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A windsurfing enthusiast is about to replace his car. He needs one that not only carries a board and sails, but also one that will be good for business travel. He has always loved open-topped sports cars, but no car he can find is good for all three things.
His options are:
Factors that he wants to consider are:
Firstly he draws up the table shown in Figure 1, and scores each option by how well it satisfies each factor:
Figure 1: Example Grid Analysis Showing Unweighted Assessment of How Each Type of Car Satisfies Each Factor
Factors: |
Cost |
Board |
Storage |
Comfort |
Fun |
Look |
Total |
Weights: |
|||||||
Sports Car |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
|
SUV/4x4 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Family Car |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
Station Wagon |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
Next he decides the relative weights for each of the factors. He
multiplies these by the scores already entered, and totals them.
This is shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2: Example Grid Analysis Showing Weighted Assessment of How
Each Type of Car Satisfies Each Factor
Factors: |
Cost |
Board |
Storage |
Comfort |
Fun |
Look |
Total |
Weights: |
4 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Sports Car |
4 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
12 |
27 |
SUV/4x4 |
0 |
15 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
28 |
Family Car |
8 |
10 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
25 |
Station Wagon |
8 |
15 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
4 |
36 |
This gives an interesting result: Despite its lack of fun, a station wagon is the best choice. Windsurfing really matters to him!
Grid Analysis helps you to decide between several options, where you need to take many different factors into account.
To use the tool, lay out your options as rows on a table. Set up the columns to show the factors you need to consider. Score each choice for each factor using numbers from 0 (poor) to 5 (very good), and then allocate weights to show the importance of each of these factors. Multiply each score by the weight of the factor, to show its contribution to the overall selection. Finally add up the total scores for each option. The highest scoring option will be the best option.
Note: A lot of business decision making, however, is based on approximate or subjective data. Where this is the case, Grid Analysis may be all that’s needed. |
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* Shows articles available in full only to Career Excellence Club members.
Analytic
Hierarchy Process (AHP) - Choosing by weighing up many subjective
factors
Reactive Decision
Making - Making good decisions under pressure*
Critical Thinking - Developing the skills for successful
thinking*
The Ladder of Inference
- Avoiding "jumping to conclusions"*
Blindspot Analysis - Avoiding common "fatal flaws"
in decision making*
Multi-Voting - Choosing fairly between many options*
Monte Carlo Analysis - Bringing uncertainty and risk into
forecasting*
The Kepner-Tregoe
Matrix - Making unbiased, risk assessed decisions*
Impact Analysis
- Identifying the "unexpected" consequences of a decision*
The Vroom-Yetton-Jago
Decision Model - Deciding how to decide*
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