Project Based Problem Solving and Decision Making

1Understanding the Concepts

1.0 The Necessity for Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

We are forced to make decisions in our everyday lives. We must decide what to eat, how to dress, where to go, when to go, and even who to socialize with. We may make thirty or more decisions a day. Some decisions, such as personal investment decisions, may be critical, whereas other decisions may be just routine. Most of these types of decisions we make by ourselves and usually have confidence in the fact that we made the right decision. And for some of the decisions, we can expend a great deal of time thinking through them.

But once we get to our place of employment, the decision-making process changes. We often must involve many people in the process; some of whom we may never have met or worked with previously. The outcome of the decision can affect a multitude of people, many of whom may be unhappy with the outcome. The risks of a poor decision can lead to catastrophic consequences for the business. People that are unhappy with the decision and do not understand it may view you now as an enemy rather than as a friend.

When we make personal decisions, we usually adopt a “let's live with it” attitude. If the decision is wrong, we may try to change it. But in a business environment, there may be a significant cost associated with changing a decision. Some business decisions are irreversible.

But there is one thing, we know for sure in a business environment: anybody that always makes the ...