Decision making is something I sometimes struggle with, I tend to feel torn between what I want, like or need with what the person I am with may want, like or need. The only good decisions I do not struggle with are the ones that involve predictable outcomes. Once I make a decision I almost always feel confident within the decision made; however the process of deciding is a back and forth of the pros and cons. Whenever I am faced with a big decision I will analyze all the possibilities of what if? What could happen if I decide to do this? Who will be affected by my decision? Will this benefit me? What will my future be? I have been told I am an “over analyzer” and that if I could just relax I would be less stressed, but I do not know how to just relax?
I am a person that goes with the flow but when I know a decision needs to be made that might affect others as well as myself I take it very serious. For example I worked in a management position at my father’s company. I was hired as a secretary right out of college. After working there for a year our office manager was caught embezzling money and was fired immediately and another employee was thrown into the position. She was not happy and eventually quit after a year and that is when the position was handed to me. I was happy to have new responsibilities however I was not given a secretary to help me of all my previous responsibilities. The one positive was that I was working directly with my dad and he was training me in a lot of areas I knew would be beneficial in my future professional career.
After only 6 months in the position my dad was given the boot by the two brothers he partnered with. With the financial hardships many Americans were facing we were no different at CCR Total Turf Irrigation. The economic situation turned friends into enemies. The brothers were more worried about hiring on family members who were not making good decisions which was costing the company a lot of money and my dad disagreed and this caused conflict, and eventually an eruption. When my dad left I was alone to pick up the pieces. Responsibilities were again passed down to me causing me an extreme amount of stress. The stress started to take a toll on my family life as my dad was in a bitter feud and I was unable to find a job. I felt stuck. I finally decided to start applying anywhere and everywhere, and that is when I received a call back from ERAU.
It was a miracle to hear back because I knew the first time I applied 3 months prior I heard nothing but this was my shot to get my “big girl job”. After my first interview I felt like I nailed it. I was called back for a second interview and this one made me very weary but I was told I was selected for a third interview. On December 24, 2010 I was at my company Christmas party sitting alone inside while everyone was out drinking and eating when my phone rang and it was Annamarie telling me I was the chosen one. I wasn’t required to come in again because they wanted to hire me! I felt at that moment a sense of relief, I was ecstatic and nervous! I started imagining my life at that moment and decided to take the job.
All those days alone in the office allowed me to think about what I wanted to do with my life and where I could go. I imagined my family life being a lot less stressed. I imagined myself feeling confident and a sense of fulfillment. Deciding to look for a job was very hard for me at first because I felt bad leaving them with no one to fill my shoes. I was literally the only person who could reconcile, run payroll, complete timesheets, and pay the bills and or anything that really involved the office. I single handily did the entire operation and I didn’t receive any feedback, any appreciation or anything to make me feel as if I mattered. When I tried to talk to them about a raise they told me I was making good money for a secretary, which is because I was still being paid the same amount I was when I was a secretary. I was appalled because I was the only person in the entire company with a college education. That is when I made the decision to look for a new job where I could be surrounded with people at the same level. The pros were: organized environment, team mentality, education was important, better pay, benefits (I was currently not receiving any) and room to grow. The cons were: new place so I was scared to change, the drive was further, and I felt bad because I knew they needed me. Overall after working at ERAU for two years now I have never looked back accept to question why it took me so long to make the move.
My decision making process is scattered and usually made with a lot of my emotions and intuition. Wharton discusses the power of reasoning in multi-decision making and there is success in his results. Using the research conducted to solve multistage problems through the application of formulas that provide the most significant chance of success was very confusing for me to understand. I reread the chapter many times and my overall take on what he was trying to convey is that if a person can identify a course of action that will produce the best outcome in the future it is the best decision. Basically people are stuck thinking about only today, when just satisfying the needs of today doesn't always satisfy the needs 20 years from now. If you can gather enough data or knowledge to test the hypothesis you are better equipt to make a dynamic decision.
Going further form here on out I want to make better well informed decisions everyday not just when I feel it matters the most. The Decision Making Quiz gave me insight on the many flaws I have. My results concluded that my decision making style is holding me back from experiencing my full potential and capacity for happiness. I need to change my patterns and be more open to new opportunities I might normally overlook. In the future I am going to try and critically think, not over analyze the problem at hand. I will assess the implications of the problem. I will zoom out and look at the big picture to get a different perspective of the situation. Seeing a clear picture of the ideal outcome will allow me to make choices in order to get there. I will still weigh the pros and cons because this makes sense to me. There are always advantages and disadvantages and like Wharton discusses I will need figure out if I’m willing to lose one thing in order to gain another. Once I have gathered all my decision policies I will act on my decision.
Hoch, S. J., & Kunreuther, H. C. (2005). Wharton on making decisions. (1st edition.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
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