Decision making is the process of making a choice between various alternatives . It can appear in any context of daily life, whether professional, sentimental, family, etc.
It should be noted that a decision is a resolution or determination that is made regarding something . The aforementioned process, in essence, allows us to solve the different challenges that a person or an organization must face.
Importance of decision making
Decision making is key to problem solving . The evaluation of a situation allows us to make a judgment and, based on it, appeal to different decision criteria .
Quitting a job, ending a romantic relationship, buying a car or moving are decisions that impact a person's life. You should always decide responsibly to maximize satisfaction and reduce harm.
The ideal is to base a decision process on logical reasoning . For example: if a person wants to sell their house, they must decide its price. Logic dictates that to make that decision, you have to research the current market values ββin your neighborhood. By making that decision, the probability increases that you will set an appropriate price and be able to complete the operation. Otherwise, you may set a low price and close an inconvenient trade, or set a high price and fail to make the sale.
The importance of decision making can easily be seen in the field of finance. When making an investment, you aim to make a profit: if the decision is wrong, you lose money. Analyzing the market before making the decision, therefore, is advisable since intuition does not offer foundations.
How the process is carried out
When making a decision, several factors come into play. In an ideal case, analytical capacity (also called reasoning capacity ) is appealed to to choose the best possible path; When the results are positive, an evolution occurs - a step to another stage - and the doors are opened to the solution of real and potential conflicts .
Any decision-making should include extensive knowledge of the problem that needs to be overcome, since only after the relevant analysis is it possible to understand it and find an appropriate solution. Needless to say, when faced with trivial questions (for example, deciding whether to drink water or orange juice with a meal ), the level of reasoning is much less complex and deep and one acts almost automatically, given that the consequences of a decision "wrong" are of no great importance.
On the other hand, when faced with truly transcendental decisions for life, we proceed in a very meticulous manner, weighing the potential results, and the time required is much longer. Throughout the development of a person, regardless of their personality and tastes, each new day brings with it an increasing number of problems to solve, and little by little we become true machines specialized in making decisions.
Security in decision making
At first glance, one can distinguish between self-confident and insecure individuals. The former tend to be determined, always being clear about their tastes and needs , which makes it easier for them to make decisions; The others, on the other hand, lack the self-confidence necessary to consider their own ideas valid and this has serious repercussions at critical moments in life.
However, no one can free themselves from these "logical doors" that tirelessly alter the flow of our existence. Insecure people have a particularly difficult time choosing between two or more options , but eventually they do, and thus move on. Just as not talking to someone for reasons such as not sharing your ideas is a type of interpersonal relationship, delaying a decision is also an action that arises from another decision.
Decide on different games
Chess is one of the most popular board games worldwide and bases its rules on a system of making increasingly critical decisions as the game progresses. Despite its great complexity and requiring a high level of concentration, patience and strategizing on the part of its participants, it has been able to attract all types of people, including those who get carried away and leave the king exposed in a few moves. .
Role -playing games, widely known in digital format but created in the 1960s and inspired by an experiment by an American sociologist, require constant and coherent decision-making, which has a direct impact on the development of the characters and, consequently, , from history itself. The first official game belonging to this genre was "Dragons & Dungeons" , which was published in 1974 in the United States ; Since then, they have enjoyed enough success not to perish, despite attracting a very specific audience, willing to dedicate dozens of hours to them.
Without a doubt, people and animals must constantly face situations that require us to make decisions to allow us to move forward; When we transfer this dynamic to moments of leisure, our achievements are much more satisfying than those we obtain through chance.
Examples of decision making
To finish this article, we will present more examples of decision making.
Suppose the owner of a company is planning work for the next year. In this context, you have to set goals, prioritize objectives and establish the corporate strategy to follow. These issues require you, as the company's authority, to make multiple decisions. Typically, decision-making in economics is based on cost-benefit analysis . Thus, this individual must define the implementation of measures and the implementation of actions in pursuit of profitability.
Group decision making characterizes cooperatives. Its members engage in negotiation to reach consensus and decide in accordance with the majority opinion. Members of a cooperative, for example, can vote to decide whether or not to request a loan that would allow them to increase their production. The loan would provide them with new opportunities but, at the same time, it would imply contracting a debt.