How to take the important decisions of your life?

Decision making involves defining the problem, finding, comparing and choosing a course of action. It is the process of selecting one course of action from a number of possible alternatives in solving a problem or in meeting a situation or arriving at a conclusion. Decision making implies to take a decision from various alternatives, which will be actually carried out. It involves clear understanding of the situation, right thinking and proper altitude, so that one can be definite of selecting one course of action, out of many. Proper decision making enables individuals to create a desirable situation for a definite purpose.

The concept of decision making is considered by some to be synonymous management, because at the moment of choice, the images of the decision-maker manager have much in common. Decision-making represents one of the steps’ management, which means it is a part of the process. This would place decision-making with planning, organising, controlling the plan in action, evaluating the results and any other similar steps as part of the management process. Decision making is important in hoi management, because it is the way we make things happen instead of just letting them happen.

Importance

In meeting management problems in the home families are constantly faced with situations requiring decisions and action. Some decisions related to family activities are routine and repetitive. For many of these behavior patterns are so well established tit decision and action result almost immediately. Each day brings numerous problems that require conscious decision-making. They are the ones that flow along as part of daily management. Decision making is important to every body at every stage of life for growth and progress. It is essential for an individual, for the institution, organisation, for the farm, and the community for advancing forward. Without any decision making skill, an individual can not grow and develop in him/her life. Same is the case with the institution/organisation etc.

Steps in Decision-making Process:

In carrying out the plan a decision for each action must be made as one goes along and reviews progress toward results. If the problem or situation is simple the results ma be reached in one or two action steps to take a decision. Value judgments are made an each action step leading to the next. When the problem is complex or leads to attaining a long term goal, a number of action steps are needed, each demanding decisions. Su steps may take a considerable amount of time. However, there are three major steps decision making as suggested by John Dewey are-

1. Identifying the problem:

The first job in decision making is the recognition that a problem exists and that finding and defining it is important. At home, to identify the re problem, the husband and wife must begin by finding the essential factor underlying the total situation. For this two things are essential:

(a) A desire to find the causes leading to the problem;

(b) An unemotional and unprejudiced view of all the circumstances within the situation,’

2. Obtaining information and formulating possible course of action:

Once the problem or situation that calls for change has been identified, all available knowledge and’ information must be used to formulate possible courses of action. The difficult task at the information-gathering stage is allowing facts and imagination to incubate while giving attention to them and the problem. It is at this stage one may face confusion with all types of information. The job here is to hold off from selecting a course of action until all aspects, of the information sought have been appropriately weighed and organised. Collection of information makes the mental storage possible for future use. When the need arises to consider ways of solving problems, the decision-maker draws from this storage which is related to the problem. In most homes the father, mother and other family members are constantly called upon to formulate new alternatives that can be used in solving everyday problems.

3. Considering the consequences of each alternative:

The decision-maker, having examined all the information’s relative to the problem, must next probe the future in his attempts to choose one alternative course over another. His objective at this stage is to consider the most promising alternative among all the other, the one that seems most likely to bring about the greatest number of wanted consequences. Making a list and comparing wanted and unwanted consequences from different courses of action is a way of arriving at a basis of choice. The alternatives should serve as the best means of furthering the family’s immediate and means-end goals with the best injurious effects on long-term goals.

4. Selecting the course of action that seems best:

We usually make a choice by imagining in detail what the results of an alternative would be. This imaginative process leads to deliberation or the weighing of values to discover and choose the best course of action under the circumstances. Only through such deliberation can we decide which of several conflicting courses we want to take.

This process of evaluation is greatly affected by family background and the values and goals it has set for itself. It is also dependent on how much of these values and standards, the members are willing to compromise on and the understanding they have for each other’s needs. Hence each family has its own unique was of decision making and choosing the best course of action under the particular circumstances.