Introduction
The experience in decision making is crucial for self-realization and career building. Every profession and every kind of job requires a certain level of analytical skills in order to make the right decisions. In this essay, I am going to share with you my experience in decision making.
Main Body
The scholars argue that the effectiveness of the decision making depends on the individual’s ability to gather and logically analyze information. According to Robert Harris, decision making is “the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty and doubt about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them” (Harris 2012, n.pag.). Undoubtedly, every person grapples with this challenge.
However, not everyone can cope with it successfully making the wrong decision, which complicates the achievement of their goals or, sometimes, the communication with others. “Problem-solving and decision-making are closely linked, and each requires creativity in identifying and developing options, for which the brainstorming technique is particularly useful” (Problem-Solving 2010).
Personally, I consider brainstorming as one of the most effective techniques in decision making. I am a police officer at Abu Dhabi GHQ in Immigration, Citizenship, and Residency Department. I gained experience in decision making at work. My grade is the captain and I have to take the responsibility to coordinate the work, which requires problem-solving skills. During my time on campus, I never had the chance to make an important decision.
I hope that I will have such kind of opportunity during my studies in the future. However, I feel confident in my ability to learn quickly. Perhaps, it is due to this quality, I managed to find the appropriate solutions to the problems, which I had to solve at work. As I have already mentioned, I think that brainstorming can be very helpful. When I faced a challenging task, I used exactly this technique. I should admit that it was rather easy to organize. I just invited several of my colleagues.
I briefly described the problem to them and asked their opinions. My colleagues gave me their recommendations, which were very helpful because they gave me the clues to the problem-solving. I had my own vision but I was not sure that it was right. When I received the pieces of advice from my friends, I compared them to my own thoughts and I realized that I missed some very important details. Of course, it was brainstorming in the small group and just a few people participated in it. I am sure that any problem can be solved when a lot of people are encouraged to express their own opinions on the issue. However different they are, it is always better to analyze the suggestions of many people before making the decision, which will influence not only you but the others as well.
Needless to say, I have a lot of areas for development in this area. I think that I lack the theoretical base on the topic. I need to search for more information and to know about the effective techniques. I believe that in order to make the right decision, you should be confident in yourself. When you lack the knowledge and experience, you hesitate and panic. The challenge is that you have to make it quickly. You simply do not have a lot of time to search for the information or ask somebody for help. In this respect, the ability to make assumptions is important. It can be said that the effectiveness of the decisions you make depends on the rightness of your assumptions.
It is said that your assumption can be absolutely correct even if you do not have the evidence to support it (Assumptions and Known Quantities n.d.). I should admit that I lack the theoretical knowledge in making the assumptions, although I have already gained the primary experience in formulating them. Once, I had to prove my opinion on the working issue. In order to do so, I had to show the what-if scenario to my colleagues. I made the assumptions of the possible outcomes. I think that they effectively supported my arguments.
Conclusion
Decision-making skills are very important in everyday life. If you want to climb up the career ladder, you have to know how to make the right decisions. I have already gained experience in problem solving at work. However, I realize that I have to develop my skills further.
References
Assumptions and Known Quantities n.d. Web.
Harris, R 2012, Introduction to Decision making, Part 1. Web.
Problem-Solving and Decision-Making. 2010. Web.