Decision making and problem solving

A well known model developed by Herbert Simon divides the decision making phase into three stages

1. Intelligence
• Intelligence stage: the first stage of decision making in which problems or opportunities are identified and defined.
• An example is determining how to ship fruit from Hawaii to Australia. There are several factors to consider such as spoilage and cost/
2. Design
• Design stage: in the second stage of decision making alternative solution to the problem are developed. 
• For example in the tropical fruit example you may decide there are several transport methods such as air and sea freight.
3. Choice
• Choice stage: the third stage of decision making requires selecting a course of action.
• In our tropical fruit example the best course of action is air freight to avoid spoilage.