19f: Three Approaches to Decision-Making Styles

There are three categories or approaches to decision-making styles in the world that encapsulate all the decision-making models.

1. Ethical Reasoning (Good-Evil/True-False/Right-Wrong) It’s conceptual reasoning. We have concepts in our minds that are formed over the years and impacted by people surrounding us, situations we’ve been in, and our beliefs. We make decisions based on our feelings about what we think is right or wrong. Ethical reasoning is mostly associated with religious thinking, but it’s not limited to that. It’s the ethical approach, and ethics can be independent of religion. People have opinions on what’s right and wrong. It doesn’t have to be religious thinking, but religion plays a good part.
2. Tribal thinking (Which group do I belong to, and how does that group think?) People decide based on which group they belong to. They choose a group in which the person feels comfortable. Then they follow the group’s decisions even if the decision is wrong. They don’t consider or think about themselves; they follow where the group goes. They want to follow the tribe, not the issues; they don’t move from tribe to tribe just because the tribe made a wrong decision. People have an emotional residence in the group. Once they place themselves in the tribe, they follow. This behavior came in evolution: the more I belong to a group, the higher the chance I can survive. Individual cultures (such as Americans) might not have strong tribal thinking, but it’s more visible in community cultures like Asian. Western cultures believe more in individualism. They can change their groups if the group’s decision is not aligned with theirs. However, in tribal thinking, people change their minds rather than changing their group. While deciding which group to join, tribal thinkers often implicitly ask themselves, “Who do I want to be with as an operator in my life?” There is no right or wrong for individualistic vs. tribal thinking. None is better than the other; it depends on the context and the cultural background.
3. Thinking with mental models This thinking style adapts thinking and decision-making strategy to the situation at hand. It is a more pragmatic approach. Rao uses a world in science fiction and fantasy to define a mental model. There is a world and a story in that world in science fiction and fantasy literature. We learn the world while learning and following the story. The world is the mental model. Mental models allow us to make sense of stories efficiently.

• Related Note(s):
  • 12: Engineer Autonomy;
  • 14: Experiences are like compound interest on money;
  • 20: Influencing Others;
  • 22: Cross-Cultural Communication;
  • 24: Strong teams are motivated by goals;
  • 29: Uncertainty is needed to stay open-minded;
  • 30: Scientific Thinking and Fact-Checking for A Better Life;
  • 32: Communicating Decisions in Organizations;
  • 37: Setting Organizational Goals and Processes;
  • 44: Understanding Differences in Opinions and Perspectives;
  • 52: Personal Values;
  • 54: Creating Open Culture at Work;
  • 61: What to delegate?;
  • 63: How cultures are shaped in the world;
• Source(s): Ventakesh Rao, The Knowledge Project Podcast#150;