Decision Making Linear Model

Judgment in Managerial Decision Making Linear Decision Making Linear decision making works by looking at, essentially, a "straight line of choices" that involves picking one option even when the future options cannot be seen. This is important to consider, because it allows a person to address a potential issue in a way that requires careful thought.

As the person moves down the line of choices, he or she has to decide each time whether to take the presented choice or whether to keep going on the chance that the next choice (or one further up the line) might actually be a better option (Albantakis & Deco, 2009). There is a certain level of risk in this type of decision making, because it is possible that the person will make a decision too soon in the process that will strongly impact the outcome.

If the person would have waited, he or she might have been more successful in the way the decision ended up. Of course, the opposite risk is also true, in that it is possible for the person to pass up the best decision while waiting to see if a better choice will come along (Bogacz, et al., 2006). That would leave the person with a choice that is not as good, but that is hopefully still acceptable.

At that point, the person would not be able to go back to any of the better choices, because the decision making is linear (Bogacz, et al., 2006). Backtracking is not allowed or available, and the person would have to simply continue to move forward and hope that future options for decisions are good options. Linear decision making is not the only option, as there are ways to determine which choice to make without using a linear method.

However, there are both pros and cons to the linear decision making method and other methods that can be used to choose among a variety of options. When a person decides something in a linear fashion, he or she has to make a number of small decisions that will ultimately culminate in a large decision (Albantakis & Deco, 2009). That can work well for something like whether to choose a parking space or keep looking for one that is closer, but it may not be best for other types of decisions.

A linear decision making model would have helped with a past decision I made regarding whether to take a job offer or hold out for a better one. Instead of waiting to see what kinds of offers I would get, I chose a job because it was offered to me and I was not sure if I could get something better. That was the right choice in a way, because money was needed and I was not comfortable taking a risk on not getting an offer that was better.

However, I could have been more willing to take a risk and that would have probably provided me with an offer that was higher or that gave me benefits I did not get with the offer I took. Instead of considering the probabilities and making a choice, I was too concerned that I would not be given any actual choice.

If that were to be the case, I would have continued to be out of a job because I would have avoided taking something that could have helped me pay the bills. At some point a person has to decide that something is better than nothing. When that decision has to be made, a linear decision making model can provide insight and consideration that would not be otherwise gathered (Albantakis & Deco, 2009).

It is not the perfect choice for everything, but it can definitely be valuable for a number of different kinds of scenarios that have to be considered in everyday life and in more unique circumstances like changing jobs or buying a car or a house. In short, there are times and places where linear decision making is the best idea, and other.