Decision Making Process:

Decision making is the process of making choices by identifying a decision,

gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions.
Using a step-by-step decision-making process can help you make more
deliberate, thoughtful decisions by organizing relevant information and defining
alternatives. This approach increases the chances that you will choose the most
satisfying alternative possible.

Managers often rely on fact-based analytical decision making. Rational decision

making can be very beneficial in the business world and differs from intuitive
processes in several ways.
Intuitive and rational decision making are the two ways that an individual can
approach problem solving. Some people are very aware of feelings or instincts and
use them as guides to decision making. These types of feelings are instinctive and
rely on intuition and not facts. In fact, intuition is the ability to have a grasp on a
situation or information without the need for reasoning. In business, people use
this type of decision making when facts are unavailable or when decisions are
difficult in nature.
The second, opposing type of decision making is called rational decision making,
which is when individuals use analysis, facts and a step-by-step process to come to
a decision. Rational decision making is a precise, analytical process that companies
use to come up with a fact-based decision.
Steps:

1. Define the problem.

2. Identify the decision criteria.
3. Allocate weights to the criteria.
4. Develop the alternatives.
5. Evaluate the alternatives.
6. Select the best alternative.
7. Implement
8. Review
Define the Problem
In this step you need to define the problem.

Identify the Decision Criteria

The next step in the rational decision-making process is to identify the decision
criteria. This step deals with choosing variables that will determine the decision
outcome.

Allocate Weights to Criteria

This means ranking which criteria is the most important to the decision-making
process. The next step starts to consider solutions.

Develop the Alternatives

The next step is to develop alternatives, which is where the potential solutions
need to be considered. There will not be any consideration in this step, just a
generated list of alternatives.

Choose among alternatives

Once you have weighed all the evidence, you are ready to select the alternative
that seems to be best one for you. You may even choose a combination of
alternatives.

Take action
Youre now ready to take some positive action by beginning to implement the
alternative you chose.

Review your decision & its consequences

In this final step, consider the results of your decision and evaluate whether or
not it has resolved the need you identified. If the decision has not met the
identified need, you may want to repeat certain steps of the process to make a
new decision.