Decision-Making Process

We make multiple decisions every day. Some of these decisions are for our personal lives, and some are business decisions. Each decision we make has an outcome, whether favorable or not that we must live with. Some people like to make quick decisions based on their gut reactions and others prefer a methodical approach. Using a step based decision-making process results in better decisions that have a lasting impact . I recently made the decision to return to school after many years of working.

I had obtained my Associate’s degree almost 20 years ago and started working for the company where I currently still work. I have wanted to go back to school for many years but as I got married and had children the timing never seemed right. I recently started looking for a new job and discovered a Bachelor’s degree is a requirement for the majority of the positions I wanted to apply for. The more resumes I sent out with no response, the more I knew I had to take action. I knew going to a traditional school was going to be too difficult with my hectic schedule.

I started to research colleges that catered to adult learners and found University of Phoenix. I spoke with a counselor at University of Phoenix who answered my questions on the amount of time school takes and how I would pay the tuition. I looked at going to a campus versus online and ultimately decided online would afford me the most flexibility. I prepared for my first class by doing a few things. I discussed my decision with my husband because more of my time would be spent doing schoolwork and I needed his support.

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I also prepared by attending a free orientation workshop online and I became familiar with the online environment and how the classes worked. I continue to evaluate my decision and feel it was the correct decision. According to our text, the six steps of the decision making process are identifying the problem, generating alternative solutions, evaluating the alternatives, making the choice, implementing the decision, and evaluating the decision (Bateman & Snell, 2011). After reviewing the steps, I realized I followed the steps when I made the decision to return to school.

First, I recognized the gap in my education for the jobs I wanted to fill. After identifying the issue, I thought about solutions and how I would obtain my Bachelor’s degree. I evaluated the decision and looked for the best school to achieve my goal. Once I decided to go to University of Phoenix, I had to implement the decision by applying for school and getting myself ready for the first course. As I continue school I evaluate if the decision still makes sense and if the online version is the best way to achieve my educational goals.

Generating alternative solutions is the step I could have spent some additional time in and done additional research on colleges and compared the schools. I heard about University of Phoenix and knew others who had attended so I did not do much research on what other schools had to offer. Overall, I am happy with my decision to go back to school and my choice of college.

References

1. Bateman, T. S. , & Snell, S. A. (2011). Management: Leading & collaborating in a competitive world (9th ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

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