The Structure Of Decision Making

Reading Comprehension
The reason for having a meeting is to make a decision. Information may be given in a presentation followed by questions or discussion, but it is to get a consensus that the meeting has been arranged in the first place. Achieving this in the most time- and cost-effective manner possible is a goal that everyone attending (the meeting) must share.
Marion Haynes (1988) maintains that decision making meetings need to follow a
specific structure. The rational decision process includes the following steps:
- study / discuss / analyze the situation
- define the problem
- set an objective
- state imperatives and desirables
- generate alternatives
- establish evaluation criteria
- evaluate alternatives
- choose among alternatives.
One other aspect of decision making is the necessity for participants in the meeting to be aware of one another's needs and perceptions. If these are not effectively
communicated, if there is an insufficient degree of understanding of one another's
requirements, then an acceptable conclusion is unlikely to be reached. There are four essential elements in decision making:awareness, understanding, empathy and perception.
It is only when we accept that communications are a two-way process that any
form of communication, including decision making, will become genuinely successful
and effective. Decision making is not always an identifiable activity. Frequently the discussion can evolve into a consensus which can be recognized and verbalized by the leader without the need to "put things to the vote".
Find words or phrases in the text which mean the same as the following:
a) common agreement
b) economical use of resources
c) aim
d) fix a goal
e) what one must have
f) what one would like to have
g) consider other options
h) way of seeing things
i) seeing things as others see them
j) develop
k) express through speaking