Decision Making for Leaders

A decision that is made with reflection, and additional input, may be substantially more effective. A humbling thought is that, one person can’t possibly know everything. This is an important idea in relation to involving other stakeholders. Another factor to consider, is the widely discussed concept of “the butterfly effect”; in an issue of The American Scientist, Jamie Vernon states that this concept’s purpose was to “illustrate the idea… that small variances in the initial conditions could have profound and widely divergent effects on the system’s outcomes” (2017).  Involving stakeholders may be so influential, just as the butterfly effect suggests, to resolutions, the entire result could be dramatically different without this involvement. One instance I was faced with making a critical decision was in the enrollment of this degree, Master’s in Project Management. I knew once I finished my Bachelor’s, I wanted to further my education, but with so many options, it was difficult to

The realization of being wrong is an aweing feeling; we often think we know everything about someone, until we’re surprised with new information. For the last ten years, I’ve been very close to a friend of mine; let’s call her, Red. The last time I actively listened to someone and hoped to hear a person’s story was with my best friend, Red, in a recent road trip. We interact with a plethora of people everyday; however, we often use a subconscious and insincere approach to listen to them. This road trip did not follow this “modus operandi”; instead, I took the opportunity to listen and learn something new from a relationship I've often thought I've mastered (erroneously). The normal interaction between Red and I is generally lighthearted and fun; on most occasions, we are constantly laughing or making others laugh. This road trip consisted of a 12 hour drive from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Cleveland, Tennessee with lots of stops and detours on the way back. We encountered l

Protected values are values that are not vulnerable to trade-offs; these unbreakable values can create issues for policymakers who, simply, cannot appease everyone. Trade-offs, in our diverse society, must be accepted in order to establish legislation and policies. Protected values could also be claimed as a person’s absolute value, which cannot be measured and is invaluable. With absolute values, a person is likely to control a decision between two people; in an even worse scenario, if both people claim to have absolute values, no mutual decision will be made. One absolute value I have realized I protect is my career ambitions. I have made many decisions, both subconsciously and deliberately, that do not interfere with my goal at work. These decisions sometimes cause sacrifices in other parts of my life. One belief from this absolute value is that I am in no position to start a family. The pros to this belief is that I am subjected to less discrimination in the US workforce. A study

All human interactions in life are vulnerable to deception; some instances may be harmless, while others are purposefully malicious. Two types of lies include those of omission and those of commission. Lies of omission consist of a person withholding information; lies of commission, considerably more spiteful, involves a person communicating inaccurate information to their advantage. A plethora of guarding techniques may prevent a person from falling victim to deceptions in negotiations. Before protection, however, one must be able to identify instances where lies exist using signs. These signs consist of both verbal and nonverbal forms; the majority and more useful cues are of nonverbal forms. Verbal cues to be wary of are ironic usually including words like, “honest”, “truth”, “sincerely”, “frankly”, etc. Some non-verbal cues include changes in pitch, respiration, blinking, and physical movements. Knowing these verbal and non verbal cues will assist a person to identify when a neg

Using frames to navigate through a project often narrows a person's focus and facilitates the entire decision making process. However, when a frame is extremely conservative, alternative solutions to an issue could be neglected. When a frame creates this form of a blind spot, it can be very hard to challenge the limited cognitive possibilities. Furthermore, leaders that entrust a particular frame, may suffer from frame blindness, where a person is unaware of their own frame. When a leader is susceptible to frame blindness, they often use a frame that is inappropriate for a situation. For example, if a project manager approaches an issue regarding a parts availability, it would be silly to continue by using a pilots’ operations frame. aa        Frame blindness also plagues managers with having an illusion of completeness. If a person feels that a decision is complete, they may cease to improve the situation. Another symptom of frame blindness is the overconfidence that one may

With so many decisions that arise in an organization, a systematic and careful approach may facilitate the entire decision making process. Of course not all decisions are presented equally; decisions may be categorized as a complex, multiple stakeholder, or environmental decision type. It is important to comprehend the changes in decision making processes over time, as well as, the causes of these changes before considering a different approach. Technological advances in our society require a different approach to complex decision processes. The capability of collecting data has increased exponentially; arguably more than the advances in decision making processes. For a set of data to be exploited, it must be in a standardized format that can be analyzed. Advanced models have the potential to take an enormous amount of data and transform it to a visual decision support system. These models are capable of using data mining procedures to find “complex patterns or abstractions” and il