Reading 1.3 (Jackall, R. (1988)) : Looking Up and Looking Around

In every corporation the crux of a manager’s charisma is his decision making prowess. Though there is an abundance of scientific theories and myths related to decision making, generally decisions are made in a highly rationalized context.

A manager would prefer taking decisions that are based on well-formulated and generally agreed upon strategies rather than evaluating all the possible solutions to the problem in hand and then taking a well reasoned decision. In contrast, managers are highly uncomfortable when faced with situations in which there are no specific procedures. Managers vouch for their own safety, safety in terms of reputation and therefore tend to …show more content…

The root method starts from the fundamentals, improving on the past only if included in a theory. This method cannot be used for complex problems simply because the facts needed require a gigantic compilation of observations. Whereas the branch method continually springs up from the present situation in a step by step manner, varying in small degrees and is more appropriate for complex problems because facts requirements are small and are relevant to the policy.

In the root method, initially values or objectives have to be clarified before the alternative policies are examined. Disagreement is unavoidable even when objectives are clearly stated. Another difficulty is ranking of conflicting values since objectives may not have the same relative values. Whereas in the branch method values and policies are selected simultaneously and only incremental values are focussed on making it simpler. Secondly, in the root method, ends are initially chosen in a means-end relationship and means are then developed whereas in branch method means as well as ends are simultaneously chosen. Thirdly, in the root method decisions are termed “good” if an objective is achieved even when the decision hasn’t been described. In the case of branch method where the