44.312
Security Management
home page > Unit 4: Planning & decision making
Decision Making (continued)
- Disjointed incrementalism (or "muddling
through"
it also assumes you don't know everything about a situation,and substitutes a coping strategy, in which you compare and evaluate options. Don't jump to a decision, but move toward it incrementally. Also involves "reconstructive analysis," which involves redefining problem to simplify them and make them more manageable based on available information -- as you receive more information, may change decisions. This type of decision making is characterized by "serial analysis and evaluation:" instead of completely resolving, you take repeated decisions to more closer to solution.
- Garbage Can Model of Decision Making
According to this theory, people making decisions construct decisions from raw materials -- problems, solutions, and energy (the "garbage") that are "dumped" into the garbage can as they are produced. Decision is made based on preprogrammed, standardized responses (Cohen, March, and Olsen (1972). This results in "organized anarchies":- organization's overall objectives unclear
- internal function of organization and relationship between it and external environment may be confused
- participation is fluid: individuals
participate in decisions on inconsistent basis, effort and time
given by individuals change according to decision made and length
of time needed to make it." These organizations rely on
4 interrelated flows of information that empty into "garbage
can":
- problems
- solutions
- choice opportunities
- participants.
method assumes that everything you need is in the garbage, because you've experienced similar problems in the past and can draw on them., and that there are ready-made solutions, also in the trash, that you can draw from
- Seeing-First/Doing-First Model
in reaction to limits of rational model, Mintzberg and Westley (2001) suggest this approach, which combines facts, with ideas (seeing first) and experiences (doing-first).
Focuses on solutions instead of problems, and focuses on ideas instead of facts and relies on visual instead of verbal stimuli.
Example from security world: if there's a problem with alarm plant in a factory, you'd tour the factory first before trying to deal with the problem.
They also say that, if seeing the problem doesn't help, maybe you should just do something -- experiment with a solution.
- Improvisational Decision Making
not an action, but a process to find solutions (Sharkansky and Zalmanovitch, 2000). It, like musical improvisation, involves embellishing something at already exists. "Both rely on past experiences and knowledge so they can 'use their experience of having been there to recognize that one is now somewhere else, and that the somewhere else is novel and may be valuable, notwithstanding the rules which declare that one cannot get there from here.'" (Weick, 1998).
Requires speed. May be suited for companies facing difficult opportunities or seeing a sudden opportunity. "For example, some researchers have determined that Israeli policymakers engage in improvisational behavior when making decisions. In an environment filled with uncertainty and risk -- terrorism, external threats, prior wars, and so on -- Israeli policymakers have been found to use improvisation to respond quickly and ingeniously to the various threats, as no plans exist to deal with these issues, or the plans that do exist prove inadequate when problems arise." It can work well when rapid decisions are needed and can avoid paralysis in decision making that results when people want to study an issue to death. However, it is an art, not a science, and can lead to poor decisions and irresponsibility.
Since Israeli security firms are
justly famous, might look to them for solutions in a turbulent
environment.
- Crisis Decision Making
Typically, they result from a catastrophic internal or external situation, where company's survival is in question. High uncertainty about information for decision making. Requires change from normal processes: need accurate decision making under time pressure and uncertainty. Requires centralization of decision making with most powerful, skilled, and trusted individuals. Often don't have luxury of considering all options. Frequently, the solutions are short-term, symbolic quick fixes.