During the 1980’s, we were all taught that decision making requires us to think in terms of objectives, alternatives and potential risk. In essence, methodologies focused on making a rational choice and selecting a viable alternative to implement. Whilst objectives and potential risk remain a constant feature, we need to critically review the concept of alternatives in current day decision making.
The reason for critical review is two fold. Firstly, potentially an alternative may only provide a part of the future decision outcome, or worse, the decision outcome we are seeking does not have alternatives at present. The latter is often visible when required to decide solutions for the Information Technology problems. As Charles Kepner (KEPNER et al (1981). The New Rational Manager.) already postulated in the eighties, the outcome of a decision is “what ought to be done”. This notion of what ought to be done actually implies more that just choosing between alternatives, it postulates that decision making must be a “solution creation” exercise.
