Making Right Choices: Art or
Science?
Summing
Up
Thoughtful comments are hard to
summarize in five paragraphs. That explains why this month's task is
impossible. But one thing unites nearly everyone responding to this column, and
that is one kind of objection or other to the question: Is choosing an art or
science?
Many concluded that it is both,
depending on such things as the level of complexity, stage of the
decision-making process, the purpose of the decision, the context in which the
choice is made, whether we are deciding or rationalizing the decisions we've
already made, or our personal makeup. Shadreck Saili notes that answers to the
question depend on "the magnitude and complexity of the choices to be
made…" Yedendra Chouksey and S. Huang appear to agree that, in the words
of Chouksey, "creation of choices is more of an art … and evaluation (of
alternatives) a science." Kamal Gupta sorted it out this way: Decisions on
personal matters carry a greater weight of art; those that relate to work have
more of science. Frances Pratt commented, "It is often the art … that
allows us to imagine that we are indeed making a controlled, scientific
choice…. We often use art to justify those choices that don't turn out the way
that we intend." Reminding us of the importance of personal makeup,
Michelle commented, "Indeed, we are our choices!" Stephen Basikoti
concluded that "Choosing … cannot be boxed…. All we can do is use science
to understand the uncertainly of choosing … while using art to sharpen the
intuitiveness that goes into the moment of choice."
Others maintained that choosing is
neither an art nor a science. Laurence McKinney said, "We ultimately base
our decisions on 'feelings'" and emotions, aided by such things as quality
of memory and the amount of information one can access through "hookup
density" in the brain. Paul Nicholas agreed, "We tend to make choices
and decisions based on feelings; our consciousness then starts to explain or
rationalize the choice to ourselves and others." Tom Dolemba commented
that decisions are made from spirit, and that "with science comes
anonymity … with art comes denial … a real decision is delivered from the
soul."
The science of choosing was
characterized as what business does to influence consumers. Gerald Nanninga
calls it "ego management," the science of giving people (consumers in
this case) "a feeling of power" and "of being 'special'."
As Dave G puts it, "companies are becoming (good) at making a very aware
person like myself make the decision they want me to make." He asks whether
the study of "decision making is actually hurting our society rather than
helping?"
Whatever choosing may be, several
commented on the importance of timing. As Phil Clark put it, "The longer
you take to make a decision … the further away you are from the reality that
exists at this moment." Partha Chatterjee added, "A delayed decision,
no matter the greatness of it, loses its sheen."
The importance of all of these
questions and response is framed by C. J. Cullinane when he says, "choice
… equals freedom." Is choosing more than an art and science? What do you
think?
Original
Article
Decision-making, at its heart,
involves a series of choices. Neuropsychologists tell us that the human brain
can comfortably deal with only a limited number of alternatives (seven plus or
minus two, according to a number of studies). Fields like decision theory were
developed to help humans organize their thinking so that alternative actions
could be arrayed according to their attractiveness, expressed in quantitative
terms.
Recently, brain-scan technology has
enabled researchers to associate choice and decision-making with various parts
of the brain. This may be why choice comes up frequently as a favorite subject of authors interested in explaining
rational or irrational behavior. We have covered the topic in our previous
discussions of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and Barry Schwartz's The
Paradox of Choice--which
advises decision-makers to "choose when to choose; satisfice more and
maximize less; make your decisions nonreversible; regret less; control
expectations; and learn to love
constraints in order to cope with uncertainty and avoid depression."
Now the genre includes another book,
which has made several Top Ten of 2010 lists: Sheena Iyengar's The Art of
Choosing. In it, Iyengar explores choices we make as consumers of products
and services, many of which she has observed in her numerous experiments. Her
definition of choice is "the ability to exercise control over ourselves
and our environment. In order to choose, we must first perceive that control is
possible."
She concludes that:
·
Choice is desirable, but only up to
a point. Beyond that, it becomes confusing to a decision-maker.
·
Choice on the job can have varying
effects on our health, depending in part on our need for choice.
·
Choice is often influenced by the
way alternatives are presented and by the people presenting them, even when the
merit of one alternative is clearly superior to others.
·
A natural aversion to loss leads us
to make irrational choices that minimize it.
·
Choices may be expressly made to
enable us to conform to the behaviors or perceptions of others (as in
360-degree evaluations) in relation to our perceptions of ourselves.
·
The order in which we encounter
options affects our choice (the first and last interviewed in hiring, for
example, have an advantage, explaining why "traditional interviews are
actually one of the least useful tools for predicting an employee's future
success").
·
The importance of choice varies from
one culture to another, particularly between "individualist" (where
it is more important) and "collectivist" societies. This means that
no one approach to organizing and motivating people works well globally.
·
Choice is especially difficult when
it is between two roughly equally good or bad alternatives, which is often the
case that managers confront.
The rapidly growing number of
alternatives in our lives is a particular challenge for those wishing to make
good choices. What are we to do? We can put Schwartz's advice to work. We can
trust some decisions to our educated mental "reflexes," as Gladwell
suggests. Iyengar adds that, as individuals, we can relax our need for control
over choice processes and make more and more choices automatically or out of
habit. As managers of companies, we can limit product or service alternatives
or provide incentives in order to facilitate customer choice with fewer
regrets.
According to Iyengar, "…
choosing helps us create our lives. We make choices and are in turn made by
them. Science can assist us in becoming more skillful choosers, but at its
core, choice remains an art."
Is choosing really an art? Or is it,
or can it become, a science? What do you think?
To read more:
Dan Ariely, Predictably
Irrational (New York: Harper, 2008)
Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The
Power of Thinking Without Thinking (New York: Little, Brown and Company,
2005)
Sheena Iyengar, The Art of
Choosing (New York: Hachette Book Group, 2010)
Jonah Lehrer, How We Decide
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009)
Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of
Choice: Why More Is Less (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004)
by Jim Heskett http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6475.html
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