Orientation to Decision

The first step is to see a simple account of the 7 different decision methods (PH'1). Look through this section thoughtfully, so that you can:

● discover your own way(s) of deciding and acting
● recognize the different ways that other people decide
● see the unique strengths and intrinsic dangers of each
● recognize career implications of your way of deciding
● handle well-meaning advice or irritating criticism of your style
● advise and mentor others about issues relating to their way of deciding.

Once this Typology makes sense to you and you have a feel for the whole set, you can then proceed to explore additional frameworks with confidence. These require some reflection and are particularly oriented to: middle and senior managers and CEOs in larger organizations, as well as their consultants.

The Seven Paths of Decision and Action were discovered and clarified during research on decision-making, initiated over 40 years ago by Jimmy Algie, and subsequently developed collaboratively with myself (WK) in the 1980's.

We observed groups of managers, ostensibly meeting to discuss and decide an issue, and found that they spent most time arguing for their own preferred way to make the decision. When managers were cloned to resemble the leader, then decision-making was smoother: but not always better.

Seminar exercises were developed in which managers were asked to use different approaches on the same problem, and given guides to help them. This revealed that decisions and results were far more influenced by the approach than by the particular person using the approach.

This research also indicated that most people have the potential to use all of the approaches—even if one or two seem at first to be incomprehensible or even objectionable.

Read about the discovery of the evolution of management culture.

The primary aim of TOP is to help you become aware of yourself and others via THEE frameworks. TOP does not aim to teach you how to make decisions in your own situation or handle specific problems in your area of expertise.

There are many excellent texts and websites explaining and teaching the various decision methods outlined here and elsewhere on the TOP website. After grasping THEE frameworks, you will be able to engage with texts, teachers and good advice with a better perspective and more confidence.

The decision-making framework becomes the basis for a range of other frameworks derived from it. These provide understanding about how to:

■ Strengthen the management culture — PH'1C

■ Manage organizational achievement — PH'1CK.org

■ Manage personal achievement within an organization — PH'1CK.ind

■ Enable entrepreneurial achievement — PH'1CK.app

■ Recognize the variety of expectations in employment — PH'1C-sH

■ Handle being employed by an organization — PH'1C-sHK(E)

■ Handle employees and their work in an organization — PH'1CsHK(M)

The underpinning typology framework and the trajectory of management culture have been extensively checked and validated. The other frameworks were developed following the successful development of politics frameworks for Stage-1 of TOP. So they need to be regarded as provisional for the time being.

Is decision always about taking action?

No. Some decisions are judgements of fact or value and that is the desired result. The focus here, by contrast, is always on choice: decisions-as-expressed in-a-flow-of-action required to achieve a result. See examples of decision issues.

Many consulting and organizational development tools get their rationale (unbeknown to users) from one or more decision approaches: e.g. see this exercise in the About section.

It is possible to apply the various frameworks developed here; and build powerful targeted tools and intellectual technologies dedicated to specific industries, situations, functions or disciplines.