We make thousands of decisions daily. Most do not justify extended forethought but when confronted by major decisions with no clear answers it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. This seven-step guide to making good decisions is an excerpt from the book Making Ethical Decisions . 1. Stop and Think One of the most important steps to better decisions is the oldest advice in the word: think ahead. To do so it’s necessary to first stop the momentum of events long enough to permit calm analysis. This may require discipline, but it is a powerful tonic against poor choices. Stopping to think provides several benefits. It prevents rash decisions. It prepares us for more thoughtful discernment. And it can allow us to mobilize our discipline. 2. Clarify Goals Before you choose, clarify your short- and long-term aims. Determine which of your many wants and don’t –wants affected by the decision are the most important. The big danger is that decisions that fulfill immediate wants and needs can prevent the achievement of our more important life goals. 3. Determine Facts Be sure you have adequate information to support an intelligent choice. You can’t make good decisions if you don’t know the facts. To determine the facts, first resolve what you know, then what you need to know. Be prepared to get additional information and to verify assumptions and other uncertain information. Once we begin to be more careful about facts, we often find that there are different versions of them and disagreements about their meaning. In these situations part of making sound decisions involves making good judgments as to who and what we believe. Here are some guidelines:
4. Develop Options Now that you know what you want to achieve and have made your best judgment as to the relevant facts, make a list of options, a set of actions you can take to accomplish your goals. If it’s an especially important decision, talk to someone you trust so you can broaden your perspective and think of new choices. If you can think of only one or two choices, you’re probably not thinking hard enough. 5. Consider Consequences Two techniques help reveal the potential consequences.
6. Choose It’s time to make your decision. If the choice is not immediately clear, see if any of the following strategies help:
7. Monitor and Modify Since most hard decisions use imperfect information and “best effort” predictions, some of them will inevitably be wrong. Ethical decisions-makers monitor the effects of their choices. If they are not producing the intended results or are causing additional unintended and undesirable results, they re-assess the situation and make new decisions.
This ethical decision-making framework developed by Dr. Michael Davis of the Illinois Institute of Technology is useful in guiding discussions around case studies and other ethics courses and workshop activities.
What is the main issue at stake in this case?
At this step it is important to address the non-ethical issues raised within the case. For example, one may need to know the legal constraints of the decision, technical aspects that loom large, or other issues. Since it is impossible to include all facts in a case-study, frequently you will have to make assumptions based on the information you do have.
At this step, all stakeholders in the decision should be identified. As with Step 1, think broadly and generate a list of all possible individuals, groups, or entities (e.g. the environment) that will be affected by the decisions to be made.
(Be imaginative, try to avoid “dilemma” - not “yes” or ”no” but who to go to, what to say).
Did you solve the problem with which you began?
Adapted from Michael Davis, Ethics and the University (Routledge, London, 1999) pp. 166-67.
Submit Content to the OEC Donate
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2055332. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. |