What are The Decision Making Models?

Following are the Decision Making Models which can be used depending on the specific requirements:-

1. The Classical Model
On confrontation of a manager with a certain decision making situation, the manager would collect all the critical information and the data that is required for performing a particular activity and also would take the decision that will certainly be for the betterment of the organization.

2. The Administrative Model
a. In such a model, the manager has more concern for himself.
b. On confrontation of a manager with a certain decision making situation, the manager would collect what ever information or the data that will be available and then will take a decision, which may not be in the best interests of the organization but will certainly be good for fulfilling his personal interests.
c. Expediency and the opportunism, both act as the hallmarks of the Administrative Model.

3. The Herbert Simon Model
a. This model is linked with the decision making process.
b. Explains the core of the decision making.
c. Used as the base for explaining the decision making process.
d. According the Herbert Simon Model, the process of the decision making consists of the following phases –

A. The Intelligence Phase – In this phase, the various activities for finding out the problems related to the searching of the operating environment are involved. By this, the identification of the various conditions can be done which ultimately helps in taking the decisions at the different levels. Extensive and the comprehensive database is must for the intelligence phase, making this phase very suitable for searching or scanning of the environment.

In this phase, the type of the environment forms a very major factor and hence the types of the environment can be categorized as the follows –

I. The Societal Environment – Mainly includes the economic, the legal and the social environment and it is this type of the environment in which the organization operates.

II. The Competitive Environment: – Includes the understanding and the analyzing of the characteristics, the trends and the behavior of or at the market place and also the various players of the market in which the organization operates.

III. The Organizational Environment – Includes the various capabilities, the strengths, the weaknesses, the constraints and the various other factors that affect the ability of the organization to discharge or operate its various types of the activities.

B. The Design Phase – The inventing, the developing and the analyzing of the various alternatives or the solutions to the particular problem forms a major part of this phase. The various steps that are to be followed in this phase can be summarized as the follows –

1. Support in getting the in depth knowledge of the problem.
2. A correct model of the situation can be made and the assumptions of the model need to be tested.
3. Support for the generation of the solutions can be obtained by –
I. Manipulation of the model for the development of the insights.
II. Creation of the database retrieval system.

4. Support for testing the feasibility of the solutions.

C. The Choice Phase – The selection of a specific alternative or the course of the action from the ones which have been generated and considered during the design phase, takes place during this phase. The choice procedure and the implementation of the chosen alternative form a very major part of the Choice phase.

The flow of the activities takes place from the intelligence phase to the design phase and then finally to the choice phase. But one very important point that must be remembered here is that at any phase there may be a return to a previous phase.

Limitations of the Simon Model
1. This model does not go further than the choice model.
2. Does not include the cognizance of the implementation and also of the feedback aspects.