2. Presenter
Ali Fahad
2011-ME-337
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3. Decision Making
Thoughts, Ideas and Practice
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4. Decision
• A decision is the selection between possible
actions. A choice is the selection between two
or more objects.
• A choice made between alternative courses
of action in a situation of uncertainty.
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5. Definition
• Decision making can be regarded as the
mental processes (cognitive process) resulting
in the selection of a course of action among
several alternative scenarios. Every decision
making process produces a final choice.
• An Action with an intention of producing
favorable outcome.
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6. Description
• Every body in life has to make some decisions
in order to reach some conclusion.
• Decision exerts lasting effects on our life.
• Buy a car or buy a home.
• If you are in charge then decision making is
more important for you.
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8. 1) Define the problem
• Define the real problem, issue, concern or
decision to be made.
• What are you deciding and why?
• Don’t trust what is visible.
• Find out what's below the water line.
• Spending time at this stage will prevent the
problem from reoccurring in the future.
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9. 2) Look at the causes of
Problems and defining
objectives
• It's amazing how much you don't know about what
you don't know. Therefore, in this phase, it's critical
to get input from other people who notice the
problem and who are effected by it.
• Write down what your opinions and what you've
heard from others.
• Write down a description of the cause of the
problem and in terms of what is happening, where,
when, how, with whom and why.
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10. 3) Identifying Alternatives
• Once objectives are specified next step is to generate
alternatives.
• Generate maximum alternatives.
• Be creative and positive.
• Ask "what if" questions.
Methods for developing alternatives:
• Brainstorming is collecting as many ideas as possible,
then screening them to find the best idea.
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11. 4) Evaluating Alternatives
When selecting the best approach, consider:
• Which approach is the most likely to solve the
problem for the long term?
• Which approach is the most realistic to accomplish
for now? Do you have the resources? Are they
affordable? Do you have enough time to implement
the approach?
• What is the extent of risk associated with each
alternative?
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12. 5) Plan the Implementation
• Carefully consider "What will the situation look like
when the problem is solved?"
• What steps should be taken to implement the best
alternative to solving the problem?
• How will you know if the steps are being followed or
not? (these are your indicators of the success of your
plan)
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13. 5) Plan the Implementation(Contd…)
How much time will you need to implement the
solution? Write a schedule that includes the start
and stop times, and when you expect to see
certain indicators of success.
Write down the answers to the above questions
and consider this as your action plan.
Communicate the plan to those who will involved
in implementing it and, at least, to your
immediate supervisor.
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14. 6) Monitor the Implementation of
Plan
Monitor the indicators of success:
• Are you seeing what you would expect from the
indicators?
• Will the plan be done according to schedule?
• If the plan is not being followed as expected, then
consider: Was the plan realistic? Are there sufficient
resources to accomplish the plan on schedule?
Should more priority be placed on various aspects of
the plan? Should the plan be changed?
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15. 7) Verify the Solution
One of the best ways to verify if a problem has been
solved or not is to resume normal operations in the
organization. Still, you should consider:
• What changes should be made to avoid this type of
problem in the future? Consider changes to policies
and procedures, training, etc.
• Lastly, consider "What did you learn from this
problem solving?" Consider new knowledge,
understanding and/or skills.
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16. DMS
• Decision-making software: DMS is based on multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
and its varieties such as Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), analytic network process
(ANP — extension of AHP), PROMETHEE, multi-attribute value theory (MAVT),
multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT), multi-attribute global inference of quality
(MAGIQ), potentially all pairwise rankings of all possible alternatives (PAPRIKA).
1. Decide IT
2. Decision Labs
3. DPL
4. Logical Decision
5. 1000 Minds
6. Analytica
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