BU288 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Group Cohesiveness, Groupthink, Satisficing
Document Summary
Decision making is the process of developing a commitment to some course of action. Three things are noteworthy about decision making: It involves making a choice among several action alternatives. Decision making can also be described as a process of problem solving. A problem exists when a gap is perceived between some existing state and some desired state. A problem for which the existing state is clear, the desired state is clear, and how to get from one state to another is fairly obvious. These problems are simple, and their solutions arouse little controversy. They are repetitive and familiar and they can be programmed. A program is a standardized way of solving a problem. Programs are only as good as the decision-making process that led to the adoption of the program in the first place. A problem for which the existing and desired states are unclear and the method of getting to the desired state is unknown.
