- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: PROMETHEUS BOOKS (Nov 1 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1573929344
- ISBN-13: 978-1573929349
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 408 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #593,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
Welch, an academic, offers a nine-step plan for making effective decisions in everyday life and then demonstrates how to apply these steps to real world situations; these nine steps include identifying your objective, doing a preliminary survey of options, focusing onthe values involved, assessing the importance of the decision, budgeting your time and energy, and making your choice. In developing habits of good decision making, we learn the importance of adroitly handling uncertainty; the author believes that the ability to handle uncertainty is the best predictor of success. Selfreflection is very important in skilled decision making, and we also need to understand principles and strategies, money and probability, and some psychology, philosophy, and sociology, in addition to learning to assess the needs of others and their reaction to our choices. This is a "must read"--a thought-provoking book written for a broad audience in an easy and entertaining manner. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
You're tempted to accept a promising job offer in another city, but moving would entail considerable sacrifice on the part of your family. What should you do?
Your elderly mother can no longer take care of herself but she doesn't get along with your spouse and dreads the prospect of moving into a nursing home. What is the solution?
Whether you're faced with decisions momentous or trivial, how you go about resolving everyday dilemmas will definitely affect your degree of satisfaction in life. In this engrossing and entertaining guide, David Welch, who has studied the decision-making process at the highest levels, shows how both the science and the art of decision making are essential to us all. Welch lays out nine steps to effective decision making and then shows us how to apply these steps to real-world situations. You'll learn how to assess your own strengths and weaknesses because self-knowledge is critical for making the right decisions.
This enjoyable, clearly written guide will enable decision makers to find the most practical solution for dilemmas both big and small.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A breath of fresh air,
By Rob MacGregor (Natick, MA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Decisions Decisions (Paperback)
I can't remember the last time I read a book so useful and so much fun at the same time. This is a sweeping tour of decision making chock full of insight and information that makes you laugh out loud (usually at yourself!) How nice it is to read a book that doesn't assume the reader is an idiot, too. I can think of about a dozen people I'd like to give this to for Christmas.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Effective,
By KT - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Decisions Decisions (Paperback)
The most insightful advice in the book comes on the first page of Chapter 1 - "All decisions have three parts: 1) you identify your goals 2) you identify your options; and 3) you choose from among your options". The rest of the book goes downhill from there. Nothing much more is offered. The examples used tend to lack demonstration of insights into real-world effective decision-making, which is unexpected considering that he studied the decision-making process of Middle East leaders. The second half of the book I found to be tedious without much actual usefulness. Even the selling points, the 9 main steps to effective decision making, are redundant and can be reduced down to those 3 parts stated earlier. Very boring reading. You can throw out most of the chapters and it wouldn't make much of an impact on the overall book. Pass on this one.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A breath of fresh air,
By Rob MacGregor - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Decisions Decisions (Paperback)
I can't remember the last time I read a book so useful and so much fun at the same time. This is a sweeping tour of decision making chock full of insight and information that makes you laugh out loud (usually at yourself!) How nice it is to read a book that doesn't assume the reader is an idiot, too. I can think of about a dozen people I'd like to give this to for Christmas.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Success Science,
By H. Arsham "Dr. Professor Hossein Arsham" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Decisions Decisions (Paperback)
Some may feel that the ability to be a smart decision maker and one who resolves their personal matters in wise ways is something innate to the being. David A. Welch's guide explores the procedural manner in which one can learn to become a more effective decision maker for both large and small dilemmas in both personal and professional situations. Welch has authored several books examining war and the Cuban Missile Crisis and is an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto. In the first chapter of the book, he looks at the ideal situation for decision-making and discusses the constraints that effect our decision making in the real world using everyday examples. Welch breaks down the steps to effective decision making into nine steps. In the second chapter, Welch explores many different types of decision-making situations and the different strategies that could be used depending on what type of decision is being made. In chapter three, Welch decisions that can be quantified such as any decisions that involve money. In chapter four, Welch discusses the effects of people's emotions, judgments, and perceptions on their decision making process and the importance of being aware of these personal biases when making a decision. Chapter five is devoted to philosophical issues and moral decision-making. In chapter six, Welch explores the belief that decision-making styles of women and men differ specific to their gender. Finally, the book discusses habits and the importance of developing a strong decision making style in order to overcome an ineffective decision-making style. This book was extremely informative and used many everyday scenarios that made the reading applicable to business people as well as household decision makers. In his approach to decision making, the one who analyzes and presents options for resolving the problem situations is also the decision maker. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge personal biases, gender issues, and moral issues, which do affect the decision-making process as well as the decision that is made.
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Decision-Making & Problem Solving
- Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Entrepreneurship
- Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help > Motivational
- Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help > Personal Transformation
- Books > Professional & Technical > Business Management > Management & Leadership > Decision-Making & Problem Solving
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
