Decision Quality E-Book

Carl Spetzler

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 350

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Add value with every decision using a simple yet powerful framework Few things are as valuable in business, and in life, as the ability to make good decisions. Can you imagine how much more rewarding your life and your business would be if every decision you made were the best it could be? Decision Quality empowers you to make the best possible choice and get more of what you truly want from every decision. Dr. Carl Spetzler is a leader in the field of decision science and has worked with organizations across industries to improve their decision-making capabilities. He and his co-authors, all experienced consultants and educators in this field, show you how to frame a problem or opportunity, create a set of attractive alternatives, identify relevant uncertain information, clarify the values that are important in the decision, apply tools of analysis, and develop buy-in among stakeholders. Their straightforward approach is elegantly simple, yet practical and powerful. It can be applied to all types of decisions. Our business and our personal lives are marked by a stream of decisions. Some are small. Some are large. Some are life-altering or strategic. How well we make those decisions truly matters. This book gives you a framework and thinking tools that will help you to improve the odds of getting more of what you value from every choice. You will learn: * The six requirements for decision quality, and how to apply them * The difference between a good decision and a good outcome * Why a decision can only be as good as the best of the available alternatives * Methods for making both "significant" and strategic decisions * The mental traps that undermine decision quality and how to avoid them * How to deal with uncertainty--a factor in every important choice * How to judge the quality of a decision at the time you're making it * How organizations have benefited from building quality into their decisions. Many people are satisfied with 'good enough' when making important decisions. This book provides a method that will take you and your co-workers beyond 'good enough' to true Decision Quality.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Preface

Part I: The Decision Quality Framework

1: The Power of Decisions

Decision Quality: A Framework for Better Decisions

Decision Skills Can Be Learned

Decisions versus Outcomes

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

2: The Requirements for Decision Quality

The Appropriate Frame

Creative Alternatives

Relevant and Reliable Information

Clear Values and Tradeoffs

Sound Reasoning

Commitment to Action

Judging the Quality of a Decision

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

3: Getting to Decision Quality

Declaring the Need for a Decision

Setting the Decision Agenda

Understanding the Destination of Decision Quality

Avoiding Decision Traps and Biases

Designing the Decision Process through Diagnosis

Tailoring to Fit the Decision

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

Part II: The Six Requirements for DQ

4: The Appropriate Frame

A Friday Afternoon Dilemma

The Key Components of a Frame

Framing the Friday Afternoon Dilemma

An Extended Example: The House Decision

Developing an Appropriate Frame

The Decision Hierarchy: A Tool for Framing

Things that Can Go Wrong

Judging the Quality of a Decision Frame

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

5: Creative Alternatives

Characteristics of Good Alternatives

The Strategy Table: A Tool for Defining Alternatives

Things That Can Go Wrong

Judging the Quality of Alternatives

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

6: Relevant and Reliable Information

Information from a Decision Perspective

An Extended Example: Michael's Job Choice

Structuring the Relevant Information in a Decision

The Decision Tree: A Tool for Structuring a Decision

What Is Reliable?

Things That Can Go Wrong

Judging the Quality of Information

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

7: Clear Values and Tradeoffs

Values and Tradeoffs for Decisions

Michael's Values and Tradeoffs

Values in a Business Context

Making Tradeoffs in Business Decisions

Things That Can Go Wrong

Judging the Quality of Values

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

8: Sound Reasoning

Reasoning for Michael's Job Decision

Reasoning in More Complex Decisions

The Relevance Diagram: A Tool for Structuring Complex Decisions

The Decision Model: A Tool for Analyzing Complex Decisions

The Tornado Diagram: A Tool for Displaying the Relevance of Information

Flying Bars: A Tool for Displaying Overall Uncertainty

Things That Can Go Wrong

When to Get Help with Reasoning

The Power of Iterating from a Simple Start

Judging the Quality of Reasoning

Key Points to Remember

Endnotes

9: Commitment to Action

Two Mindsets: Decision and Action

Commitment through Participation and Ownership

Conscious Commitment

Things That Can Go Wrong

Judging the Quality of Commitment to Action

Key Points to Remember

Part III: How to Achieve DQ

10: Biases and Traps in Decision Making

Mechanisms of the Mind

Protection of Mindset

Personality and Habits

Faulty Reasoning

Automatic Associations and Relative Thinking

Social Influences

Summing Up

Endnotes

11: Megabiases that Undermine DQ

DQ and Megabiases

Megabias #1: Narrow Framing

Megabias #2: The Illusion of DQ

Megabias #3: The Agreement Trap

Megabias #4: The Comfort Zone Megabias

Megabias #5: The Advocacy/Approval Myth

General Guidelines for Avoiding Megabiases

Endnotes

12: Achieving Quality in Strategic Decisions

The Dialogue Decision Process

Four Phases of Dialogue

Every Decision Situation Is Different

Advantages of the DDP

13: Achieving Quality in Significant Decisions

The DQ Appraisal Cycle: Iterating Our Way to DQ

The DQ Appraisal Cycle in Action: Robin's Career Crossroads

Summing Up

Part IV: The Journey to DQ

14: The Amoco Unleaded Gasoline Decision

Getting Started on the Unleaded Decision

Seeking Greater Clarity on the Key Uncertainty

Competing Reports

The Bottom Line

Decades of Experience in Improving Value

Endnote

15: Building Organizational Decision Quality

Organizational DQ

The Components of ODQ

Reaching ODQ

Chevron's Journey to ODQ

Taking the First Step

Endnote

16: Embarking on the DQ Journey

What Next?

References

About the Authors

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.3

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.2

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.2

Figure 6.1

Figure 6.2

Figure 6.3

Figure 7.1

Figure 8.1

Figure 8.2

Figure 8.3

Figure 8.4

Figure 8.5

Figure 8.6

Figure 8.7

Figure 8.8

Figure 10.1

Figure 10.2

Figure 10.3

Figure 12.1

Figure 13.1

Figure 13.2

Figure 13.3

Figure 13.4

Figure 13.5

Figure 14.1

Figure 14.2

Figure 14.3

Figure 14.4

Figure 14.5

Figure 14.6

Figure 15.1

Figure 15.2

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Part 1

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Decision Quality

Value Creation fromBetter Business Decisions

Carl Spetzler | Hannah Winter | Jennifer Meyer

Cover image: © David Malan (Getty Images)Cover design: Paul McCarthy

Copyright © 2016 by Strategic Decisions Group International LLC. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Dedication

To the many DQ champions who share our passion formaking the common sense of decision quality truly common.

Praise for Decision Quality

“No one has coached more businesses through high-stakes strategic decisions than Carl Spetzler and the team at SDG. If you're looking for wisdom on making better decisions in your business, you've come to the right place.”