Rational and Nonrational Decision Making

Rational decision making is a very important skill to have. Rational decision making is a structured or reasonable cogitation process to the deciding behavior. (Higson) It is possible to sustain the decision maker by fabricating the knowledge related with the choice open and specific is the choice to determine rationally. This can be very important when making high value decisions which can bring us benefit from the help of tools, processes, or the knowledge of experts. This approach can help to confirm discipline and conformity is built into our decision making process.

For the word rational suggests, this approach brings logic and order to decision making.

There’re five barriers to rationality. First of the barrier is being very clear about an issues. We need to fully understand the issue in order to be rational. This is very complicated because issue in tangible are too uncertain with look upon to cause and effect. Thence, we usually misunderstand on the wrong issue and then confusing the correct problem with the wrong symptoms, or even refusing and overlooking an issue.

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The second barrier to rationality is the belief that all important criteria and alternatives can be identified. In fact, some of the people misconception that all important criteria and identify alternatives because our mind is finite. The third barrier is the belief that criteria and alternatives can likely be ranked and weighed in order of significance. Yet, in the authentic world, issues are typically complicated, issues are typically complicated, so misconception that all important criteria and alternatives can be ranked in priority.

The fourth barrier is the assumptions that there are no constraints in getting all the information we need to analyze and make the optimal choice. In fact, it is not possible to get all the information due to there are cost and time constraints. Full information will not happen in this world. Thus, it is not possible to accurately evaluate each alternative based on full information in the evaluation of each alternative to match each standard.

The final barrier to rationality is the belief that decision maker will be able to limit analysis to only the criteria listed, then rate the importance of the criteria and weigh its decision on just that because as humans, emotions and irrelevant criteria limit analysis to particular scope. Hence, these are the barriers to rationality that we should learn in order to provide impact as we continue growing.

Decision-making is an important side of planning. Nothing can be complete without making decision. Decision making is the process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions. Using a step-by-step decision-making process can help you make more deliberate, thoughtful decisions by establishing related information and defining alternatives. This approach increases the chances that you will choose the most satisfying alternative possible.

I have used the six steps to made decision for my part time study in Degree in Business Management with Wawasan Open University. The first step of making a decision is to identify the decision or problem and set the goal which you wish to achieve. Before any decision is make, you should know and have a clear mindset on the goal you want to reach. To find out your specific problem, collect as much data from your area of need and analyze it to find any alarming patterns or trends. So, to continue study my Degree is always my dream. However, due to family financial problem, I forced to stop study after my Diploma in Olympia College which was seven years ago. The beginning of the year, I accompanied my friend to check on the package offered by Wawasan Open University. After we understand and talked to the staff in Regional Office, it inspired me to take up my Degree because I am working now and I can pay for my own study fees. I wish I can complete my Degree before 30 years old. Also, I am a planner so I wish to study a course where can polish and help in my career.

The second step is to collect the facts and information and proceed with the next step. This step calls out exactly what are the important criteria in decision making. Enlarging your pool of potential solutions stimulate your chances of solving your problem. While premeditating your options in making decisions, this step involves the process of considering you as decision maker, your values, goals, interests and your preferences. In this step, it is a criteria list we have in our mind that defines our decision and you will always remember the mind function of valuing. To find a lot of potential solution, you should collect a lot of information about your problem from your own knowledge and the internet. In Malaysia, there are many choice of Universities and Colleges for part timer students. So I had make a lot of researched on the university and Online Institution for Business Management courses. While considering different Universities and Colleges, I developed a list of criterion that had differently ranked priorities: reputable program, accredited programs, graduate assistantships, location, subjects, and program length. These criterions helped me think about costs incurred, risks encountered, and desired outcomes.

The third step is to list down the choices and alternative. The alternative should be with possibility and relevant to the final decision. This is because the criteria have to be ranked in importance and as the decision maker, it is your responsible to decide which criterion be prioritized and to list down the correct priorities in the decision making process. The main purpose of this is to give importance to the criteria which are most important in nature. I list down all of them and go through the websites by checking if the package and offer is good. Furthermore, I attended to some Universities and Colleges in Penang such as Segi College, Inti College and Setral College. Whereas, I also called Sunway University and UniKL to check on their available courses for year 2020. While I was making the decision, the most important criterion was definitely the possibility of obtaining a graduate assistantship. Thinking about this posthumously, I will assign weight to each of the decision factors using one through six to indicated importance, six is the most important. Graduate assistantship (6), Accredited program (5), Reputable program (4), Subjects (3), Location (2), and Program length (1). I felt that some of the priority weights shifted during different stages of decision-making. As I am getting older to decide, I looked more closely at program length and if I could feasibly imagine myself move around.

The fourth step is to evaluating the entire alternatives and considering the positive and negative on each alternatives. With the information you gather and emotions to imagine what going to happen if you carried out each of the alternatives to the end. Assess whether the need identified in step 1 would be met or solve it through the use of each alternative. You will begin to favor certain alternatives as you been go through this difficult process. Those seems to have a higher potential to reaching your goal. Finally, place the alternatives in a priority order, based upon your own value system. This step requires that you list all possible outcomes in regards to the problem, so essentially different options. So, conclusion that I filter 3 Universities which gives the best offer, which are Wawasan Open University, Sunway University and Inti College.

The fifth step is to risk and investigate each of the alternatives. Once you have weighed all the evidence, you are ready to pick the alternative that seems to be best one for you. You may even select a combination of alternatives. Your choice in Step 5 may very likely be the same or similar to the alternative you placed at the top of your list at the end of Step 4. To analyze the alternatives, you must score each alternative on a scale of 1-10 based on each variable you have outlined. However, if I enroll in Sunway University, I have to bear the costs for my rental, transport and high expenses in Kuala Lumpur. As all my family is in Penang and I do not have to pay rental and I can save more the money for the fees. Then for Inti College, the classes are mostly at night in weekdays, which mean I have to travel every day after work as I live on mainland. Due to Penang traffic is unpredictable nowadays, it will be very rush for me to attend the classes every week. So applying the weighted criteria to the alternatives, I basically scored each criteria on a scale of one to ten in order to create a score for each school, the sum of the alternatives being the score. So for Wawasan Open University, graduate assistantships scored a 10 and if I multiply this by 6 (the weight from step three), it would be equivalent to a 60. Applying this to all other variables, Wawasan Open University received a total score of 166, Inti College 139 and Sunway University 84.

The final step is to select the choice that scores highest. You’re now ready to take some positive action by starting to comply the alternative you chose in Step 5. As the highest score is Wawasan Open University and best solutions for me because it is in Penang and the classes are all in weekends only. I do not have to crash with my job and bother about traffic jam issue. So here I am today as a Wawasan Open University student and I am happy with my decision. There can possibly be other variables that influence your process of selecting an alternative. I applied for scholarships, grants, and assistantships for all University, however I was not successful at acquiring interviews or employment from all, so when Wawasan Open University offered me an assistantship with RM2, 000, my decision was made.

The rational decision making requires that all possible solutions to a problem be invent. No solutions should ever be evaluated or discarded at this point of decision making process. This process requires wide research and multiple resources or parties should be involved in the generation of this list. (Sara, 2006) When making your own decisions about college or any other big life choices, you can use this six-step process to help lessen options down. I am currently a Wawasan Open University student carry out a degree in Business Management. Though I am extremely happy about my assistantship, course work, and lecturers.