Major Decision Making - Assignment Example

Major Decision Making Executive summary This paper demonstrates formulation of a decision matrix and the application of compensatory rule in making the final decision. It commences with the decision matrix and goes ahead to show how three individuals: Mathew, Mary and Peter, applies it in making individual choices. The choices are later on analyzed in detail and reason for final decision given. The final part involves the analysis of factors that are used in arriving at the chosen accommodation type. The assignment demonstrates how choices in the type of accommodation chosen are made. Table of contents 1. Executive summary………………………………………………………………………2 2. Table of contents…………………………………………………………..……………..3 3. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………4 4. Creation of decision matrix……………………………………………………………….5 5. Application of compensatory decision rule……………………………………………….7 6. Analysis of choices………………………………………………………………………..9 7. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….14 8. Reference list…………………………………………………………………………….15 Introduction Human beings are faced with a situation whereby they have to make decisions more often then not. Marketers learn the pattern of individual decision making which they use to target those individuals in the provision of goods and services. This paper outlines common decision matrix that are used by people when making a selection. It entails selections of accommodations by three different people applying five evaluative criteria on accommodation options available. Accommodation options 1. Homestay accommodation (staying with an Australian family in single or shared rooms)-A$110-270 a week 2. Hostels and guest houses-A$80-135 a week. 3. Shared accommodation-A$70-250 a week 4. Private Rental accommodation-A$100-400 a week 5. Campus accommodation-A$80-250 a week 6. Buying a three bedroom bushland house in Rockhampton-A$200, 800 Five evaluative criteria 1. Prices 2. Distance from workplace/university 3. Safety/security 4. Access to public transport 5. Need for privacy Creation of Decision Matrix Accommodation options Evaluative criteria Homestay (staying with an Australian family in shared or single rooms)-A$110-270 a week Hostels and guest houses-A$80-135 a week. Shared accommodation -A$70-250 a week Private Rental accommodation -A$100-400 a week Campus accommodation Buying a three bedroom house at Rockhampton Prices 5 4 5 3 2 1 Distance from workplace or university 3 4 2 1 5 3 Safety/security 1 3 2 4 3 4 Access to public transport 3 5 4 2 1 2 Need for privacy 2 3 1 5 2 5 Evaluative criteria Mathew Mary Peter Prices 5 1 5 Distance from the workplace/university 4 3 3 Safety/security 3 5 4 Access to public transport 2 2 2 Need for privacy 1 4 1 The most preferred accommodation by all respondents is a hotel or guest house since its ranking total is the highest with a score of 18.Hostels can be a compromised accommodation option for all the three respondents. Some of the important evaluative criteria used by the respondents are met by the accommodation option of hostels or guest houses. Nevertheless it is only Mathew who goes for hostels or guest house, Peter and Mary do not settle for their best option due to other circumstances that creates the need to pick on other options. Application of compensatory decision rule Mathew In the case of Mathew, price and distance from the workplace are the importance things he considers when choosing the type of accommodation. For him, homestay ranks highly in terms of price but his next important evaluative criteria which is the distance from the workplace or university, eliminates homestay as his preferred accommodation. The reason could be that some of the available home stays are found far away from his place of work or university. The second least evaluative criterion that he applies is access to public transport. This is because he prefers to stay at a fairly cheap place where he can easily access his place of work without necessarily using public transport. Price is important to him, so, he prefers homestay or shared accommodation since they are relatively cheap. The second important evaluative criteria eliminates both homestays and shared accommodation since they both score lowly when ranked on their proximity to the place of work or university. The best alternative choice that he remains with is Hostels and guest houses which go for A$80-135 a week. They rank highly in prices and distance from the place of work or university on the evaluative criteria. Although he does not rank access to public transport highly, there is no harm in him having it. Despite the fact that guest houses or hostels are not ranked best in terms of prices, they are chosen by Mathew since they are second best in terms of distance from the work place and prices. Need for privacy is not important to Mathew. Although he does not rank security or safety highly, he reckons that it will come or accompany his preferred mode of accommodation. If all things are put into consideration, hostels and guest houses remains to be the best choice that he can go for. He cannot think of buying a house because of high prices involved. Although Mathew would prefer private rental accommodation, he cannot do so since it is expensive and his part time job cannot provide enough money to cater for the need. Mary Mary ranks security or safety and need for privacy as the important evaluative criteria when looking for accommodation. For her price comes as the least of her evaluative criteria. Looking at the accommodation available, homestay, shared accommodation and guest houses and hostels ranks lowly on both aspects of her evaluative criteria which is safety/security and need for privacy. They all score a ranking of less that 3 for both requirements of safety and privacy. Buying a three bedroom house at Rockhampton remains her best option since it ranks highly for both need for privacy and security. However, this remains a dream to her since she has not saved enough to afford her wish. She really wants to buy a house in a cool environment and where there is enough security. This is her goal, which she is determined to achieve. Meanwhile, she has to content with living in a private rental which is better than the other choices according to her evaluative criteria. Private rentals have the same score in terms of evaluative criteria for safety or security and need for privacy. In this case, private rentals offer the same privacy and security as a house bought in Rockhampton. Although Mary continues to live in a rental private apartment, her wish is to own her own house at a private place, away from the social bustle. She would like to buy a three bedroom house in Rockhampton. Secondly, Mary has to rent an apartment which is near her place of work. In due time, she would have saved enough to buy a house in Rockhampton. The private rental offers the important factors of security and need for privacy in her evaluative criteria. Peter On Peter’s evaluative criteria, prices rank highly, and they are followed by security or safety. Considering the accommodation available, buying a three bedroom house and private rental accommodation ranks highly in terms of security. However, the other important evaluative criteria of price eliminate both of them since they are expansive and scores poorly in terms of prices. Homestays and shared accommodation could be his next option since they rank highly in terms of price. The security evaluative criterion eliminates both shared accommodation and homestays since they are not safe enough. Whatever come close to his requirement in the evaluative criteria is hostels and guest houses since they are safer then shared accommodation and homestays and less expensive than buying a house and private rentals. However, since Peter is completing her master’s degree at the university. He prefers to campus accommodation where he can easily access facilities at the university. After he completes his degree at the university, he will then even buy a house of his own. Analysis of choices There are many factors which affect the choice of the type of accommodation that an individual will choose. Analysis of personal characteristics leading to choice of accommodation reveal a number of factors that influence the choice of the type of accommodation an individual will prefer. The factors which influence choice of accommodation type can be analyzed as follows: Age Age matters when one is looking for accommodation. Young people are able to withstand and enjoy the bustle of city life. However, a majority of older folks want a serene environment where they can relax peaceful. Therefore, the older people tend to move to suburbs which are more quiet and located outside the city center. They are disturbed with the noise and hustle and bustle of city life. On the other hand, young people tend not to care so much about the busy city life, and they enjoy it (Wilson & Scott, 1995). Eventually when they grow old they become tired of it and move to areas away from the city. Shared accommodation may be cheaper than private rentals, but an older person will prefer private rental to shared accommodation, since he wants the peace of mind in a serene environment. People who are old may be reluctant to move from a house to which they have placed a lot of emotional and sentimental attachment. It will also be hard for them to find better accommodation due to their inability to move around effectively and look at available options. Finding alternative accommodation that is appropriate may be tricky due to physical presentation of potential homes, which are affordable. People who are advanced in age will prefer to buy a good house and live there forever without the challenge of moving around like in the rental accommodation (Wilson & Scott, 1995). Young people have no problem of moving from one type of accommodation to another so long as there is enough money and time. Aging people turn to family for assistance in case of moving house. Age is an important characteristic, which will determine the accommodation choice a person will make. Non-home owners who are older and on a fixed low income are exposed to limited choices if the would like to move to accommodation that they themselves prefer. Income Income of a person determines the kind of housing or accommodation that he will go for. One can really admire to have or buy his own house in Rockhampton and get privacy that he desires, but his income cannot allow him to have this pleasure. Consequently one will decide to go for shared accommodation, not that he likes it, but it is because it is the best option that he can afford at the moment. One can like to go private rentals and since he cannot afford their rates he resolves for homestay particularly for international students who come to Australia to study. When rents go up sometimes, people are forced to move and look for other affordable accommodation. Income determines a lot when in comes to choice of accommodation. Income brings about a financial constraint that cannot be ignored. Peter and Mathew consider prices to be their most important evaluative criteria when looking for a house. Other things may differ, but price comes first (Beer, 2002). Absence of affordable private rentals in Australia is pushing people to go for other available, cheap options. Population Population will determine how congested a place is and, therefore, it will dictate if one wants to go for type A accommodation, or type B. If a place is congested it may be hard to find personal houses to buy. In such a place shared accommodation, hostels and guest houses may be in plenty. The population size has an impact on the choice of the type of accommodation. Where there are many people at a place, finding accommodation is difficult and if one finds any, he literally has no choice, but to settle for what comes in his way. Population shapes the accommodation choices decisions of individuals (Chamberlain, 1999). Increase of people in cities will determine the availability housing. A person can own a home in the countryside and rent in the city. With the increase in population accommodation is becoming a challenge day by day. Gender Female students will value security over privacy. They would want accommodation that offers them security since they feel vulnerable to all sorts of danger. Their male counterparts can opt to stay far away from their place of work since they do not see any security threats. Some men would prefer to share accommodation to cut down on cost. Some women want private rentals since they do not like intrusion into their own private life (Neutze, 2000). Ladies would prefer to stay somewhere where they can easily access public transport if they do not have their own cars. Some personal characteristics can overrule the factor of gender for some individuals. Language Language is an important factor when in comes to international students who are not native speakers of English. Some of the students will go for shared accommodation since they want to interact with natives to learn more of the language. Others also opt for homestay with an Australian family so that they can understand easily the culture of the people (Mehan, Hubbard & Mortimer, 1994). Proficiency in English language would determine the choice of accommodation for many of international students since they would prefer staying with someone to assist them in language. Ethnicity Indigenous Australian citizen prefer communal life and hence they be more willing to share accommodation than other groups of people. Ethnicity shapes how someone is brought up to appreciate some values and norms in life. If someone is brought up appreciating shared opportunities, he will grow up that way (Groves & Wilson, 1992). Ethnicity would determine the extent of interaction between members of different groups. The more exposed an individual is, will determine how far he would want to interact with other people. Some personality traits go beyond ethnicity requirements. Marital status Single individuals are ready to share accommodation as compared to married couples who would want privacy. Therefore, privacy will matter most for married couples that to singles. People who are not married and crave privacy have their own personal reason for seeking it (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004). Many of the married couples are financially empowered and can, therefore, afford more expensive accommodation compared to single individuals who are still in campus and other middle level colleges. Size of the family A big family would want enough space to accommodate every member. Even if they look for private rentals, they have to be big enough to accommodate everyone. A parent who has only one child does not require a lot of space and can live in one room. A family of five would require a four bedroom house to accommodate everyone. Size of the family plays an important role in determining the choice of accommodation (Archibald, 1999). Disability Disabled people would want to live somewhere where they are able to access basic services with ease. They also need to live somewhere where they can be assisted quickly when they need assistance. They may want to live on their own but owing to their conditions, they have to share their accommodation with someone who can offer them assistance whenever they need it. They need building where they would have no trouble accessing it. Some of them have wheelchairs which cannot go up stairs but need special kinds of design at the entrance (Australian Building Codes Board, 2001). Distance from the workplace or university Many people would prefer to live close to their workplace of where they go to college. This reduces the time spent communicating and expenses incurred. Many people live away from their families just to be close to their workplace or university in which they are studying. Proximity of a type of accommodation to the workplace or university of study would make someone to prefer it although it maybe slightly expensive (Niu & Tienda, 2008). Conclusion There many factors that are considered when it comes to choice of accommodation. Individual factors determine what type of accommodation that a person will settle for. Individuals have different factors, which they consider when deciding on accommodation type. Accommodation providers should be in a position to study the pattern that clients use until they reach to their preferred selections. The location will determine the type of accommodation provided. Places outside town will have more of homes and private rentals. Heart of town and industrial areas has more single rooms and apartments. References list Archibald, Paul. "Houses for all ages: adaptable design" Australasian Journal on Ageing, Vol. 18, No. 3, Aug, 1999. Australian Building Codes Board. Disability Discrimination Act (DDA): Disability Standard on Access to Premises: directions report, December 2001 Canberra: ABCB, 2001. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Household and family projections, Australia: projected persons by living arrangements 2001 to 2026, cat. no. 3236.0.55.004, ABS, Canberra, June 2004. Beer, A. Affordable rental housing in rural Australia? Parity, Vol. 15, No. 6, 2002 Chamberlain, C. (1999) Counting the Homeless: Implications for Policy Development 1996, Australian Bureau of Statistics occasional paper cat. no. 2041.0, Canberra. Groves, M.A and Wilson, V.F. ‘To move or not to move? Factors influencing the housing choice of elderly persons,’ Journal of Housing for the Elderly, Vol. 10, 1992. Mehan, M., Hubbard, L., & Mortimer, J. (1994). Forming academic identities: Accommodation without assimilation among involuntary minorities. Anthropology and Educational Quarterly, 25, 91-117. Neutze, Max. ‘Housing for Indigenous Australians’ Housing Studies, Vol. 15(4), 485-504, 2000. Niu, S.X., & Tienda, M. (2008). Choosing college: Identifying and modeling choice sets. Social Science Research, Vol. 37, pp. 416-433. Wilson, P.L and Scott, H. Housing choices for older Australians. Council for the Ageing (Australia) supported by the Commonwealth Department of Housing and Regional Development, Melbourne, 1995. Read More