2.3 Types of Decision Makers Copy
Liked to the decision-maker concept, the policy-maker idea is relevant: policy-makers are persons and organisations with the power to influence or determine policies. To sum up, “Policies are plans, courses of action or procedures that are intended to influence decisions. As such, they form part of the context for decision making, often providing guiding principles. But decision making is also a part of policy making, and there is a dynamic relationship between decision making and policy making”(Chris Blackmore, n.d.).
Further, at least four types of decision-making styles can be differentiated (Indeed, 2021):
- Analytic decision-making: analysing data for coming up with a solution, avoiding ambiguity in a task-oriented course of thought.
- Conceptual decision-making: evaluates different options and possibilities with more tolerance to ambiguity and uncertainty but taking a broader picture. This type of decision-making implies big picture thinking and less aversion to risks.
- Behavioural decision-making: evaluates feelings and consequences from a profoundly emotional consideration of the impact on others. The behavioural decision-maker is focused on social impacts and social relationships, rather than tasks and concepts.
- Directive decision-making: acts quickly to come to the solution, with high aversion to vague, unclear and ambiguous ideas, concepts and solutions, and being plenty focused on tasks, their knowledge and their judgement for coming to conclusions. Directive decision-makers accept the input from others, but carefully selected.
However, we should consider that our style usually merges two or more features of these archetypes.
İf you want to know more, you can consult more information about rational choice, theory of choice and decision-making within organisations (J. March, 1991; J. G. March, 1982)