Decision making is fundamental to anything living. Vegetables, plants and all living existences in that category, like in any other category, have some decision-making propensities in their very existence. At a basic level their shoots try to reach out, literally, to a space where they can meet the sun. The sun rays are critical along with water, air and other elements to the making of chlorophyl. Chlorophyl is essential to their survival. Successively, as one graduates through higher levels of life, decision-making capability has more demands on it and keeps improving both in range and sophistication. A tiny existence like amoeba has certain decision-making competencies to absorb food. That chain also keeps growing. Different levels of animals and mammals have different levels of decision-making competency and judgement. They always understand when there is eminent danger lurking. Evasion, escape and moving away physically from danger is a natural instinct.
Slowly, as one graduates up the decision tree choices in facing danger, and searching nourishment and protection increase. Progressively, more sophistication builds into the process. A conscious choice may even be to face the danger and face the risks which this confrontation would cause. Obviously, this requires sound perception, critical thinking and exercise of choices. A whole discipline has grown around decision-making and the focus is on many aspects of decision-making of which business choices are often important. Decisions require both divergent thinking and convergent thinking. The literature, research and references in such domain are large.
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Basically, decision-making which touches not just individual operations but dyadic and collective situations. Dyadic, collective situations are a continuing subject matter of thinking, analysis, further data collection, categorisation and more. The methodology of decision sciences keeps improving and keeps getting enriched.
At our present level of existence, it is obvious that individual decision making is one of the key foundations of activity and the aspired objective of solutions and progress. This is a fit domain of continuing research and putting that together for action.
Unfortunately, decision sciences while developing as a discipline has not yet been accepted as the foundation of all learning and growth. From the moment a child starts recognising the environment, images are being formed in the brain. These images get processed and lead to some kind of action. Parenting would require recognition of this early stage of learning in the life of a child. Social practise and smaller units of society in their beliefs have given rise to certain time-tested patterns of child rearing. This needs to be codified further and disseminated widely. It also needs contextualisation. Greater attention needs to be paid to this kind of activity.
Going up in the various stages of the life cycle. Infancy leads to childhood and then the cycle of growth – too well known to need recount – takes over as a natural process. Decision-making capacities grow with not just physical growth but the inherent mental growth. In the spaces available here, a detailed accounting will not be possible and is perhaps not necessary.
What is to be recognised is the need for a conscious approach to enhancing more sound decision-making competencies.
This growth can be many times enhanced by deliberate intervention. This can be both formal or informal. At the root of it is the concern of perceptions. Any decision is also rooted in the capacity to understand perceptions and root the action on the basis of sound judgement there-after. One should also be aware of the consequences of action which would be based on these perceptions. This makes decision making more deliberate and purposeful.
This is fundamental to life and all existence. Hence it is that a conscious universal approach to this domain, becomes a fundamental need. It cannot be confined to classrooms. It has to percolate to all levels of civil society (and action) at a continuing level. It is hoped that the elaboration made above will help in a more robust understanding of decision-making culture and the need to have a bottom line of gradually enhanced sophistication to one’s approach to it, and , keeping it alive.
Business decision-making is a part of this larger domain of decision-making and ultimately will get affected by the quality of the methodology used, the inputs and the context of this operation. Business itself has many forms but what is common to all its operations is finance and growth. Each orientation in business development will be affected by the quality of mind and the decision-making competencies of the individual.
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