Whether or Not to Prepare for Disaster - Essay Example

Whether or Not to Prepare for Disaster Whether or Not to Prepare for Disaster In business, the biggest reason for failure is because of making poor decisions (Ferrell and Linda, 2010). When it comes to disaster, the decision a person makes can destroy their business, or possibly, help it survive. A disaster can take many forms such as terrorist attacks, earthquakes, snowstorms, floods, among others. Therefore, it is crucial to make a decision on whether or not to prepare for a disaster before it occurs. Preparing for a disaster provides better management of crises and enables people to be well prepared when the actual disaster occurs. It also enables faster and effective response to disasters, and faster recovery of business after a disaster. Moreover, it is necessary to create an emergency plan and ensure it is backed daily on-site or off-site in a secure location (Ferrell and Linda, 2010). However, some people may not find it necessary to prepare for disaster due to various reasons. Others may fail to prepare due to lack of resources like money and time. Hence, it advisable to choose the best decision making model in order to make a proper judgment. This paper will explain how the 5-step decision making model can be used to make a decision on whether or not to prepare for disaster. The 5-step decision making model The 5-step model is straightforward and easy to use when making a decision compared to other models. It consumes less time than other models because it consists of only five steps to follow when making a decision. The first step is to define the situation or to identify the problem. This step requires a clear understanding of the purpose and the subject matter or the situation upon which the decision will be made (Harvard Business Essentials, 2006). It is an extremely crucial step because it is the foundation upon which the final decision is based. Any incorrect information about the situation and what a person wants to achieve is likely to affect the later stages in decision making; hence, result in a wrong decision being made. The second step involves gathering of information. This involves collecting all the data required in making a decision such as facts and figures through feedbacks, surveys or research in order to make a logically correct option. It is the most time consuming stage in the process of decision making, which makes it a challenge to the decision maker. However, when it is not possible to get all the information, people are forced to rely on their intuition. The third step involves gathering alternatives (Brassard and Ritter, 2010). When making a decision, there are other alternatives that a person can use; thus, it is necessary to list other available options. The list should contain other options that one is seriously considering and those that fit the main objective of the decision making process. Listing many unnecessary options only makes the decision making process more difficult than it should be, and also prolongs the time it should take to make a decision. After developing a list of other available alternatives, evaluate the options. This is the fourth step which involves assessing and ranking of the listed options. Single out the most powerful options then develop a list of criterions to use when assessing these options. When ranking the options, choose an appropriate scale such as a 10 point or 100 point scale, depending on the complexity of the decision and the total number of criterions that have been used to assess the options (Graduate school of business Administration, 2010). After ranking the options against the chosen criterion, assign weight followed by specific scores to each option. Finally multiply the scale score with the assigned weights then add the total scores of each option and make a decision. The decision making step is the final stage when making a decision using the 5-step model. However, it is the most difficult step that many people find challenging due to fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of making a decision shows lack of confidence and inability to take responsibility; thus, in order to move forward, it is vital to take a step of faith and, come up with a decision. Finally, after making a decision, the most noteworthy aspect is to implement it and follow through; otherwise, the decision will be of no value. Application of the 5-step model to making a decision on whether or not to prepare for a disaster Step 1. Identifying the problem The first step is to identify the problem and state the purpose of making the decision. In this case, the problem is; whether or not to prepare for a disaster. The main aim of the making a decision would be to avoid being faced by unexpected emergencies in the future, which are likely to affect ones business. A well stated objective forms the basis of the decision making process and ends with good decision. Therefore, this statement provides the foundation upon which the decision making process will be based. Step 2. Information gathering The second step is to gather all the necessary information about preparing or not preparing for a disaster. This requires a lot of research in order to understand the topic and should involve issues such as advantages and disadvantages of preparing or not preparing for a disaster. First, list all the advantages and disadvantages of preparing for a disaster, and then list all the advantages and disadvantages of not preparing for a disaster. Do a research to find out how preparing or not preparing for a disaster has helped or affected other companies below: Table 1. To prepare or not to prepare for a disaster Preparing for disaster Not preparing for disaster Avoid unnecessary destruction and loss of property caused by disasters Property destruction and possible loss of property Safe lives from unexpected emergencies Possible loss of lives Faster response when a disaster occurs unable to respond to disasters on time Easier management of crises Difficulties in managing crises Step 3. Gathering the alternatives After gathering all the facts about preparing for a disaster, third step is to gather all the alternatives. This may include other options or alternatives that can be used to solve the problem other than to prepare or not to prepare for a disaster. Nevertheless, listing all the alternatives is necessary because the decision going to be made depends on them. According to Sheikh (2008), the number of options chosen depends on the number of people involved in generating the options, experience, knowledge, skills, among other decisive factors. Moreover, it is advisable to list the pros and cons of each option and avoid many unnecessary alternatives that will only complicate the decision making process. The pros and cons of whether or not to prepare for disaster can be represented in a T-Chart as shown below: Table 2. Pros and Cons for preparing for disaster PROs CONs Save lives Quite expensive Secure property Time consuming Ability to manage crises Requires a lot of commitment and energy Table 3. Pros and cons for not preparing for disaster PROS CONS No commitment required loss of lives No time is wasted Property destruction No expenses Poor management of crises Step 4. Evaluating alternatives During the evaluation process, assess all the alternatives gathered, and rank them according to the objectives and weights given to specific factors (Brassard and Ritter, 2010). To do this evaluation, a straightforward model can be developed based on the first, second and third steps. Develop a criterion list to use against when ranking the options. Assign the weights according to the preferences then add the specific scores to each option. Recording the weight and the scores requires an appropriate scale so as to avoid working with too large numbers. Finally, multiply the weights with the scale score, add the total scores, then make a decision based on the results (Graduate school of business Administration, 2010). However, a decision does not necessarily need to be made immediately; one can leave the project for a few days then make a decision later when the options are clear. This can be represented as shown below: Table 4. Evaluating the alternatives SELECTION CRITERIA WEIGHTS IDEAL SCORES TO PREPARE FOR DISASTER NOT PREPARE FOR DISASTER Save lives 10 30 28 10 Secure property 9 25 20 9 No panicking when disaster occurs 6 10 10 5 Good crisis management 8 15 14 0 Faster response to disaster 6 10 9 0 TOTAL SCORES 90=possible =81 =24 Step 5. Decision making After evaluating all the options, the final step is to make a decision, on whether or not to prepare for disaster based on the evaluated alternatives. It is a challenging step because many people fear they might make the wrong decision. Therefore, it requires one to have lots faith and confidence in order to make the best decision. From the above results, the decision on whether or to prepare for a disaster can be made depending on the alternative with the highest score, which is to preparing for disaster. However, to achieve the end goal, the decision made should be implemented and followed through to the final step. Conclusion From the above results in Table 4, the decision on whether or not to prepare for a disaster depends on the alternatives available. In this case, the alternatives are only two; to prepare for a disaster and not to prepare for a disaster. After ranking the alternatives against the selection criteria listed, the alternative that scored the highest was used to make a decision. Therefore, the decision made was, ‘to prepare for disaster’ since it had the highest score (81) while ‘not to prepare for disaster’ scored 24. The 5-step decision making model is straightforward and quite effective (Harvard Business Essentials, 2006). However, there are challenges faced during the decision making process when using this model. For instance, in step 2, the amount of information gathered about the problem depends on the amount of time available. When time is limited, inadequate information is gathered; hence, the decision maker is forced to make assumptions in order to provide the necessary information. Using assumptions means that the data collected is biased; thus, affecting the final decision. However, using a decision making model provides a person with the right structure for making a decision (Sheikh, 2008). In order to make the right decision, a person should choose the right decision making models that can give satisfactory results. The 5-step model consumes a lot of time, money, and energy and also requires a lot of commitment. For this reason, it is not an appropriate model for making quick decisions. When making quick decisions, intuitive decision making model may be appropriate. References Brassard, M., & Ritter, D. (2010). The memory jogger 2: tools for continuous improvement and effective planning. Salem, NH: GOAL/QPC. Ferrel, O. & Linda, F. (2010).Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Louisiana: Cengage Learning. Graduate school of business Administration (2010). The Southern journal of business, Volume 3. Michigan: university of Michigan press. Harvard Business Essentials. (2006). Decision making: 5 steps to better results. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press Sheikh, U. (2008). 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