UNIT 3 DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.1 Reading a Situation
3.2 Evaluating the Available Information and Evidence
3.3 Comparing Different Decisions
3.4 Problem Solving
3.5 Let Us Sum Up
3.6 Suggested Readings
3.0 OBJECTIVES
● Learn how to approach decision-making in a step-by-step manner
● Learn how to take more informed decisions in both personal and professional spheres of
life
● Apply techniques of decision-making to respond to and solve problems
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Much of our life is spent taking decisions, making choices, and solving problems which we
encounter. But could we say that all our decisions are taken thoughtfully, or are they frequently
abrupt, hasty, and dissatisfying? The answer is not simple for anybody. The situations we
encounter in our daily lives are far more complex than they may appear, and taking good
decisions is always a challenge. But it is a challenge we must learn to navigate better, and that is
precisely what this unit will help you do.
A decision, in simple terms, refers to a choice or judgment one has to make in a situation. The
quality of the decision, however, will depend on a set of factors. It will depend on a critical
reading of the situation, evaluating the available information and perspectives to help you make a
sound decision, and comparing the benefits and limitations of each potential decision. Further,
the effectiveness of a decision will depend on whether enough analysis has gone into the
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decision-making. When decisions are made on the basis of inadequate information or thought,
they may be highly ineffective.
Decision-making is also an act of responsibility. We know that many bad or dangerous decisions
are taken by people in power, which can impact how we live in society. For example, during the
Covid-19 pandemic, some governments have been able to effectively contain the spread of the
virus whereas others have not. If we analyse the reasons behind this difference, we will find that
better decisions are taken when there is better critical thinking accompanying the decisions. If a
government does not closely study the available scientific information and evidence available, if
it does not listen to the perspectives of different experts and stakeholders, or if it does not
compare the successful and unsuccessful policies of other countries, then the basis of decision-
making will be weak.
The above example leads us to another insight. Decision-making is closely linked to problem-
solving. While everyday decisions such as eating meals or meeting friends are not necessarily
responding to a problem, many other decisions in your personal and professional life definitely
are. For example, there are numerous conflicts and problems you will encounter in your
workplace. These problems have to do with gaps in communication between people, or
disagreements on approaches towards work, among other issues. The capacity to make an
informed and critical decision will immensely help you navigate such scenarios and problems.
To reiterate, decision-making involves three primary steps:
i. The reading of the situation within which the decision will be made
ii. The evaluation of available information and perspectives to help you make a sound decision
iii. The comparison of different potential decisions, to be able to identify the best or the most
effective decision.
In the next few sections, we will go over each step more elaborately.
Check your progress 1
Think of one important decision you have taken in the past one year. It could be related to your
education, your professional work, or relationships with family and friends. Identify and jot
down the factors that went into the decision-making. Think through the following questions:
a) where and when was the decision taken?
b) what was the context or situation within which the decision was taken?
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c) what were the various facts, data, and information that you considered while taking the
decision?
d) did you compare different decisions that could be taken in the situation and modify your
decision accordingly?
e) would you consider the decision to be perfect, or do you think it has certain limitations?
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3.1 READING A SITUATION
Imagine you're teaching a course on soft skills, to a set of undergraduate students. While
teaching, you notice that there is one student who does not pay any attention, keeps texting on
his phone, or reads film magazines in class. You have asked him questions a couple of times to
redirect his attention, but he's answered them half-heartedly and promptly gone back to doing
what he wants to. A few students who sit around him have complained that they feel distracted
because of him. When you have mentioned this situation to your colleagues, they have given you
a range of suggestions. Some have asked you to be harsh and take away his phone; others have
asked you to be gentle and talk to him separately to understand his behaviour better. What would
you do in such a situation?
Now the first step is to read the situation very closely. When we use the word 'read', we mean a
combination of things: observation, categorization of details, and interpretation. You have
already observed the broad details of the situation. You could also observe where he sits (front or
back), if he's distracted right from the beginning of the class or during certain moments, and how
he responds when you directly ask him questions in class. You will realise that while you can
observe superficial details, you have no sense of how the student actually feels. In such a case,
you might need to also talk to the student, and ask how he feels in the classroom. It’s important
that you don’t impose your judgment onto the student--that will actually compromise your
observation and you will not get reliable, honest answers from the student. This is, of course, a
tricky situation. But it’s necessary that you create an atmosphere where the student can tell you
why he is distracted without feeling intimidated. Your role is to learn from the student’s answers,
not immediately come to a conclusion.
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After having jotted down your observations, you can begin organising and categorising them.
You will notice that the situation can be broken down into different types of details: details about
the social and physical environment; details about behaviour; and details about student
motivation. For example, the details about the social and physical environment would include
how many students are in class, where the student gets to sit, whether the student gets along with
their peers or not, the social and linguistic background of the student, and so on. The details
about behaviour would include what the student is actually doing--whether they are fidgeting,
reading other books, tapping their phones. The details about student motivation would be
gathered from a conversation with the student. This would include details such as what topics
interest the student, whether the student feels engaged with the style of lecture, whether the
student finds the lecture content relevant to their personal lives, and so on.
Once you have observed and categorised the various aspects of the situation, now comes the
most important step: interpretation. Now to interpret the details, you might have to read up on the
issue, talk to other people, and consider more perspectives. For example, to understand why the
student is not motivated by the content you teach, you will have to reflect on your own teaching
style. This will include an analysis of how you deliver content, the references and examples you
use to illustrate the content, your body language, and so on.
In other words, reading the situation is quite a complex task. Once you have a more detailed
understanding of the situation, you are more empowered to make a better decision to respond to
the situation. However, it will be important to evaluate all available information that you have
about the situation, which we will discuss in the next section.
Check your progress 2
Imagine a situation where you are working on a group assignment with three other people. After
you have submitted the assignment, you realise that one person in the group had plagiarised the
section they had to write. As a group, you can face strict penalties, so you will have to make a
decision to help deal with the situation. Jot down how you would ‘read’ the situation.
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3.2 EVALUATING THE AVAILABLE INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE
In the previous section, we discussed how it is important to list down all the details that you will
observe in a situation. These details, in fact, become part of the information you need to assess a
situation and make a good decision. However, the details may not be enough and in some cases,
may even be misleading. If you remember the previous example, where a teacher has to observe
the details of how a student is distracted, the observation will only be accurate if the teacher is a
critical observer. But this, unfortunately, cannot be guaranteed. All of us observe through our
own biases, our own filters. You may read the student’s behaviour as willing disobedience and
disinterest, but the student may not have learned how to participate in classroom conversations.
We can try to be as unbiased as possible, but there will always be a limit to our own perceptions.
As a result, it will be important to gather information and evidence through multiple other
sources.
Imagine you are leading your college committee which organises cultural events and discussions
for the entire college. Your job, in consultation with the other members in the committee, is to
identify speakers and performers who can come and present their work and ideas to the larger
college audience. After you take charge, you realise that there are contrary perspectives about
who should be invited. Some students feel that only mainstream celebrities (such as actors and
singers) should be invited because they will encourage larger audiences to turn up for these
events. If more students turn up, then it increases the popularity of your committee. Other
students, however, believe that people who do socially conscious work should be invited--
grassroots activists, human rights lawyers, and NGO workers. This can help sensitise the larger
student body, who may not be exposed to many socially relevant issues in the country. Yet
another group believes that it is not enough to just invite people working in the social sector.
They argue that people from marginalised communities should be prioritised, rather than those
from urban, dominant caste backgrounds. This will help amplify not just social causes, but also
give a platform to those who are socially excluded or discriminated against. Now after hearing
all these perspectives, you have to decide who you will invite and why. What would you do?
In this situation, the first step will be to observe and understand all the perspectives. If required,
you will have to set up conversations with different student groups to get a better sense of the
reasons for why they wish to invite certain people. But you cannot merely rely on the
perspectives of the groups. It is possible some groups will have a stronger, confident voice, or
that some groups will be personally close to you. You cannot allow yourself to be biased or
partial to certain groups, just based on the presentation of their perspectives. In other words, this
means you will have to look for answers outside social conversations within your college
community.
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There are three steps that you will have to go through here. First, you have to identify the gaps in
the information that you can find from a reading of the situation. Second, you will have to search
for and list more evidence to substantiate each of the positions or perspectives. And finally, you
will have to evaluate the evidence to see if they can significantly influence your decision-
making. Now let’s go over each step:
a) Identifying gaps in situational details/information: From a detailed reading of the
situation, you can gather the different perspectives of different student groups. But you
realise that they are speaking from their experience of college life, and partially through
their own social and political interests. Are their perspectives based on actual facts? Now
a good way to identify the gaps in information is by asking questions. Let’s list a few
important questions relevant to the present situation:
I. Is it true that the popularity of the committee increases if celebrities are invited?
II. Is there a necessary fan following for all celebrities?
III. What kinds of opinions and attitudes do celebrities hold?
IV. Do students get sensitised if they are exposed to people working in the social sector?
V. Does participation in events decrease if less famous people are invited?
VI. Are people from marginalised sections of society under-represented in discussions and
events?
These are some questions that will help you seek more information from sources outside the
immediate situation. For example, to address the final question, you will need to look at previous
records of who has been invited to your college, and look at reports and studies which can
provide a detailed understanding of how members of certain communities are less represented
than others. You may want to speak to teachers or alumni, to get a sense of their experiences
from a previous time. You may discover that even among marginalised communities, people
from certain regions may have been invited over others. This will give you a more precise idea of
which communities have been less represented or not represented at all in college talks, in terms
of caste, gender, regional location, linguistic background, and so on.
b) Listing the evidence: The second step involves putting together all the evidence you
have gathered, from a reading of the situation as well as a reading of external sources.
In the example we are discussing, the evidence gathered from reading the situation includes: the
opinions of different student groups, the reasons provided by each group, and any personal
experience you have had regarding events that have been organised in your presence. The
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evidence gathered from external sources include: records of events in your college; opinions of
faculty members and alumni; data and literature to help you cross-verify and assess the opinions
and perspectives of other students. Finally, after you have listed all the evidence, you can move
on to evaluating the evidence.
c) Evaluating the evidence: One of the most crucial aspects in decision-making is to
evaluate the evidence. Each piece of information or evidence will provide their own
arguments, and you will have to work through each of them. While there is no standard
formula for how you can evaluate, there are some issues you need to keep in mind:
i) Reflect on your own biases: In the example given above, you may be inclined towards one
perspective over another. You may feel that calling a celebrity will bring your committee more
short-term benefits, and you may not seriously consider the question of how the events you
organise also need to socially sensitise people. Or you may be inclined to listen more to a group
you are friends with. But when you listen to different perspectives, you are being asked to
question your own bias and broaden your own perspective. Assess the evidence by thoughtfully
considering it, not by narrowly judging it through your own bias.
ii) Corroborate the evidence: It is important that you find multiple sources to reinforce an
opinion or perspective. For example, the perspective that people from the social sector can
sensitise students needs to be understood better. You can talk to more students, look up studies,
and also talk to people from the social sector about their own experiences in sensitising others. If
you make a decision in favour of one position, you need to have strong evidence to back it up.
iii) Look at counter-evidence: To develop greater clarity about whether the information or
evidence is persuasive, you can actually search for information or perspectives that contradict the
available evidence. We can call this counter-evidence. For example, some may argue that
inviting figures from marginalised communities does not really make a big difference--it can feel
tokenistic instead. The platform provided is too insignificant for it to really matter. If genuine
representation has to take place, then people from marginalised communities have to be included
within all decision-making bodies within the college. Even students from marginalised
communities might prefer attending the talks of more ‘famous’ people instead. And more elite
students might not attend these sessions at all. Now this is a view that challenges the position that
calling people from marginalised communities helps provide a platform to these communities, to
amplify their voices. You have to seriously consider the counter-evidence. If it is incorrect or
misleading, then the existing evidence is proven right. But if it has some truth to it, then the
evidence you have is more complex. Perhaps you will come to the conclusion that representing
people from marginalised communities is important, but it may not always be effective and has
to be supported by other strategies. This complex understanding will help make your decision-
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making much more refined--your decision will be based on a real view of things, rather than
exaggerated projections.
Once you have worked through the evidence, you will be far more empowered to take a
meaningful decision. However, there is another hurdle to be crossed: what if two or more
decisions feel equally valid? We will discuss this problem in the next section.
Check your progress 3
Imagine a scenario where you are contesting your local municipality or panchayat election
without any affiliation to a big party. As you begin to campaign, you hear different perspectives
about how you should campaign. Some tell you to be idealistic and campaign around issues that
matter to people; others tell you to advertise yourself smartly and not fuss about being honest;
and a few more are asking you to join a big party to avoid being muscled out of the election.
What decision would you take in this situation, and what could be the possible information and
evidence that will help you take this decision?
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3.3 COMPARING DIFFERENT DECISIONS
Is there a best decision for each situation? There may be different answers to this question based
on the experiences and perspectives of each person. You may have noticed that people decide
very differently in the same situation, and sometimes you are divided between decisions- you
cannot be sure which is better than the other. To arrive at what you think is the most effective
decision in a situation, you cannot just rely on intuition or hunch. Instead, you need to be able to
compare the reasoning behind each potential decision in a situation, and justify why you are
choosing one over the other.
Imagine you have to choose between two different disciplines for your higher studies, one which
is more traditional and another which is more off-beat. Your parents want you to choose the
more traditional course--say, engineering or economics--since it is associated with more stable
and well-paid jobs. On the other hand, you want to study a course allied to your passions and
interests--say, art history or music. Such niche courses may not provide you immediate jobs, and
on top of that, these courses are available in more elite universities where the fees are
considerably higher. What would you decide in this situation?
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Now clearly there could be two different decisions here. It will be necessary to work through all
the reasons that can both encourage and discourage each decision. A useful technique to compare
the decisions would be to draw a table listing all the reasons for and against each decision. In this
situation, there are two possible decisions--let’s call them decision A and decision B. Decision A
refers to opting for a more traditional course; and decision B refers to choosing the more off-beat
course. Here, reasons refer to the judgments and arguments that you have arrived at, after reading
your situation and assessing all the available evidence.
Reasons in favour of Reasons in favour of Reasons opposing Reasons opposing
decision A decision B decision A decision B
Will ensure more Can lead to Competition will be Number of jobs
immediate and prominent careers in higher and it might available will be
stable job prospects. the long run, not be as easy to get less, although
although immediate well-paid jobs unless competition will also
job prospects might one performs be less.
be limited. exceptionally or
goes to more elite
colleges.
Will be more Will be more The personal Owing to less job
satisfying for satisfying for you dissatisfaction and opportunities, there
parents. personally. disconnect will might be a constant
reduce the quality of anxiety to train/skill
learning. oneself in other
practical ways, thus
reducing the
engagement with the
discipline.
Might be less Despite the Without sufficient Might be more
expensive, unless expenses, the course motivation for the expensive, since
you go to an elite will train you in a field and allied jobs, these courses are
college. field that you care there might be long- mostly available in
about and find term regret and elite private colleges.
meaningful. dissatisfaction about
the life choices that
you made.
After you have listed all the reasons for and against, you have to compare them and assess which
ones would be more preferable in your situation. For example, if you have financial constraints
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in your family, it may not be advisable to go for a field that is expensive and does not ensure
stable jobs. You might want to save money first, and then go for your studies. Even though this
decision may seem dissatisfying in the short run, it can enable you to make better and more
meaningful choices in the long run. On the other hand, if you are sure how you want to use your
degree towards certain personal and professional goals, then studying a niche field will not seem
as anxiety-inducing. If you think that you are someone who cannot sustain interest without
strong motivation, then studying a traditional course would be difficult and even lead to failure.
In other words, once you list all the reasons, you can make the decision more strategically,
understand what would be most relevant for your context, and take responsibility for its
consequences. For example, if your parents are strongly opposed to you studying a non-
mainstream course, you will have to provide them with good reasons for your choice. This
exercise will help you justify your decision much better, to yourself and to others.
Check your Progress 4
Think of a situation in your life, where you were divided between two possible decisions or
choices. Draw a table to list all the reasons for and against each decision.
3.4 PROBLEM SOLVING
The process of decision-making is closely linked to how we go about solving or responding to
problems. To solve a problem, you will need to identify the problem, closely observe and read
the problem, look at all the available information to understand the details of the problem, break
down the problem into different components, compare possible solutions, and finally decide how
to approach solving the problem. While we have already discussed many of these steps in
previous sections, here we will go through a few ideas that need separate focus. We will do this
through a few tasks.
Task 1: Describing the problem
Does a problem already exist in the world, is it experienced by us in a ready-made version, or do
we construct and define the problem? Many problems, whether they are long-term social
problems such as poverty or ecological problems such as climate change, already exist and we
are broadly aware of what they are. However, to meaningfully respond to a problem, it is
important that we describe and clarify it for ourselves, so that we know what exactly we want to
respond to.
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Now think of a problem that you experience in your everyday life. This could have to do with
how you get into exhausting fights with people who hold different political opinions from yours,
or how you feel under-confident about doing certain tasks, or anything at all. How would you
describe the problem?
To describe the problem, think of the following questions:
a) Where and when does the problem occur?
b) Does the problem occur in a similar way every time, or is it different? Is there a pattern to
how the problem plays out?
c) What are the different components of the problem?
d) What are the immediate causes or triggers for the problem? What could be the deeper,
underlying causes for the problem?
e) Is the problem linked to other problems or issues?
Jot down your responses to each question, and then put it together as a short narrative if you can.
If you can describe the problem clearly and sharply, it will give you a sense of the specific nature
of the problem. For example, if you are getting into fights with people who hold different
political opinions, you may realise that this problem occurs specifically on social media
platforms, that it is triggered by assumptions you hold about the other person based on their
linguistic skills, and that it is broadly linked to your lack of exposure to people outside your
social circle. If your interest is in influencing the other person’s opinion, and perhaps even
learning a thing or two from them, then it will be important to learn how to have more
constructive conversations. Once you describe the problem, you are in a better place to work on
smaller aspects of the problem.
Task 2: Clarify your motivation
Why do you want to respond to a problem? Why do you want to solve it? Problem solving
cannot be a neutral activity. You are always doing it because you have some interest in it. Even if
an organisation you work with has told you to do it, the organisation has an interest in solving
the problem, for which you have been assigned the work. It is important to clarify and
understand your motivation so that you do not feel confused and challenged during the problem-
solving process. It also helps you understand what kinds of solutions you are actually looking
for. For example, suppose you feel under-confident when you speak to colleagues in your work
space and you want to feel more confident. It is important to identify why you want to feel more
confident. Is it to help you improve your self-esteem, or because you want to present yourself as
more assertive, or because you want to more effectively discuss work with your colleagues? It
can be all of these reasons, of course. But once you identify which ones are more important, you
can search for more precise solutions. To appear more assertive, you will also need to work on
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your body language. And to effectively speak about work, you will need to learn the relevant
vocabulary in your domain of work.
Now think of a problem in your life that you would like to address and solve. Jot down the
reasons why you want to solve the problem. Identify which reasons are more important than
others. Think of how the solutions can precisely respond to the reasons that are more important.
Task 3: Learn from implementation
Finally, it is important to remember that once you implement the solution, you have not actually
solved the problem. Instead, you have attempted to solve it, and even if it is a successful attempt,
you learn from it so that you can improve the solution over time.
Think of a problem that you have successfully addressed in your life. Now jot down some of
your learnings from this attempt and think of how you can respond to the problem even more
effectively and meaningfully. You can think through the following questions:
a) Were you able to easily find a solution, or did you have to rethink many times and cross
many hurdles? Do those hurdles still exist? How would you navigate those hurdles now?
b) Were there any gaps or limitations in your solution? How would you address them now?
c) Are there alternative solutions you can think of now? How would you compare your
original solution with alternatives?
In other words, problem solving is a continuous process--the more you reflect on the process, the
more effectively you can respond to problems. Decision-making, too, is a process that constantly
evolves through reflection. Both decision-making and problem-solving, as we have learned, need
to be approached in a systematic manner, but the way to keep refining them is by constantly
analysing how you approach them, reflecting on both your successes and failures.
Check your progress 5
Write a brief reflective interpretation of what you learned from this unit.
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3.5 LET US SUM UP
In this Unit, we discussed three main steps involved in decision-making--reading the situation,
evaluating evidence, and comparing potential decisions--and how they can help us work towards
making better decisions. We also discussed how problem-solving is closely linked to decision-
making.
3.6 SUGGESTED READINGS
Internet Resources:
https://www.umassd.edu/fycm/decision-making/process/
https://www.cuesta.edu/student/resources/ssc/study_guides/critical_thinking/106_think_decision
s.html
https://asq.org/quality-resources/problem-solving
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