New decision making approach - far different than old approach!

Nov 18, 2014 7:45:47 PM

During the 1980’s, we were all taught that decision making requires us to think in terms of objectivesalternatives 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.

Creative-ThinkingWhen we view making decisions as a “solution creation” exercise, we can place the ‘decision solutions’ roughly in three categories:

  1. Solutions requiring a choice between alternatives.

  2. Solutions that may require components from more than one alternative.

  3. Solutions where no alternatives exist, which solution is then dependent on actions being implemented to create the ‘solution. 

In order to modernize its methodology, KEPNERandFOURIE through research and experience, updated its decision making to accommodate the current day business environments. This new approach radically changes the decision engine in order to meet the requirements of our changed business environment.  The methods of divergent and convergent thinking remain relevant and were retained as is.  From this modernization resulted a significant change in how we diverge and converge our thinking, this marks a significant improvement of the 1980’s thinking:

      

KandF SolutionWise:  Create a Solution


o   Core logic in this method allows for (a) the combination of available alternatives or (b) the combination of components from different alternatives.

KandF SolutionWise:  Make a Choice


o   In essence, the core logic of this method remains unchanged, allowing a rational choice of an alternative.

KandF Max4:  Build an Action Based Solution – A very different new approach


o   The logic in this method is a radical departure from both the above.

o   In the absence of alternatives, one may consider a suite of actions that may all contribute to achieving the stated objective of the envisaged decision/solution.

o   The logic is akin to project management thinking, the decision maker asking himself “what are the possible actions I can undertake to achieve the stated objective?”

o   Since multiple actions may be required, all possible candidates are listed as part of the process of divergence.

o   At this point, the divergent thinking now changes to convergent thinking and we start to evaluate all possible actions for their usefulness.

o   It was found that by en large, a maximum of four actions are needed to start sufficiently addressing a problem, hence the naming of the method as Max4.
 

It was found that the new solutioning approach to decision making is very useful in Information Technology, Service Management and PMO (Project Management Office) environments, as well as in crisis situations where actions plans need to be implemented to contain a problem situation.

 

If you would like to read more about the history of the Methodologies that we use today, click here to download a wonderful presentation by Chuck Kepner.Learn More about  the History of Decision Making 

Adriaan du Plessis

Written by Adriaan du Plessis

Johannesburg, South Africa | Managing Director of the Global IT CSI Practice
Adriaan provides consulting, facilitation and implementation services for root cause analysis, decision making and business improvement as well as people development using proven KEPNERandFOURIE™ tools and techniques. As a world-class facilitator he focuses on the use of a divergent set of improvement and thinking tools to assist businesses to enhance value, specifically in Root Cause Analysis, IT Root Cause Analysis and Decision Making.

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