Modern Management: concepts and skills, 14/e

The Rational Decision-Making Process

A decision is a choice of one alternative from a set of available alternatives. The rational decision-making process comprises the steps the decision maker takes to arrive at this choice. The process a manager uses to make decisions has a significant impact on the quality of those decisions. If managers use an organized and systematic process, the probability that their decisions will be sound is higher than if they use a disorganized and unsystematic process.¹⁴

A model of the decision-making process that is recommended for managerial use is presented in Figure 6.3. In order, the decision-making steps this model depicts are as follows:

1. Identify an existing problem.

2. List possible alternatives for solving ...