Decision Making

Heather Schillinger September 14, 2009 Nutrition 303 Decision Making Everybody makes some sort of a decision every day of their lives. It can be something small like what they are going to wear to today to something big like what they plan to do with their lives. In order to make a decision, someone could follow the process of decision making which contains eight steps. They are: 1) Problem Identification, 2) Establish Decision Making Criteria, 3) Weighting the Decision Making Criteria, 4) Identify the Alternatives, 5) Analyze the Alternatives, 6) Making the Decision, 7) Implement the Decision, and 8) Evaluation. Along with everybody else, I also have to make a decision that will take place after I finish college. With these steps, I would be able to use them to solve a problem of my own. The problem I have to make a decision about is to find a job in a nutrition related setting. After identifying what problem I need to make a decision about, I need to come up with factors that will help me to decide which job I would eventually choose. These factors are 1) the location of the place regarding city and state, 2) place of employment like hospital or school, 3) pay of job, 4) requirements for the job, and 5) the cost of living. After I have established

the factors to help aid in my decision, I must add ranking to each of the factors in order of importance from 10 being most important to 1 not too important. Factor 1 gets a ranking of 10, Factor 2 a ranking of 10, Factor 3 a ranking of 8, Factor 4 a ranking of 5, and Factor 5 a ranking of 8. After ranking the factors according to importance, I need to figure out different options or alternatives that will help me solve my problem. One alternative could be to learn about the different jobs available. Another alternative could be to find another source of income that could be available if need be. A third alternative could be to visit the area where a possible job is located. After my alternatives have been identified, I need to compare and measure them using the same standards. The first alternative, or option A, would get a 9 for Factor 1 (9x10=90), 8 for Factor 2 (8x10=80), 9 for Factor 3 (9x8=72), 5 for Factor 4 (5x5=25), and 3 for Factor 5 (3x8=24). This would give a total of 291. The second alternative, or option B, would get a 3 for Factor 1 (3x10=30), 3 for Factor 2 (2x10=20), 8 for Factor 3 (8x8=64), 5 for Factor 4 (5x5=25), and 8 for Factor 5 (8x8=64). This would give a total of 203. The third and last alternative, or option C, would get a 9 for Factor 1 (9x10=90), 8 for Factor 2 (8x10=80), 5 for Factor 3 (5x8=40), 5 for Factor 4 (5x5=25), and 7 for Factor 5 (7x8=56). This would give a total of 291. Option A and C have the highest scores. After I have done all the steps to help aid in my decision making, I must now make a decision about my problem. I would choose either Option

A or C in making my decision. Now that a decision has been made, I will need to carry out the decision that I made and then evaluate how the decision turned out.