The rational view of decision-making describes an ideal situation that some people argue is difficult to achieve. In an ideal world, organizational members charged with making a decision will ask all the correct questions, gather all the pertinent information, discuss the situation with all interested parties, and weigh all relevant factors carefully before reaching their decision. This ideal world rarely exists, however. In reality, most decision makers are faced with time pressures, political pressures, inaccurate or insufficient information, and so on. As a result, many decisions that are made might appear irrational when viewed from the outside. Still, it is useful to employ the rational decision-making model as a starting point.
Herbert Simon (a Nobel Prize winner) proposed a model of rational decision making near the middle of the 20th century (Simon, 1960). His model includes four stages: 1) intelligence (is there a problem or opportunity?), 2) design (generate alternative solutions), 3) choice (which alternative is best?) and 4) implementation (of the selected alternative). The basic model of how rational decision making should proceed is:
- Intelligencephase– collect data (and information) from internal and external sources, to determine if a problem or opportunity exists. To the extent possible, ensure that the data are accurate, timely, complete, and unambiguous.
- Designphase– generate possible alternative solutions. Ensure that as wide a selection of alternatives as possible are considered.
- Choicephase– select the best alternative solution. Identify relevant criteria for evaluation, as well as appropriate weighting for each criterion, and use these to objectively weigh each alternative.
- Implementation– perform whatever steps are necessary to put the selected alternative into action.
As an example, think of getting dressed in the morning – you gather intelligence, such as the weather forecast (or by looking out the window). You consider issues such as what you are doing that day, and who you are meeting. You think about alternative clothing options, while considering constraints such as what clothes you have that are clean. You might try on various combinations or outfits, and then make a decision.
Rationality assumes that the decision maker processes all information objectively, without any biases. In addition, this view of rational decision making implies that decision makers have a clear and constant purpose, and are consistent in their decisions and actions.
While many people strive for rational decision making, and intellectually acknowledge that rational decision making is a preferred goal, the realities are often far from this ideal. For example, many decision makers do not take the time to collect all relevant data, nor do they use well-known idea-generation techniques to help them generate a wide selection of alternatives.
In the above example (getting dressed in the morning), you may not go through all of the steps; instead, you might just pull on the first clean clothes that you find, and occasionally will find yourself inappropriately dressed (clothing that is too warm, or too informal for a meeting that you forgot about, etc.).
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