FAQ's

It is important to find and use suitable names to avoid confusion. The seven THEE names for the approaches to deciding are shown above.

Many synonyms for each can be found in the literature.  It is difficult to provide a complete list of these as so many disciplines have made a contribution. Also, many more or less elaborate, and more or less systematized, variants exist within each approach in accord with disciplinary concepts, industry values and circumstances.

Alternate Names are provided below the initial short description of each decision method.

If you understand the approach, then you can use any name you prefer including your own invention.

A: Yes if you are a senior manager, you should certainly know about all of them, and learn to respect their value.

A: No: you cannot possibly know them all, in the sense of becoming fully expert.

Observations and common-sense suggest that there is no recipe or blueprint that can be mechanically applied in decision situations.

So the full set of approaches forms a framework that helpfully orients a person and clarifies a range of possibilities.

Your awareness helps you choose an approach intelligently.  It does not turn you into an expert in that path. If you are like most people, you will have chosen a profession or job where your natural approach is of particular value, practically and socially. This ensures you get gratification and approval.

If you are not comfortable in using the required method, then you may have other options e.g. withdrawing, suggesting someone else take on the issue, or engaging a person expert in the method.

A: No.

Even the systemicist approach that tries so hard to subsume everything ends up being distinct, separate and partial.

For teaching or explanatory purposes and for self-development, each approach contains distinctive, experientially incompatible and socially conflicting assumptions. These characteristics oppose easy synthesis.

The approaches may seem to overlap and merge in the real world of work. However, this is because you are considering the route to overall achievement, as distinct from the making of a specific decision.

As an organizational phenomenon, the combination of approaches is explained here in relation to management culture and organizational decision-making. At an individual level, it is described in terms of personal achievement. It shows up further when we consider expectations in employment.

A: Yes & No

YES if the frame of reference is taking practical action to produce tangible achievements.

NO if the frame of reference is about abstract or intangible matters as explained below.

Normally you operate the appropriate frame of reference automatically and unconsciously.  However, if you want to reflect or criticize, then you need to be clear about your frame of reference. 

Decision in this section is the natural language name for PH1-L6. This decision is the entity that leads you to intervene, to implement, to take action, and to use tangible resources to produce effects.

However, if you are on a jury and have to «make a decision» as to whether a person is guilty or not guilty, then this «decision» is part of a different frame of reference. It is not a PH1-Decision, but rather «a judgement» within the ethical frame of reference of the law(sPH"6-G5²). Calling it a «decision» rather than a «verdict» does no harm, but it could be confusing in reflective discussions.

We make judgements all the time using many frames of reference. When we use our judgement to «decide what to say», for example, the «action» frame of reference is neither action-PH1 nor ethical rules-PH"6, but mental processes for meaningful communication (PH5).

THEE Principle: Formulae were developed to provide the unequivocal precision that natural language cannot provide.

No. Not at all. Just the opposite.

Do not be tempted to forget or abandon your own method for making good decisions.

But do keep your mind open to the new perspectives that are being explored here.

They can certainly help you handle yourself and others, especially in employment situations.