Crisis Situation February 20, 2007
Posted by ocmpoma in : society , trackbackIn one of my classes last week, there was a brief discussion about rationality in decision making during a crisis situation. The main point of the discussion was whether or not a crisis situation, which was defined as a situation with high stakes and a short time frame, makes decision makers more or less rational.
On the ‘less’ side, the stakes involved and the immediacy were argued to reinforce a decision maker’s tendency to let emotion take over, go with the gut, and thus act in an irrational manner.
On the ‘more’ side, it could be argued that such a situation puts everything into stark perspective, forcing the decision maker to disregard emotional aspects and make the cold, rational choice.
Personally, I think the answer is not so simple (I know, it’s a recurring theme…). I see such a situation as magnifying one’s chances of making mistakes or bad decisions. But I don’t think it’s the high stakes that have influence so much as the time limit. When one has a short period of time to make a decision, whether the decision is mundane or life-threatening, one cannot afford to parse all the data to arrive at a decision. Instead, as time runs shorter and shorter, one is forced to simply make a call.
The high stakes, I think, would reinforce whatever tendencies the decision maker already had — someone who normally relies on ‘gut instinct’ or an emotional basis for decision making will be even more likely to do so in a crisis. Someone who tends to analyze a decision as objectively as possible will likewise be more likely to do so.
Conclusion? When faced with a crisis in which a decision, it seems, must be made — try first to devote a little bit of time to finding a way to stall.
Tags for this article: deep thoughts , politics , society
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