Thinking and Communication Skills Course

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Thinking and Communication Skills Course

• Decision Making

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Decision Making

• Definition
• The process for arriving at a decision.
• Decision making ? an everyday task!
• Focus on
• What is the process/procedure that makes a good
  decision making?
• What are the tools/techniques to help in decision
  making process?

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Decision Making Process

• 1. What is the problem/decision to be made?
• Problem definition?
• Objectives to be fullfilled?
• Problem boundaries?
• Example Decide whether genetically designed food
  should be encouraged?

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Cont.

• 2. What are the possible options/ alternatives?
• Look for new alternatives/options/ideas or
  courses of action.
• Available technique
• PMI (Edward De Bono)
• It is a powerful thinking tool for the generation
  of alternatives, options or courses of actions.
• P Plus or Good Points
• M Minus or the Bad Points
• I Interesting or the Interesting Points

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Cont.

• PMI technique begins with the Plus followed
  by the Minus and finally the Interesting
  points (attention directing tool)
• Example
• P What if genetically designed food is
  encouraged..?
• M What if genetically designed food is
  discouraged..?
• I What if genetically designed food is healthy?

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Cont.

• 3. What options/alternatives are best?
• Using generated options/ alternatives, do
• a) consequences of each option/ alternative
• Make predictions as to the consequences of each
  option or course of action, i.e. what if GD food
  was encouraged or discouraged?
• Support each prediction with credible evidence,
  i.e. what evidence do I have that GD food should
  be encouraged or discouraged?
• Support with statistic, survey, expert opinion etc

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Cont.

• Available technique
• The ALU (Scott and Donald)
• It is a technique for idea finding.
• A Advantages
• L Limitations
• U Unique Connections

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Cont.

• ALU technique
• Advantages From the list of possibilities ask
  what advantages does each alternative offer? What
  are its strongest points? What makes it
  attractive or appealing?
• Limitations Next ask, what limitations are
  there? Are there obvious flaws or weaknesses to
  be overcome if we work with this alternative/
  course of action? Are there possible trouble
  spots?
• Unique Connections Finally, ask yourself. Does
  this alternative/idea suggest any new or unusual
  connections I was not aware of before? Are there
  any hidden potentials here?

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Cont.

• b) value of each consequence
• Rank each consequence according to priority based
  on a value system.
• 4. Selection of best option
• Compare the various options/ alternatives based
  on their consequences.
• Decide which is the best option/ alternative.

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Cont.

• 5. How to implement the decision?
• Establish what is need to implement the decision
  (resource allocation).
• List action steps for implementation (and their
  responsibility)
• If possible, include contingency plans for known
  risks.

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Summary

• Decision making process
• 1. What is the problem/decision to be made?
• 2. What are the possible options/ alternatives?
• 3. What options/alternatives are best?
• 4. Selection of best option.
• 5. How to implement the decision?

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Thinking Points

• Lesson Decision Making
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• Objectives of TP
• To be able to apply the decision making process.
• To use techniques introduced in decision making
  process.
• To be a good decision maker.

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Activity 1

• Real world IT problem
• As an IT manager in a software house company, you
  have to setup new IT department. You have
  estimated that this department will need about 12
  new computers. You have come across one article
  about the advantages of using a notebook. For
  your new department, you have to decide whether
  to buy a desktop computers or a notebooks.

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Questions to stimulate discussion

• What is the scope of the problem?
• Who are the people involved in this problem?
• What are the possible advantages/ disadvantages?
• What are the advantages for buying a desktop or
  notebook computer?
• What are the disadvantages for buying a desktop
  or notebook computer?
• Based on these advantages/disadvantages, what is
  the best decision?

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Further activities

• Get some new desktop/notebook specifications and
  price list from computer dealer. Study them to
  extract information such as brand model, hardware
  specifications, price, upgradeable options etc.
• Contact your friends in other company to get
  their opinions/experiences in using these
  computers.
• Study the future or market direction in using
  computers in an office environment.