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Solving is not deciding
Avanti Academy / Complexity, decisions and innovation / Solving Complex Problems and Decision Making / Bitesize
Bitesize

Solving is not deciding

Problem solving and decision making basics.

Level
Bitesize
Learning time
1 hour 15 minutes
Where
Solving Complex Problems and Decision Making
Price
£39

When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms

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Certificate of Completion

About this course

Overview and Outcomes.

Overview

This opening module separates two skills leaders often blur together: problem solving, which asks what is true, and decision making, which asks what to do about it. It sets out two failure modes and their different fixes, shows how to keep the disciplines in sequence in a real meeting, and explains how the programme is organised, from Simon and prospect theory to structured methods and collaborative decision making. This module builds the shared vocabulary for deciding well. It distinguishes programmed from non programmed decisions, sets out the conditions of certainty, risk, uncertainty and ambiguity, and walks through the classical six step rational decision model, drawing on Daft and Harrison, including the three ordered tests of feasibility, satisfactoriness and affordability. It treats the model as a benchmark and offers four questions to ask before any decision.

What you'll develop

In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:

  1. Distinguish problem solving as diagnostic and generative work from decision making as evaluative and committal work.
  2. Identify whether a team's weakness lies in deciding or in diagnosis, and name the different fix each one needs.
  3. Use the two questions, what is true and what to do about it, to keep a meeting's discussion in sequence.
  4. Distinguish programmed from non programmed decisions and identify the cost of handling each one the wrong way.
  5. Identify whether a decision sits under certainty, risk, uncertainty or ambiguity, and explain what each condition asks of you.
What it covers

The Modules.

1 hour 15 minutes of learning.

  1. 01Foundations: Problem Solving and Decision Making Are Not the Same SkillThis opening module separates two skills leaders often blur together: problem solving, which asks what is true, and decision making, which asks what to do about it. It sets out two failure modes and their different fixes, shows how to keep the disciplines in sequence in a real meeting, and explains how the programme is organised, from Simon and prospect theory to structured methods and collaborative decision making.37 min
  2. 02Decision Types, Conditions and the Classical ModelThis module builds the shared vocabulary for deciding well. It distinguishes programmed from non programmed decisions, sets out the conditions of certainty, risk, uncertainty and ambiguity, and walks through the classical six step rational decision model, drawing on Daft and Harrison, including the three ordered tests of feasibility, satisfactoriness and affordability. It treats the model as a benchmark and offers four questions to ask before any decision.38 min
Where it fits

Keep going.

Part of the Solving Complex Problems and Decision Making topic, also sold whole as Clear calls in complex times.

How credit works

Go deeper, and pay only the difference

  1. You are hereBitesize, 1 hour 15 minutes, £39
  2. Next stepFocus, How we really decide, 2 hours 30 minutes, £69. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £30.
  3. Explore, How decisions really get made, 6 hours 30 minutes, £129. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £90.
  4. The whole topicImmerse, Clear calls in complex times, 13 hours 30 minutes, £249. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £210.

When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms

Other Bitesize in the Solving Complex Problems and Decision Making topic

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