1. Decision Making

3. Should You Ask?
Sir, why is my coursework marks so low? I deserve higher marks. Hehehe!

4. Which Mobile Phone should I buy?
What are the things you consider before making a decision?

5. What should I wear for class (or work) today?
What are the things you consider before making a decision?

6. 2. Barriers to Good Decision Making 3. Decision Making Process
What is Decision Making?
2. Barriers to Good Decision Making
Decision
Making
3. Decision Making Process
4. Decision Making Tools

7. What is Decision Making?
"No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. . ."
-  Isaac Asimov

8. 1.What is Decision Making?
Decision making is the cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of action among alternatives.
Every decision making process produces a final choice. It can be an action or an opinion.
It begins when we need to do something but we do not know what. Therefore, decision making is a reasoning process which can be rational or irrational, and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions.
Examples: Shopping, deciding what to eat, what to wear, when to sleep, etc..

9. Barriers to Good Decision Making
“Successful leaders have the courage to take action while others hesitate.”
- John C. Maxwell

10. 2. Barriers to Good Decision Making
Hasty - Making quick decisions without having much thought.
Narrow - Decision making is based on very limited information.
Scattered - Our thoughts in making decisions are disconnected or disorganized.
Fuzzy - Sometimes, the lack of clarity on important aspects of a decision cause us to overlook certain important considerations.

11. Decision Making Process
“ Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level. ”
- Peter Drucker

12. 3. Decision Making Process
Steps
Tips
Define the decision clearly.
A lot of decision making goes wrong at the starting point.
the more specific your definition of the decision is to made, the clearer will be your analysis and the likelihood of success.
Consider all the possible choices.
Successful decision makers explore all of the possible choices of the situation.
In fact many of the less obvious choices turn out to be the most effective ones.
Gather all relevant information and evaluate all the pros and cons of each possible choice.
In many cases, we may lack sufficient information to make an informed decision.
Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each choice
Select the choice that seems to best meet the needs of the situation.
Synthesize all what you learned in previous steps and make a conclusion that you believe to be your “best” choice.
Implement a plan of action and then monitor the results, making necessary adjustments.
Once you have selected your best choice, you need to develop and implement a specific and concrete plan of action.
As you begin taking the steps in your plan, you will discover that adjustments need to be made.

13. Decision Making Tools
“Because I'm thinking in a broader way, I feel like I am able to make better decisions.”
- Takafumi Horie

14. 4. Decision Making Tools Tools to facilitate better decisions: CoRT
SWOT ANALYSIS
SIX THINKING HATS
DECISION MATRIX
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
ISHIKAWA DIAGRAM
MIND MAPPING
SOCRATIC QUESTIONING
More  MyCoted + Mind Tools + Creativity Web

15. SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

16. 4.1 SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a great technique for identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses and study any Opportunities and Threats you face.
It is also a powerful strategic planning tool used to evaluate a project or in a business venture or in any other situation of an organization or individual requiring a decision in pursuit of an objective.
It involves monitoring the marketing environment internal and external to the organization or individual.

17. SWOT Analysis – Strategic Use
Orienting SWOTs to An Objective - If SWOT analysis does not start with defining a desired end state or objective, it runs the risk of being useless.
If a clear objective has been identified, SWOT analysis can be used to help in the pursuit of that objective. In this case, SWOTs are:
Strengths
Attributes of the organization that are helpful to achieving the objective.
Weaknesses
Attributes of the organization that are harmful to achieving the objective.
Opportunities
External conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
Threats
External conditions that are harmful to achieving the objective.
Source:

18. SWOT Analysis – Creative Use
Creative Use of SWOTs – If the objective seems attainable, the SWOTs are used as inputs to the creative generation of possible strategies, by asking (usually in groups) and answering each of the following four questions, many times:
Strengths
How can we Use each Strength?
Weaknesses
How can we Stop each Weakness?
Opportunities
How can we Exploit each Opportunity?
Threats
How can we Defend against each Threat?
Source:

19. SWOT Analysis – Internal and External Factors
The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories:
Strengths
Internal Factors
 Organization
Weaknesses
The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the organization's objectives.
The external factors may include macroeconomic matters, technological change, legislation, and socio-cultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace or competitive position. The results are often presented in the form of a matrix.
Opportunities
External Factors
 External Environment
Threats

20. 4.1 SWOT Analysis – Errors to Be Avoided
Conducting a SWOT analysis before defining and agreeing upon an objective (a desired end state). SWOTs should not exist in the abstract. They can exist only with reference to an objective.
Opportunities external to the company are often confused with strengths internal to the company. They should be kept separate.
SWOTs are sometimes confused with possible strategies. SWOTs are descriptions of condition, while possible strategies define actions.

21. Group Activity Break into groups of 4 – 6.
Identify a potential product/service to invest in (e.g. buying a car), or business project/venture to pursue.
Do a SWOT analysis to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to consider (refer to the template).
Assess the findings, and make a decision.
Example:
Imagine you want to assess whether to study at SIHMC or not. Do a SWOT analysis, assess and then make a decision. 
5 min
Identify a potential product/service/project/venture to invest or pursue.
15 min
Do a SWOT analysis, assess, and then make a decision.
Document your SWOT analysis findings in the template provided.
Group presentation & discussion.
The Group leader must submit their findings in hard-copy or soft-copy format to the lecturer before or during the next class.

22. GOOD MORNING CLASS :
25/11/11
FRIDAY

23. References: Online Resources
Decision Making:
SWOT Analysis:
SWOT Tutorial:
SWOT Templates:
Teacher in Bad Mood:
Punk:
Siti Nurhaliza:
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