The Decision Making Process: Evaluate the Alternatives

This is how you evaluate your alternatives in any business in General. Get 20% Off on all Meister Products, i.e, MindMeister, MeisterTask, MeisterNote when you use the discount code- ARPIT20

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The Decision Making Process: Evaluate the Alternatives by Mind Map: The Decision Making Process:  Evaluate the Alternatives

1. Tips for Evaluating Alternatives

1.1. Ask the most respected and objective members of the decision team

1.1.1. to act as devil's advocates

1.2. Their job is to make a case against the group's preferred proposals

1.3. Ask them to explain in detail why the preferred option should not be adopted

1.4. Acknowledge and discuss minority points of view whenever possible

1.5. Try to include more than one person in your group

1.5.1. who is likely to express a minority opinion

1.6. A single person who disagrees with the majority

1.6.1. is far less effective than multiple dissenting voices

1.7. A lone dissenter may be reluctant to speak up

2. Decision Trees

2.1. Think of it as a road map of the various choices

2.2. Figure represents the decision tree for a company

2.3. that is currently developing a new product

2.4. management must choose between two alternatives

2.4.1. A, abandon the project

2.4.2. and B, continue development

3. Ethics

3.1. Is this alternative legal?

3.2. Is it in the best interests of

3.2.1. customers , employees, and the community where we operate?

3.3. Would we feel comfortable if other people knew

3.3.1. that we were considering this alternative?

4. Risk

4.1. What risks are associated with this alternative?

4.2. could it result in loss of profits or competitive advantage?

4.3. How might competitors respond?

4.4. Because risk and uncertainty are essentially the same thing

4.5. what information would reduce these uncertainties?

4.6. Would it be difficult and costly to obtain risk-reducing information?

5. Resources

5.1. How many people are needed to implement each alternative?

5.2. Are they available, or will we need to hire and train them?

5.3. What other projects will suffer if individuals focus on this option?

6. Costs

6.1. How much will the alternative cost?

6.2. Will it result in a cost savings now or over the long term?

6.3. Will it result in a cost savings now or over the long term?

6.4. Are there any hidden costs?

6.5. Are there likely to be additional costs down the road?

6.6. Does this alternative fall within a budget?

7. Benefits

7.1. What profits or other benefits will we realize

7.2. if we implement a given alternative?

7.3. Will it increase the quality of our product?

7.4. Will customer satisfaction increase?

7.5. Will it make our people more effective?

8. Financial impact

8.1. How will the monetary costs and benefits

8.2. of this choice translate into bottom-line results

8.3. as measured by net present value?

8.4. What will be the timing of that result?

8.5. Will implementation require us to borrow money?

9. Intangibles

9.1. Will our reputation improve if we implement a given alternative?

9.2. Will our customers or employees be more satisfied and loyal?

10. Time

10.1. How long will it take to implement this alternative?

10.2. What is the probability of delays

10.3. and the impact of delays on the schedule?

11. Feasibility

11.1. Can this alternative be implemented realistically?

11.2. Are there any obstacles that must be overcome?

11.3. If it is implemented, what resistance might be encountered

11.4. inside or outside the organization?