Business decision making education and training can offer a varied number of innovative organizational tools and strategies. In many cases, organizational leaders report focusing on problem-solving alone, doesn’t always produce the desired outcome. What's clear about the situation is there is no one size fits all business decision making model. Company leaders are discovering it's essential to have a suitable business decision making process.

New methodologies other than traditional strategies surfaced such as decision making game theory, as researchers tested business statistics. Decision making, in some cases, created an entirely new set of issues related to the attempt to resolve the initial dilemma. Each company can organize around the business decision making values specific to its organizational setting. Consultants play an important role in educating business leaders because they are trained to tailor a business decision making model that addresses the need for results. Consider the following suggestions to tackle decision making for business:

1. Recognize the business decision making values in each model your company evaluates.

2. Learn about the changes in traditional decision making in business.

3. Seek out the appropriate business decision making model for your specific organizational challenges.

Action Steps
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Choose a business decision making model with matching business principles

Find a business decision making process with core concepts that align with your organizational practices. Learn about the options related to traditional business decision making and strategic business decision making tools and training materials with a creative approach.

I recommend: American Management Association (AMA) offers seminars on high impact decision making that includes risk assessment. Ethics Resource Center combines decision making and business ethics to produce valued-based solutions.

Encourage creative exploration through business decision game theory

The traditional method of decision making for business is steeped in the notion of problem-solving, planning, implementing a solution and follow-up. Decision making game theory is an innovative business approach. It teaches the business decision game model in an effort to show strategic solution driven business decision making.

I recommend: Yale University Game Theory offers a course on strategic decision making suitable for the organizational environment. Stanford University has a set of webinars on strategic decision making game theory that specifically address basic issues facing organization leaders.

Consider consultants that specialize in business decision making

Business decision making education and training consulting services can aid in meeting the challenge to locate decision making strategies. Selecting an experienced consultant can offer a plan to address the specific decision making process that produces the favorable outcome your organization desires.

I recommend: Cannon Advantage provides business decision making management consulting and a variety of products and services. Action Management Associates offers consulting to address the need for decision making and business interest specific to your organization.

Effective decision making in business requires an equal emphasis on strategy, collaboration and ethics. The long-term success of your organization is always the primary goal, but without an eye on the moral implications of a choice, you risk making decisions that could harm your company, your customers or your investors. And, by consisting making wise and ethical decisions, you not only help you company advance, you also earn the respect of the public, and serve as a role model for other businesses.

Examples of a business decision making model include:

1. Rational decision making
2. Intuitive decision making
3. Decision making game theory
4. Decision trees

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Use business decision making tools

You may have a lot of information to consider, and several ways you can proceed, but the process doesn't have to be overwhelming. Sometimes, all you need is an efficient way to sort through all the information, and a systematic plan for evaluating your options. There are several tools designed specifically for business decision making, and with them you can create a more efficient and accurate method for making decisions.

I recommend: At MindTools, simplify decision making with free online decision making tools such as Pareto Analysis, Grid Analysis or Decision Trees. Thinking Managers also offers several online tools, such as thinking strategies and business counter strategies. Or, invest in decision making software, such as DecisionTools Suite 5.0 from Palisade.

Foster ethical business decision making

Understanding your business decision making values is essential to making wise and relevant choices. With the increasing focus on corporate responsibility, you may be judged as much on the ethics of your decisions as on their efficacy. By educating everyone in your organization about what it means to combine ethics and business decision making, you can be assured of maintaining those values at all levels of the company.

I recommend: Search for ethical decision making resources at EthicsWeb. Or, order "Making Ethical Decisions," a booklet from the Josephson Institute of Ethics.

Train your employees in decision making for business

Because business decision making can be complex, and because wise decision making is crucial to the success of any enterprise, providing decision making training for your employees may be one of the best investments you make. By ensuring that all employees know how to make smart decisions, you'll know that the entire company is making decisions based on the same principles. And by enabling employees at lower levels of the organization to make better decisions independently, you free up time for your senior executives.

I recommend: Help employees refine their decision making skills with training in strategic thinking and decision making from The Thinking Coach. Linkage offers a two-day training program focusing on creativity and experimentation in decision making for company leadership.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Make every employee part of the business decision making process; if you do, they'll feel more valued and have a greater sense of ownership. And along with this comes increased dedication to making decisions that benefit the entire organization.

When it comes to making decisions regarding the next step for your business, you've probably done the ever-popular list of pros and cons for that decision. However, there are a number of other business decision-making strategies that may help you gain more insight into the possible outcome of a decision and whether it's a chance worth taking. At first glance, you probably wouldn't recognize any of these decision-making strategies, but may come across them as you search for a new method. This resource provides a brief explanation of a few strategies to get you started.

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Pareto analysis

The Pareto analysis approaches business decision-making based on the possible changes you can make in an effort to take your business to the next level. With this strategy, you list the possible changes and then rank or score them based upon the best-desired outcome.

I recommend: Learn more about the Pareto chart and how to use it from iSixSigma.

MAUT

MAUT stands for Multi-Attribute Utility Theory. Also known as the Pugh Matrix, the Pugh method, decision matrix or grid analysis, this is a great way to find the best business decision when there are a number of good options in front of you. Put simply, you list the possible decisions in rows and the factors affecting those decisions in a column, ranking each factor for each decision and choosing the decision with the best ranking score.

I recommend: The staff resource site for Adams State College explains how to use MAUT in more detail.

Force field

To start a force field analysis, list the business decision you're contemplating in the middle of the page. On the left side, list the forces working toward the decision, and on the right side, list the forces working against the decision. Assign a value to each force on a scale of one to five and tally the results.

I recommend: Follow the force field analysis technique instructions provided by Accel-Team.

Decision tree

When you have several possible strategies for a decision, a decision tree may be the way to determine the best one. It gets its name from the branching effect that results from writing out decisions and listing possible outcomes.

I recommend: Access Time-Management-Guide for a decision tree diagram and brief explanation.

Starbursting

Starbursting is a way of brainstorming new ideas to determine all of the factors that go into making a decision happen. Basically, with the starburst model, you ask the who, what, why, where, when and how related to a decision.

I recommend: Visit Mind Tools for a helpful example of starbursting in use.

Six thinking hats

The idea of the six thinking hats method of decision-making is to explore a decision from six different perspectives, known as the white, red, black, yellow, green and blue hats.

I recommend: Obtain a full explanation of the six thinking hats method through 12manage.

Decision making in business is an important concept. Many businesses make a large number of decisions each day. These decisions affect the company's bottom line, employees and even customers. The decisions a business must make are not always easy, because some decisions are not based in fact. It can be harder to come to a satisfactory conclusion for all who are part of the decision making process when a business decision deals with ethics and personal values.

The business decision making process may require group decisions as well as individual decisions. There are many tools available to find the best decision. These tools include:

1. A business decision making model that assigns specific roles;

2. Business decisions making tools that provide the structure of the decision process;

3. Ethics and values of the company and decision makers.

Action Steps
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Understand the different models in decision making for business

The first aspect of making decisions in business is to consider some of the popular decision making models. Using a model to make business decisions helps to present an unbiased look at the problem and potential solutions. Many business models provide the structure for group decision making as well as individual decision making for business.

I recommend: Decide Guide provides information on a number of business decision making models. Mind Tools provides an introduction to many successful decision making models and techniques used in business.

Consider the business decision making tools available

Business decision making tools help to provide structure and order to any business decision. These tools walk a business or group through the process of making a business decision based on the particular model being used. Not all tools work with every decision making model, but many are flexible enough to accommodate most decision making models.

I recommend: The Time Management Guide provides an example of a decision making tree, which is a handy tool for business decision makers. Systems 2 Win provides an Excel template for a decision matrix, which can be used for any type of business decision making.

Explore the company's business decision making values

Decision making and business are intertwined. There can be hundreds of decisions made by one or more employees of the business on a daily basis. Most are basic decisions, but some decisions get into questions of ethics and personal values. Ethical business decision making helps to bridge the gap between a financially successful business and a business with a successful reputation.

I recommend: The Small Business Administration provides information on how business decisions are made and what ethics and values can influence the decision maker. Love To Know provides an overview of business ethics and how these ethics will affect the business decision making process.