Have I Ever Properly Analyzed a Situation?
I’m currently taking a course called Analysis of Business Problems. And I realized I have been analyzing problems without any form of structure. It was very interesting to learn that there’s a system for analyzing problems. And in this case, business problems. So the structure, or rather steps that we were taught in class were to: Understand the situation, identify and define the problem, define your objectives, generate alternatives, identify criteria, analyze the alternatives and then finally making a choice.
Those steps sounded straight forward, but the application wasn’t as straight forward the first time I tested it out. This is because the problem in a case or situation isn’t always clear from the start. It is also very easy to come to a conclusion based on personal bias and then spend the entire analysis of a case just trying to find a way to justify your bias. And you might be wrong, which sucks. But a part of growth is being able to accept that you might be going about a situation wrongly and retracing your steps to where you went wrong.
But now let’s assume that you figured out the true problem, next up you get into defining your objective, figure out all the ways that your solution can go i.e alternatives, then you identify the criteria. Identifying criteria means you have a checklist that you have to vet your decision by, certain standards that it has to meet. But if the choice you were going to make doesn’t align with the list of criteria you’ve pulled up, you’ll need to find an alternative that actually works. Despite finding an alternative that works, you also have to vet all the available options (that is, the other alternatives) and pick the best one. You have to be objective and not let your personal ideals sway the choice you’re going to make. This is easier said than done, so much easier.
After doing all this and following all the steps, you finally get to make your choice. And if you’ve been honest in your analysis thus far, the choice you make would’ve been hinted at. Your analysis should offer insight into what led you to making the decision you made. It should provide support for the choice. If your analysis doesn’t provide any of that, it might not be considered well done, because you’ve failed to convince anyone reading it, that you have valid cause for the results you offer.
Analysis of business problems has so far forced me to think a lot deeper before I speak. To mull over and vet every opinion I wish to offer. Not that I just say things without having a source or my source being “I no fit lie give you”. That wouldn’t fly. It teaches me to be more responsible in my decision-making process and to give every idea a fair shot in my mind before dismissing it. So far, I really enjoy it and look forward to more development.
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE