Introduction
This week’s MSLD632 Blog
centers on one of my favorite TED video speakers, Sheena Iynegar. In the video,
How to Make Choosing Easier, Sheena
is brilliant in illustrating four methods of how we can make choosing an easier
and more successful experience. This blog will identify all four and will
related them to my own decision-making in the context of organizational decisions.
Choices and Decisions
So
far in MSLD521 the focus has been on decision-making. Module 1 featured Dan
Gilbert’s video, Why We Make Bad
Decisions, and the first readings in our text book have all centered on the
concept of decision-making. After viewing Sheena’s video, I began a quest of
nailing down the difference between decision-making and choosing. After several hours of reviewing all the
material a conclusion was reached that choices are a component of decisions and
decisions are typically associated with failure or success. Choices seem to be
at a very micro or zoomed in level (decisions are a compilation of choices) and
decisions seem to be more related to a bigger picture. In Sheena’s video, three
of the four methodologies remain at a very zoomed in or micro level. The fourth
methodology zooms out and involves a multi-layered group of individual choices. The importance of understanding the
difference between choices and decisions, as it applies to a business setting,
may seem trivial, but don’t underestimate one of Sheena’s methods of making
choosing easier. Pay attention as you read each of the four methods and see if
you can identify the difference between choices and decisions.
1st Method - Cut
The
very first and easiest method of simplifying choices that Sheena discusses is
cutting down options when there are too many. So, just how many are too many?
Well Sheena does not provide any criteria that suggests how to distinguish
between too many options versus just the right amount of options. What she does
do however is use compelling examples to illustrate her point:
Now if you do the math, people were at least six
times more likely to buy a jar of jam if they encountered six (jars of jam) than
if they encountered 24…When Proctor & Gamble went from 26 different kinds
of Head & Shoulders to 15, they saw an increase in sales by 10 percent.
When the Golden Cat Corporation got rid of their 10 worst-selling cat litter
products, they saw an increase in profits by 87 percent -- a function of both
increase in sales and lowering of costs.” (Iynegar, 2011).
A daily function at my
workplace is sorting, filtering and discarding unwanted data that left unsorted
and unfiltered would make-decisions wildly inaccurate because the data group
will be used to make future multi-layered decisions. The difference between
Sheena’s example and my example is that in my example I have to make a choice
and this choice is a “burden” (Tech.pinions, 2014, para. 3). In Sheena’s example
choice is optional, the impact does not have any depth, and has no burden.
2nd Method - Concretization
This second method is an
easy one for most of us credit card users to identify with. Concretization is
simply making sure that you visualize your choices with concrete or tangible
objects. Sheena uses a very powerful example that we can all relate to, that is
if you’re not living under a rock somewhere “Why do people spend an average of
15 to 30 percent more when they use an ATM care or a credit card as opposed to
cash? Because it doesn’t feel like real money.” (Iyengar, 2011).
By using concrete
objects, Sheena claims that we take making choices a little more seriously. My
experience tells me she is spot-on. In the late 1990s personal debit grew to
the point of making a choice to work three jobs in order to alleviate the
crushing debt caused by using plastic too much. During this time we paid cash
for everything. At the time, making the purchases on credit did not seem to
have a burden associated it. While Gilbert (2008) does not have an example that
is clear example of this one, clearly an underestimation of value (or in this
case impact) of using the plastic had taken place.
3rd Method – Grouping (Categorizing)
“We can handle more
categories than we can handle choices…Because categories help me tell them
apart” (Iyengar, 2010). This is a method used almost daily to complete routine
tasks at my place of work. After filtering and sorting has taken place (1st
method of cutting) we group over six-thousand fault messages into approximately
80 fault message groups. Grouping like fault messages together allows us to
distinguish the differences between groups and not be overwhelmed by the
quantity of six-thousand fault messages, just as Sheena asserts.
4th Method – Condition for Complexity
Sheena’s last method of
making choosing easier is confronting a choice that is complex “I’m going to
show you one example of what I’m talking about. Let’s take a very, very
complicated decision: buying a car.” (Iyengar, 2011). Sounds like a decision that
can have a burden associated with it doesn’t it? Sheena explains that there are
about 60 different choice packages to perform to build a car from scratch.
Everything from selecting the colors (56 choices) to engine and transmission
types (four each). Sheena asserts that people are more successful in beginning
with the groups that have a few choices (such as the engine and transmission
type) and working up to the more complex choices of selecting color (56
choices). Working from simple to complex ideas / tasks is a successful strategy
in teaching and makes sense this strategy would apply to making choices,
especially when they are multi-layered and become decisions.
Summary
So, did you come to the
conclusion that choices that have a burden associated to them are special choices
that we call decisions? Honestly, if you are not convinced it would not be a
surprise. The support in this blog for such an assertion is not overwhelming
and there does not seem to be an abundance of available material online that focuses
on the difference between choices and decisions. This will be an area of focus
to pay attention to as the class progresses.
References:
Gilbert,
D. (2008, Dec). Why we make bad decisions [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks (Links to an external
site.)/dan_gilbert_researches_happiness#t-488159.
Iyengar,
S. (2011, Nov). How to make choosing
easier. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_choosing_what_to_choose/transcript?language=en#t-99000.
Tech.pinions:
Snippet: Design is the difference between
choice and decision (2014). Chatham: Newstex. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1641752467?accountid=27203
