Decision Making Tool: The Decision Tree
Effective decision making is vital for organizations and individuals alike (Howard, 2001). Good decision making is an essential skill but one that often does not come easy. Decision making involves identifying situations where decisions are necessary, recognizing values "implicit" within a situation, identifying alternative courses of action, securing factual information, predicting possible consequences and making decisions based on those potential consequences (Howard, 2002). A visual representation of the alternatives available is a tool that has been widely used to help facilitate decision making (Howard, 2002). This graphic or visual representation is often referred to as a 'decision tree' and has been used in organizations and educational facilities for years to help individuals formulate the "pros and cons of alternate decisions", create a decision making grid and evaluate the best alternatives for a particularly situation (Howard, 220). Decision Tress are primary tools that enable decision between multiple courses of action (Mind Tool, 2005). A decision tree provides a graphical reference an individual can use to create a balanced picture of the risks associated with choices and the different rewards associated wi
There are multiple tools available for individuals and corporate decision makers to make complex decisions carefully and strategically. One of the best decision making tools available is a decision tree, which uses graphical representation of problems to outline alternative solutions. Decision trees help decision makers weigh the pros and cons of multiple alternatives, and in many instances provide empirical data supporting certain alternatives or discouraging others. Evaluating the graphical representation is a key component of evaluating the decision tree. Here the individual can look at the alternatives available and decide which holds the best value or most potential for a positive outcome (Mind Tool, 2005). You can use decision trees to calculate the value uncertain outcomes have to offer, including the value for example of new products or services (Mind Tool, 205). Placing numbers to ideas and concepts will help create valuation and make projecting the best course of action easier. As part of this process the individual using the decision tree should also consider writing the cost of each choice available along decisions lines and also the benefits (Mind Tool, 2005). Prone to very little error, decision making trees have been utilized by some of the largest names in the corporate world to make complex decision making a much easier and exact task and science. Decision making trees are best reserved for analyzing the pros and cons of a decision when multiple alternatives are available. Decision making trees and other graphical representations of issues are not recommended when an individual has to decide on a simple issue that has only one or two alternatives. While a decision tree could be used in such cases, it is often unnecessary, unless the user is atte
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