Knowledge-Based Decision-Making

Decision-making is the mental process that results in the selection of a course of action among several alternatives. This is a complex process and subject to much intellectual discussion.

Decisions are made as a function of a wide variety of factors: needs, preferences, values, emotions, frames of reference, experience, training, education, alternatives, risk-benefit analysis. Decisions are made in the context of the environment within which the selected course of action must be executed.

Decision-making can also be considered a problem-solving activity that culminates in a solution. That activity can be rational or irrational, objective or subjective, logical or emotional, scientific or intuitive, contemplative or reactive, conscious or sub-conscious, structured or ambiguous, creative or sterile, consensual or independent.

When the decision-making process is considered rational, objective, logical, and scientific, it can be compared to what is often called the scientific method.

There is no right way to make decisions. It is self-evident that the decision-making process should be a function of the conditions, the situation, and the decision-maker. Moreover, decision-making processes or style can be described along a continuum, that might be explained as a spectrum of objectivity versus subjectivity. The decision-making process is not either ALL objective or ALL subjective. There are elements of both tendencies that are useful depending on the decision to be made.

And, time permitting, there may be great benefits to brainstorming to exploit the creativity of group thinking and the synergies of many, diverse backgrounds and ideas blended together in a collaborative process.

That said, I believe that to the maximum extent, the basis for decisions should be knowledge rather than intuition, facts rather than opinion, data instead of impressions, science in lieu of emotion. This tendency toward the objective end of the decision-making spectrum is what I mean by knowledge-based decision-making. Again, this is not to suggest that there is not a need for a reliance on experience, intuition, creativity, reflection, and consensus. But it is a belief that over time, most good decisions have a significant component of logic and knowledge, and that decisions based solely on subjective elements are not generally as effective.