions impact our corporate world, our faith, and our very purpose in being.

In summary, we make decisions all day long. In the course we will dig into the how, why, what, and when of decision making as we recognize how good decisions are a key for effective leadership. I look forward to our journey together discovering the path to ethical decision-making.

Leadership 320, here we come!!

Hot air baloons floating over the ocean near a light house

Image Credit: PIRO4D- Pixabay

Topics

We begin with Unit 1. It is divided into the following topics:

  1. Introduction to course
  2. Setting up for success in decision making
  3. Approaches to decision making
  4. Your life story and impact on decision making

Learning Outcomes

When you have completed this unit, you should be able to:

  • Identify key components of decision making
  • Differentiate good decisions from poor decisions
  • Compare and contrast various types of decisions
  • Examine the concept of life-story in developing decision making

Activity Checklist

Here is a checklist of learning activities you will benefit from in completing this unit. You may find it useful for planning your work.

  • Activity 1.1: Watch a Video Clip: Ellen – Making Decisions
  • Activity 1.2: Reflect and discuss Icebreaker: Spaceship Evacuation Decisions
  • Activity 1.3 Compare and Contrast Decisions
  • Activity 1.4: Tylenol Case Study: Drug Contamination
  • Activity 1.5: Google Case Study
  • Activity 1.6: Key Terms Review
  • Activity 1.7: Complete a Decision Tree to portray types of decisions
  • Activity 1.8: Impact of Life-Story on Decision Making
  • Assessment
    • Personal Reflection
    • Discussion Forum

Resources

Here are the resources you will need to complete this unit.

1.1 Introduction to Decision-Making

What you can plan on in making decisions is that your plans seldom go the way you anticipated. Decisions are not a straight-arrow proposition. Things come up and life happens. Decisions start in one direction but when new information comes up, the decision takes a turn. Consider the changing circumstances of the story below, My Drive to School.

As I prepare to leave for school. I get in my car and drive down Main Street for the 5 minute drive to school. Suddenly, I find there is a traffic accident on Main Street. I take the detour and turn right onto Front Street. After 2 miles, I learned there is road construction on Front Street. I turn left to go on 3rd Avenue. As I near the school, I run out of gas. My classmate picks me up and drives me to school. I was 10 minutes late for school.

The plan never changed; just the things around it. One decision turned into two, three, five or even more decisions. Sound familiar? It happens to us all day long.

Here are some considerations about decisions. Is your decision big or small? Your answer must be kept in perspective. Buying a car can be a big decision but compared to buying a house, it is a small decision. Is your decision easy or hard? I can play the piano – it is easy for me, but to run a marathon would be hard. Decisions can be described as permanent like getting a tattoo, or of a passing impact such as stick on tattoos.

What drives decisions? Money, time, attitude, pressure from friends, pressure from family, personal health, approval from others, goals, or even regret. If we experienced all of these things like we were vacuums, we would simply suck them up and that would be the end of it. But vacuums we are not. All of these things around us drive our decision for what to do next. Because our life has so many moving parts, what fits into a spot of influence today may be different tomorrow. The bottom line is this: our decisions are driven by what has happened to us in the past. It is, then, our past that drives our decisions for the future.

Image Credit: rawpixel.com

Emotions can dictate our decisions: Love, hate, fear, passion, indifference, apathy, excitement, etc. Emotions can drive the outcome of the decision, but also drive how must time and energy we will put into the decision to make it happen. If we are feeling joy and trust, the decision as well as our approach to a decision will be different if we feel anger and disgust. In the emotional wheel shown below, you can see that as we experience two emotions such as disgust and anger, suddenly our decisions will be based on contempt. When mixing serenity and interest, our decisions become optimistic.

Source: Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions - Wikimedia Commons

Consider a time when mixed emotions impacted your decisions.

Learning Activities

Activity 1.1: Watch and Reflect

Watch the following video: Ellen’s Monologue on Making Decisions (4:29 minutes)

Now, think of two decisions you made today, and determine what influenced them. For example:

  1. What should I wear?
    • What is clean?
    • What will I be doing today?
  2. What should I have for breakfast?
    • What do I have in the refrigerator?
    • Do I have time for breakfast?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

After completing the activity above, consider the following questions:

  • Who or what drives many of my decisions?
  • Do I actively participate in my own decisions or follow what others tell me to do?

Note that the Learning Activities are ungraded, unless otherwise specified. They are designed to help you succeed in your assessments in this course, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them.

Activity 1.2: Spaceship Evacuation

Image Credit: JCK5D - Pixabay

Read the following scenario of the Spaceship Evacuation and consider the questions below:

Imagine you have been living on the space station on the moon for one year. Suddenly, the computers malfunction, and you have fifteen minutes to evacuate to a space shuttle before all life support systems fail. You will be allowed to take five items with you. Quickly, reply to this poll listing those five things without thinking too much about it!

Items

  • Laptop
  • Research records
  • Moon rocks
  • Blankets
  • Plan for creating electricity on the moon
  • Pictures from your family
  • Pictures of the moon
  • Food supply for trip home
  • Candy bars
  • Tea bags
  • Suitcase
  • Big Screen monitor
  • Space station clothes
  • Flowers grown in a pot

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

  1. Quickly mark the top five choices. Write down one – two sentences of why you made the choice.
  2. Consider why the item was important to you. Was there something in your past that made the item special today?
  3. If given 15 days instead of 15 minutes, would your decision be different?
  4. Would your decision be different if you had been given enough time to plan with your colleagues?
  5. How would the quick speed of the decision impacted you emotionally?
  6. Leaving the space station, would you see it as a decision to leave something, or return to something?

Activity 1.3: Compare and contrast decisions

Read the following section from Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2009). Making Decisions. (pp 3 – 12).

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
After completing the reading above, consider the following questions:

  1. What do you see as the main difference between a successful and an unsuccessful decision?
  2. How much does luck versus skill have to do with it?
  3. How much time needs to pass to know if a decision is successful or not?

1.2 Setting Up for Success in Decision Making

“Most discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives’ decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake.”- Peter Drucker

Source: rawpixel.com

Who is it that makes decisions? We all do, of course. But we make them as individuals or in a group setting. Group decisions are made on behalf of another group. A Board of Directors makes decisions on behalf of an organization. Group decisions can be made together on behalf of the group itself. For instance, when a group decides to go out for dinner, it is the group that decides where to go.

For individuals, it is much the same. An individual may make decisions on behalf of the individual such as what foods you will eat. A Mother will individually make decisions on behalf of her family in planning meals.

No matter who is making the decisions, everyone is looking to be successful. There are countless books on how to be successful in decision making. With so many variables in environment, talents, opportunities, and personalization, it is impossible to determine a one size fits all model But we can take lessons from people who have been successful.

Learning Activities

Activity 1.4: Drug Case Study

This activity takes you through an interesting Case Study where big decisions had to be made quickly. Explore the case from the perspective of the individual CEO, and the groups surrounding him like the Board of Directors. The Case Study scenario had a successful outcome from a situation that could have been disastrous if the decisions had been unsuccessful.

Read the following case study and consider what you would do in the situation. What ethical issues arise?

  • Read the Case Study: Drug Contamination and the following description of the decision making process:

    Case Study: Drug Contamination

  • In 1982, seven people died from contaminated products in the Chicago area. News reports at the time said that an unknown suspect/s contaminated the products with a strong substance. The strength of the contamination was 1000 times more than what is necessary to kill a human.

  • In 1982, the company controlled 37 percent of its market with revenue of about $1.2 million. Immediately after the contamination, its market share was reduced to seven percent. The company was faced with the dilemma of the best way to deal with the problem without destroying its reputation and its most profitable product.

How Should the Company Deal With this Situation?

  • Discuss the case study and come up with suggestions

  • Divide into groups of 2 - 5

  • Identify 3 ways the company should deal with this situation.

  • A few things to keep in mind: The company wants to maintain their business position, reputation, and future of the company.

  • The company? Johnson & Johnson

  • Do a Google search to find and read a brief history of the company. How long have they been in business?

  • The contamination? The drug: Tylenol

  • Reflection: How could a drug contamination occur?

  • Question: Why was their response effective?

  • They acted quickly, with complete openness about what had happened.

  • Immediately sought to remove any source of future danger Not waiting for evidence

  • Did not wait to see whether the contamination might widespread

  • Showed themselves to be prepared to bear the short term cost in the name of consumer safety.

  • Established a basis for trust with their customers.

  • Market share was up by 70% after only five months.

  • Question: What is the key for the company to move-forward

  • Having responded quickly, they then sought to ensure that measures were taken which would prevent, as far as possible, a recurrence of the problem

  • They developed tamper-proof packaging Google search: Find what is meant by “tamper-proof packaging”.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What are three actions the company CEO should take
  2. Were the decisions successful? Why or why not?

Note that you may be asked to review this case or similar cases in your class discussion groups. You may want to prepare by relating the case to your readings. Specifically, identify the ethical issues and terms to help explain the case.

Note for Facilitator’s Guide: Use the case study above as a class or group discussion prompt.

Activity 1.5: Google Case Study

Refer back to pages 1-3 in the article Making Decisions, where the decision model that Google uses is described.

  1. Do you think Google’s decision-making culture will help or hurt Google in the long run?
  2. What are the factors responsible for the specific culture that exists in Google?
  3. What type of decision-making approach has Google taken? Do you think this will remain the same over time? Why or why not?
  4. Do you see any challenges Google may face in the future because of its emphasis on risk taking?

Note, you may be asked to consider these questions in your discussions for Unit 1.

1.3 Approaches to Decision Making

“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” ― Peter Drucker

Image Credit: ibreakstock at Shutterstock

When making decisions of significant impact, the decision making takes the form of different levels called Strategic, Tactical, and Operational. This is discussed in detail in Making Decisions but I will give some examples.

If Trinity Western University decided to build a new campus, the strategic decision makers would be the Board of Directors. They would consider decisions such as the need, the location, and the budget. The tactical team of mid-level management will take over to find the land, the architect and find investors. The operational team would come in to do the building.

These levels, while separate in function, are very much inter-related. If the tactical team is unable to obtain financing, they would go back to the strategic team to reconsider the project. If the operation team find the soil to be unsafe for building, they go back to the tactical team to procure further soils testing.

Many group decisions will have strategic, tactical, and operational levels; some may involve the same people but the levels come into play as the decision is made.

Decisions can be made using a SWOT analysis. Should I do something or not? A SWOT analysis will guide you through considering the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as you consider the yes or no of the decision.

We will explore three different decision models. Making Decisions guides you to an understanding of each of them.

  • The Rational Decision.
  • The Creative Decision Model
  • The Intuitive Decision Model

There are different approaches to making a decision. The approach you use depend on the kind of outcome you are seeking in how the decision should be made. In football, the team who gets the ball first is decided by a flip of the coin. In your Learning Activity, find the meaning of these approaches to decision making

  • Majority
  • Consensus
  • Deferment
  • Unanimous

Choosing a decision model and approach depends on multiple things such as the purpose for the decision and the level of risk you are willing to take. Of consideration will also be the resources, time constraints, the precision required, and the overall impact.

Learning Activities

Activity 1.6: Key Terms

Read Making Decisions, pp 3 – 12.

Define the following terms, dragging the key term to the correct definition.

Activity 1.7 Decision Tree

Image by Dan Fador from Pixabay

  1. See Making Decisions, Pages 6 -7, Making Rational Decisions.
  2. Create a Decision Tree using the Rational Decision Model for replacing the old clunky car scenario presented on page 6.
  3. Decision Tree templates can be found on multiple internet sites ( Ex: lucidchart.com), as well as some versions of WORD and Power Point.
  4. This can be done individually

1.4 Your life story and impact on decision making

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Soren Kierkegaard

Image by Jan Alexander from Pixabay

Your life story is what makes you the decision maker you are today. It is deeply rooted in your experiences as a child in what you learned from your parents, relatives, teachers, and others who influenced you. If they instilled trust in you, you are likely to be trusting of others in decisions. If you experienced fear, your level of caution in decision making will be high. Throughout your life, your depth of experiences have deepened and developed. You are exposed to new things and new ideas. Crucibles and values further shape your life story. All of these things are what you bring to each decision you make, and what you bring to others as you influence their decisions. You are what you are today because of your past. Embrace your past. Learn from it, and carry forward the life-giving lessons into your decisions of the future.

It is a wonderful thing that God has gifted us with a community of people as we can take advantage of varied insights and talents to make our lives richer and hopefully, support us in making good decisions.

Learning Activities

Activity 1.8: Impact of Life-Story on decision making

Reflect on the decision styles of your parents.

  1. How does their style impact you and your decision process?
  2. Ask one of your family members to tell you about a funny decision you made as a child. (You then have the right to respond with a funny decision they made!)

Summary

In this first unit, you have had the opportunity to learn about some of the components in decision making such as choices and why we make the decisions that we do. We have looked at how we can set ourselves up for success by analyzing the needs and gathering good information before making decisions. The models and approaches to decision making gave a foundational insight to how a decision comes together. Finally, we looked at the most significant and important piece for our decisions, that being our own life story.

Assessment

Assignment 1:

After completing this unit, including the learning activities, you are asked to write a Personal Reflection paper (10%).

This paper will be written and submitted in four parts throughout the class. Each part builds on the other and will be submitted for a grade. The student may accept the feedback followed by making corrections and refinements will be made.

All parts will be submitted as a final paper which will be graded.

  1. Personal Reflection of Decision Making (1 of 4)

  2. Ethical Dilemma and the Decision Making Models as Applied to an Ethical Dilemma (2 of 4)

  3. Ethical Dilemma and the Ethical Theories as Applied to an Ethical Dilemma (3 of 4)

  4. Ethical Dilemma and Making a Decision on the Ethical Dilemma: Which side do you see as right and wrong? (4 of 4)

Personal Reflection of Decision Making (Part 1 of 4) 10%

  • Title Page

  • Write 2 - 3 pages, double spaced. (APA format)

Explain how your background influences your decision making today. Making right decisions is the challenge of decision making throughout life.

  1. Reflect on your life and describe the person who primarily influenced your development of an intuitive sense of what is right and wrong; it may be described as a moral compass.
  2. How does that intuitive sense begin to influence your personal decisions today?
  3. Describe a significant event in your life that led to a right or wrong decision.

Grading Criteria:

Exceeds expectations (91 - 100%) Meets Expectations (78 - 90%) Minimally Meets Expectations (77 - 51%) Does Not Meet Expectations (0 - 50%)
Addresses the learning outcomes in an insightful manner. Addresses the learning outcomes. Partially addresses some the learning outcome. Does not address the learning outcome.
Clear, precise and well-reasoned responses. Mostly clear, precise and well-reasoned responses. Some clear, precise and well-reasoned responses. Response lack clarity, logic and/or precision.
Demonstrates independent thought, insight, and creativity (applies course concepts) Demonstrates some independent thought, insight, and creativity Demonstrates a minimal amount of independent thought, insight, and creativity. Response lacks independent thought, insight, and creativity
Spelling and grammar are accurate. Minor and/or few spelling or grammatical errors. Several spelling or grammatical errors.
TOTAL: /15

Discussion:

Refer back to the activity where you looked at the Google Case study.

Answer one of these questions in your discussion:

  • Do you think Google’s decision-making culture will help or hurt Google in the long run?
  • What are the factors responsible for the specific culture that exists in Google?
  • What type of decision-making approach has Google taken? Do you think this will remain the same over time? Why or why not?
  • Do you see any challenges Google may face in the future because of its emphasis on risk taking?
  • Pose an open-ended question to advance the discussion.

View the “Discussion Forums” tab for more information.

Checking your Learning

Before you move on to the next unit, you may want to check to make sure that you are able to:

  • Describe decision basics
  • Contrast different types of decisions
  • Analyze why we make decisions in the way we do
  • Determine which type of decision is needed
  • Create new paths of decision making when considering these decision basics