Satisficing: More Often Used Decision Making Strategy

(It will be a good idea to read the previous posts on the subject for better understanding).

Satisficing

• Decision making requires a rational selection of a course of action. However, complete rationality can seldom be achieved particularly in the area of managing. So, what a manager normally settles for is limited rationality. This was referred to by Herbert Simon as “satificing”, picking a course of action that is satisfactory or “good enough” under the circumstances as well as in the light of the size and nature of risks involved in uncertainty.
• Many people choose the first satisfactory alternative rather than the best alternative. If one is very hungry, one might choose to stop at the first decent looking restaurant rather than attempting to choose the best restaurant from among all (the optimizing strategy).
• The word satisficing was coined by combining satisfactory and sufficient. For many small decisions, such as where to park, what to drink, which pencil to use, what to wear and so on, the satisficing strategy is pretty decent.

(Refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia “Management Universe” at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/)

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