Discuss what criteria a decision maker will follow in a sustainable management plan - Essay Example

Criteria for Decision making in Sustainable Management Plan The world is becoming more and more complex due to interconnected chains and elements in society. This poses a big challenge for managers in the environmental field when making decisions concerning sustainable management plan. This is because such decisions include a range of objective aspects coupled with subjective value judgments. Moreover, decision makers have to factor in elements such as social issues, economic issues, and environmental impact in order to come up with a viable decision that would cause minimal harm to these three category of issues.

Evidently, this is highly complex, and thus, the decision-making cannot rely on intuition of managers. This calls for a thorough assessment of impacts before resorting to a given decision. As a result, decision-making in sustainable management plan requires a structured process to aid in evaluating and assessing environmental impact, ethical and social issues to make a decision that serves the interest of all stakeholders involved. Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis is one of the structured processes that managers can use for making decisions in sustainability issues.

This applies in a situation whereby a manager faces problems with competing decision criteria, for example, a decision between installation of a solar panel and plan for energy efficiency enhancement. Using Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA), such a decision takes four steps. The first step involves identifying the goals and decisions that the decision maker aims at achieving and framing of the decision (Hahn, Seaman and Rob 2). The second step is identifying the alternatives regarding the decision, as well as related attributes that contribute to the objectives of the decision.

Third is specifying preferences for each individual attributes, as well as between attributes in agenda. Finally, the last step involves ranking alternative decisions basing on the attribute data, according to specified preferences. Similarly, another tool that managers can utilize for making sustainable management decisions is the Rational-Iterative Decision-Making Process. This process entails several elements that need to be evaluated in order to come up with a rational decision (Decision Making Methods and Tools: Choosing among alternative courses of action 3).

This includes identifying the roles of individuals involved in the process such as forest managers, decision makers, and stakeholders among others. Additionally, it involves scoping the target area, determining the goals, creating measurable criteria for the goals, developing an array of alternatives, determining how well the goals is met by each alternative, and illustrating the relationship between the alternative and the goal (Evaluation and Comparison of Alternatives 470). The next step requires the decision makers to choose an alternative, and finally, pass on the chosen alternative for implementation, followed by monitoring and feedback.

There are several tools that environmental managers can use in developing an effective decision for sustainable management plan, however, what stands out is that there must be a proper analysis of the impact that such a decision would cause to the social, ethical and environmental aspects of the society (Evaluation and Comparison of Alternatives 466). Thus, even if the management goals have already been defined, decision makers must ensure that they evaluate the impact, and go with a decision that would result in minimal impact to both the three aspects.

Indeed, making decisions about sustainable development plans is a thorny and complex issue, as it involves several competing factors that need consideration in the process of making a decision. MADA is a decision making tool involving four steps that can be very valuable in making such decisions with competing aspects. Another tool for decision making in sustainable management is Rational-Iterative Decision Making Process, which involves nine steps of evaluating several elements including individual roles before coming up with a decision.

If applied well, these tools or structures come in handy for managers in the sustainable field regarding decision-making activities. Works Cited"Decision Making Methods and Tools: Choosing among alternative courses of action." n.d. PrintEvaluation and Coparison of Alternatives. 2008. PrintHahn, Warren J., Samuel Seaman and Bikel Rob. "Making Decisions with Multiple Attributes: A Case in Sustainability Planning." Graziadio Business Review (2012). Web.