Decision Making Models

Decision Making Models

There are various decision making models that can be followed for a myriad of different situations and places. I currently am employed for an oil field equipment corporation. We specifically engineer and manufacture variable speed AC drives for electronic submersible pumps. With eight years experience on active duty for the United States Air Force as an Electronic Warfare Systems craftsman, my current job is rather boring and mundane. Military jobs allow people like myself the ability to learn trades and work with equipment that only engineers work with in the civilian world. While I am involved with some of the engineering and design process, my input is not as highly regarded at my current job as it was while I was on active duty. Many decisions are made for me rather than by me.

Recently I was asked my opinion on a certain situation at work. We were modifying an AC drive with telecom and control equipment. As we were building the first one many questions came up about how certain things would be done. It was a consensus decision making model even though it was not called this. My self and two engineers had to decide among other things how we wanted to route certain wire bundles inside the drive. There were many things that needed to be taken into consideration. There are possibilities of electrical interference when you have high voltage and amperage AC lines running all through the cabinet.

Two design engineers and I discussed this issue in depth. We took the time to listen to everyone's concerns. A simple check can be performed to be sure you are ready for a consensus decision or not. If all members can agree that : "I've heard your positionsÐ'...I believe you've heard mineÐ'....The decision does not compromise my valuesÐ'....I can fully support the proposed decision and its implementation"(Stein, 2006). After discussing their inputs and mine we came up with a group decision that provided the best possible locations for certain susceptible communication and data lines.

The steps followed were basically giving each person a chance to express their personal experience and knowledge in a way where group members were not afraid to honestly express their own opinions. This step is important because if any member feels afraid or shy away from speaking their mind a true consensus cannot be made. Once a solution was decided upon, we assembled the first one ensuring that we properly grounded wiring shielding for these control and data lines. We then evaluated the results of our decision making process by making sure all associated equipment worked as intended.

This process is one that can be performed time and again improving the skill each time. The ability to have a set definition of how you will judge the success or failure of a group consensus decision is very important. There are a few things you have to be wary of when using this decision