Strengths and weaknesses in organizational contexts

Decision-Making Models

Strengths & Weaknesses

The Six-Step Decision Making Model: The City of Miami

The Six-Step Decision Making Model is a rational, largely utilitarian way of making decisions. It emphasizes rationality and the need to define the situation correctly, after which it is theoretically easy to come to a decision based upon evaluating the best available alternatives. The City of Miami makes use of the Six- Step Model. It is easy to see why, for a public policy organization, this model would prove useful. Quite often, an organization must choose between several options, all of which will invariably cause pain to one group, regardless of what option is selected.

For example, take the decision frequently posed in government: should we cut social services or raise taxes? According to the model: 1. The decision maker, in this case the city government, will define the situation and the desired outcome (for example, there is a budget shortfall, but the city must minimize the impact upon residents). 2. The city will research and identify options (cutting services deemed to be non-critical combined with raising taxes on certain groups of people). 3. The impact upon the affected communities must be defined, depending on what package of cuts and tax increases are used. 4. Then, the city must make a decision between the different proposals of cuts and tax increases. 5. The city will then implement the chosen plan. 6. To provide guidance for the future, the city will then evaluate and track the results.

Ideally, one might say this is how all decisions should be made. However, there are some problems with the 'clean' and linear nature of the Six-Step Model. Firstly, it tends to minimize messy ethical considerations -- ethics are just one of a variety of equally-weighed considerations. Theoretically, everything is 'on the table' in the process, until the decision is made. And secondly, the real world of politics often involves personalities jockeying for position as well as rationality -- ignoring this fact can make the model less useful.

The brainstorming approach: The Grubb & Ellis Company

In contrast to the City of Miami, the Grubb & Ellis Company, a commercial real estate advisory firm, uses the 'brainstorming' method of decision-making. A creative business such as Grubb & Ellis clearly believes it benefits from a decision-making model that encourages a 'free for all' of information. In this model, individuals write down, collectively or individually, every idea that comes to mind, good or bad. No censorship is allowed. Quite often, unique and off-beat solutions are generated through this method, and sometimes even the 'craziest' ideas can germinate practical solutions.

The only problem with the brainstorming model is that because it is so democratic, the organization can get bogged down debating an array of available alternatives, when a quick decision is required. Eventually, a solution must be arrived at, and the organization may find itself forced to shift to a more rational model, such as the Six-Step Method, to pick the best alternative, or the organizational leader must take command and select the best model in an authoritarian manner.