EXAMPLE DECISION MAKING PROCESS

EXAMPLE 1
Determine whether to give an additional discount to a new customer who places a large order for merchandise and threatens to cancel the
order if the maximum possible discount is not given
1. Problem Identification
Should the additional discount be granted to this customer, even though the policy indicates that he/she must have been a customer for at
least one year and have placed at least 10 orders?
2. Generate alternative solutions
a) Grant discount bypassing the policy and without consulting with the director
b) Follow the policy to the letter, do not grant the discount and lose the order.
c) Negotiate with the director to authorize a special discount.
d) Negotiate with the new customer to accept the maximum discount allowed under the policy.
3. Evaluate Alternatives
(Weighting 1-10)
Alternative Advantage Disadvantage Weighting
a The customer would be pleased, the order would not be lost. This would be in violation of company policy, setting a bad example for
subordinates. 3
b Company policy would be respected, example for subordinates. The order would be lost, in addition to generating customer dissatisfaction
and the risk of the customer looking for a competitor 5
c The customer would be retained and the sale would be made, in addition to generating customer satisfaction. There is a possibility that
each time the customer
buy in large quantities and demand a larger discount than can be granted. 9
d You will be granted the discount established in the policy, which also applies to other customers. Customer dissatisfaction and annoyance
9
4. Choice of the best alternative
Option C has been chosen, to grant the discount to the customer after negotiation with the manager, so that the policy does not have to be
skipped without authorization, nor is an important order lost
5,6. Application and Evaluation of results.

Example 2
SITUATION: A person wants to do some activity on Saturday afternoon, but has no preference for any of them.
1. Define the problem. In this particular case, before we start thinking about what kind of activity we are going to carry out, we should ask
ourselves the following question: What do we want to achieve?
The answer to this question will help us to state the problem correctly. For example, in this case, some answers could be:
- Relating to other people.
- Helping to be healthy.
- Have a good time.
- Be inexpensive.
2. Generate alternatives. Once we are clear about the problem, the task is to think of alternatives to solve it. Some alternative solutions
could be the following:
- Take a trip
- Go to the movies
- Go to the disco
- Play soccer
In order not to complicate the
We have come up with four alternatives, but we can come up with as many as we want.
3. Assess the consequences of each alternative. For each alternative separately, we will consider the advantages and disadvantages it may
have. We will now give a score from 0 to 10 to each advantage and each disadvantage according to their importance. Then, we will add the
total of advantage scores and subtract the total of disadvantage scores.
Alternatives Advantages Score Disadvantages Score
Alternative 1: __
__
__ __ __ __
__
__ __ __
__
__ __ __
__
__
Alternative 2: __
__
__ __ __
__
__ __ __
__
__ __
__
__
Alternative 3: __
__
__ __
__
__ __
__
__ __
__
__

4. Choose the best possible alternative. All that remains is to choose the alternative with the highest overall positive score. This alternative
is the ideal one, and there is no point in beating about the bush.
Calculations Alternative 1: Alternative 2: Alternative 3:
Total advantages
Total Disadvantages
Total result
(advantages - disadvantages)
5. Apply the chosen alternative and check if the results are satisfactory. All that remains is for the weekend to arrive to carry out the activity
we have chosen. Once we have carried it out, we will assess whether it has been effective in resolving the situation for which we had no
answer.

Decision-making is present
in most of our day-to-day
activities. This often occurs
irrationally, i.e., sometimes
they are so small that we
do not perceive the process
that takes place in our brain
to select one option among
several. Decision-making is
generally influenced by the
beliefs, perceptions and
values of each individual.
When we have to make a
decision, we experience an
internal conflict to decide
the best option, since out of
two or three alternatives
that are presented to us we
must choose one, giving up
the rest without knowing if
they would have been
better. In other words, a
risk is taken, another option
is renounced and, finally, a
new responsibility is
acquired.

Within any organization this

becomes even more critical,
as any decision made
impacts the work life of
others. Sometimes it will be
for the better and
sometimes for the worse.
However, the lack of
decision making can be
lethal; the absence of
decision making can cause
entire organizations to run
the risk of slowing down
their growth and even
disappearing. Every
company formulates a
series of short-, medium-
and long-term goals and
objectives. In order to
achieve these goals,
management action is
required at all times, with
the aim of leading the
organization towards the
completion of its goals.

NetUno is a service provider

in the telecommunications
area, effectively operating
voice, video and data
transmission services, basic
telephony services, national
and international long
distance and access to
content for the corporate
market (companies). At the
same time, it offers cable
television, cable Internet
and basic telephony,
national and international
long distance services for
the residential market.

In the corporate sector it is

a broadband wired provider
through its own
MULTISERVICES Fiber Optic
Network (including last
miles) with a bandwidth of
2.5 Gbps, which is 100%
operational.
Communications over its
networks have no capacity
limitations and coverage is
based on operational
metropolitan rings in
Caracas, Maracay, Valencia,
Maracaibo and soon in
other cities.

Residential services in the

Venezuelan market are
provided through a
coverage of 600,000 homes
and businesses covered by
the HFC network (Hybrid:
Fiber-Coaxial) distributed in
Caracas, Guarenas, Guatire,
Maracay, Valencia, Puerto
Cabello, Maracaibo,
Barquisimeto, San Cristóbal
and Mérida.

The company has a

Collection and Customer
Service Department, the
workers in charge of
collection are outsourcing,
which are distributed by
zones or nodes as the
company actually catalogs
it. The decision making to
be performed has the scope
of this collection
management department.
Based on it, the problem
will be posed, analyzed, the
objectives will be defined
and the alternatives will be
proposed in order to select
the one that best suits the
achievement of the
objectives.

(Up)
The collection department has two collection supervisors, to whom
the collections must be reported. These reports must be delivered
between 8:00 am and 9:00 am, except for the last day of each
month, when they are reported both in the morning during the
hours described above and at night from 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm. As
they are outsourced, the collectors do not even earn the minimum
salary, they only receive a bonus of Bs. 80,000, and on the last day
of each month, the collection commission for the previous month is
cancelled, which varies greatly, as it depends on the monthly fees
charged, as well as the customers who pay two months or more.

Since these workers are not payroll employees, they do not receive
the benefits provided by law, nor are they paid for the use of their
vehicles. In addition, it is mandatory to report a minimum of 5
different receipts every day, in case there is no report, one day of
the bonus that the company pays to the collectors is deducted, that
is, Bs. 2.667. Apart from this, the collection supervisors exert
pressure on the collectors, which is understandable, since this type
of work deserves it, what I do not understand is the way in which
they do it. It is unsatisfactory for anyone to be humiliated and to be
told "voz populi" that he is good for nothing, that he has the wrong
job, that he has no aspirations, that he is not going to get out from
under, and so on and so forth.

Now, just as these supervisors treat the debt collectors, the

 collection manager treats these supervisors and is treated in the
same way by the general manager. In other words, it is a chain. It
should be noted that both supervisors and management also receive
commissions based on what collectors report for the month. This
situation could be improved by establishing objectives that are
beneficial for both the company and the workers and making
decisions that go hand in hand with these objectives.

Problem Analysis (Up)

The looming problem becomes one of bad management, since from an

organizational point of view the demeaning pressure comes from the
top of the company. The goals must be achieved, but the path is not
the most appropriate. It may be because of this that the manager is
where he/she is and no one will be able to change it, therefore, we
must begin by setting out the objectives we want to achieve and
establishing the alternatives that may help us to achieve them.

In order to determine which is the best alternative, one must analyze

one by one, see its advantages and disadvantages and be able to
select the one that best fits the requirements.

The best way for the analysis is to weight the alternatives versus the
objectives and consider the one with the highest score, this will allow
the percentage of failure in the selection to be minimum and the
assertive percentage to be maximum.

The following are the objectives to be achieved in order to provide a

solution to the problem posed.
Approach to Objectives (Subir)
In order to make a decision, it is important to have set out the
objectives to be achieved, since the alternative to be selected must
partially satisfy these objectives. The following objectives have been
 set for the problem posed:

1.- Reach the proposed collection goals.

2.- Avoid demeaning pressure.

3.- To make collectors feel more comfortable.

4.- Learn to be a good manager.

Proposed Alternatives (Up)

In order to make a decision, several alternatives must be considered,
and a study must be made of each of them in order to choose the
most feasible one for the achievement of the objectives and the
solution of the problem. The following alternatives have been
proposed for the described problem:

 ALTERNATIVE 1: Avoid discounting unreported days: Failure

to report anything on the day is cause for discounting, this
should not occur because as mentioned above, there are good
days and there are bad days and this does not mean that no
work has been done.
 ALTERNATIVE 2: Improve the bonus to the collectors: This
alternative could partly improve the reluctance that collectors
may have, since, as the saying goes, "por la plata baila el
perro" (the dog dances for money).
 ALTERNATIVE 3: Be more flexible in terms of the minimum
number of quotas to be reported on a daily basis. It is essential
to understand that there are good days and bad days for
everyone and this does not mean that the debt collector has
not put a lot of work into his job.
 ALTERNATIVE 4: Change tactics from the top: Considering
that if the attitude of the General Management could be more
flexible, this would reach the lower levels and give satisfactory
 results.
 ALTERNATIVE 5: Change tactics at the middle level: If
collections management would change their way of pressuring
supervisors, they in turn could change their attitude towards
collectors and therefore collectors could also increase their
daily performance and therefore reaching the goal would be
easier for them.
 ALTERNATIVE 6: Change of tactics of supervisors: The
humiliating pressure that supervisors exert on collectors could
be changed for one that does not denigrate so much, that is,
with more subtlety, because no one is superior to anyone else
and no one has the right to trample on the dignity of any
person. This would be a good tactic to see how the collectors
behave in order to achieve the established goals.
 ALTERNATIVE 7: Form a group of collectors to issue
complaints: The collectors should allow themselves the idea of
forming a team of complaints and make them reach their
immediate superiors and not keep quiet about everything and
then work without the encouragement that the work itself
deserves. The possibility of this happening could help to
minimize the force with which the pressure is exerted on them,
since by allowing themselves to be denigrated in the way that
is occurring, they are making the pressure worse and worse.

Evaluation of Alternatives (Up)

For the evaluation of the proposed alternatives, a comparative table
was made in which each of the alternatives was weighted against the
objectives, and a scale of 1 to 5 (low and high impact) was
established to test to what extent the objective was contemplated by
the alternative. These results are shown in the following table. For
greater convenience in the table data, the legends are on the outside
of the table.

Objectives:
 1.- Reach the proposed collection goals.
2.- Avoid demeaning pressure.
3.- To make collectors feel more comfortable.
4.- Learn to be a good manager.

Alternatives:

1.- Avoid discounting of non-reported days.

2.- Improve the bonus to collectors.
3.- Be more flexible in terms of the minimum number of quotas to be
reported daily.
4.- Change tactics from the top.
5.- Change tactics at the intermediate level.
6.- Change of tactics of the supervisors.
7.- Form a group of collectors to issue complaints.

Alternative Alternative Alternative Alternative Alternative Alternative Alternative Alternative

Objectives 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Objective 1 2 4 2 4 3 5 4
Objective 2 2 3 2 3 3 5 3
Objective 3 3 3 3 2 3 5 3
Objective 4 1 3 5 5 3 3 2
Totals 8 13 12 14 12 18 12

Selection and Justification of the Selected Alternative (Up)

As can be seen in the comparative table, Alternative 6: "Change of
tactics of supervisors" in the totalization is the one that gives the
highest. This indicates that it is the alternative that comes closest to
achieving the proposed objectives.

If collection supervisors heed the saying "don't do to anyone what you

don't want them to do to you", the objectives will be achieved. There
are many ways to exert pressure and the one that denigrates a
 person is not the most suitable. Being softer and less harsh helps
people feel better about themselves, especially when the type of work
is competing with others. Instead of shouting to the four winds those
who have been bad in the collection can be changed by those who are
better in the collection, because when you compete you compare
yourself with the best, therefore you seek to improve, reach and
surpass the best.

This gives optimal results and since it is starting from the bottom, it is
something that will be climbing up the organizational ladder, since if
the collection management sees that the tactics used by the
supervisors are generating good results, the time will come when they
will also stop exerting the wrong pressure that has been present in
their daily work. Likewise, when the general management visualizes
the results obtained, it will ask itself the question "What is
happening?", it will come to the answer ..... "There is no denigration
of the work done by debt collectors." This may or may not happen,
but it is better to believe that it will.

The general management probably thinks it is doing its job well and
will continue to exert the usual pressure, but he who takes no risks
neither wins nor loses, and in any business you have to take risks.
Sometimes it may be thought that a bad decision is the one that is
about to be made, but this is not always the case, especially if the
decision is based on solid foundations for the achievement of the
objectives.
Conclusion (Up)
Every day of our lives we make decisions, many times we only have
two alternatives which makes it easy to make them, for example, I go
to work or I stay resting... I cook or I go out to eat... I go to the party
or I don't go at all. But in order to make a selection of alternatives, it
is always necessary to see the pros and cons of each one of them,
which will help even more to make the decision as assertive as
possible.

Many times we resort to a third person to help us make a decision,

which is not bad, but in a personal way the decisions have to be more
intimate; now in the professional field it is possible that most of the
decisions are made by consensus, which sometimes is not easy, first
because there are always more than two alternatives and secondly
because each of us has an innate individuality which makes us
different from others and therefore we think differently from
them.This is sometimes not easy, firstly because there are always
more than two alternatives and secondly because each of us has an
innate individuality which makes us different from others and
therefore we think completely different. Hence the importance of
being able to see the advantages and disadvantages of each of the
alternatives, comparing them with each other in order to choose the
best one.

The implementation must be immediate, since it will then be clear

whether it was the most feasible alternative. Now it is necessary to
understand that all the decisions we make in our lives have a reason
for being, we may not make the best one but we can learn a lot from
it. The stumbles help to lift the feet...