Albert Rios

Missed Class
19 OCT 11

Decision-Making
Having good decision-making abilities is critical when it comes to flying large, expensive
aircraft that carry expensive cargo and passengers. Needless to say, having those abilities is
important in any situation. Headwork and motivational attitude are two important components of
decision making. Decision-making is all about resolving problems. There are two kinds of
problems, structured and unstructured. In making decisions, one should try using the DECIDE
model to help aid in making those choices.
The two significant parts of decision-making can be summarized as headwork and
attitude. Headwork deals with the knowledge and intellect portion of making choices. It
incorporates the ability to sense, store, retrieve, and integrate given and self found knowledge.
Headwork mostly requires the use of the rational side of thinking. Motivation and attitude can be
categorized together. Motivation/attitude derives itself from the common inclination within pilots
to resist against non-safety related factors in their decision-making. This is also most often
referred to as the human element. The factors under this category are job demands,
conveniences, monetary gain, self-esteem, commitment, and ego. In relation to this, there are six
hazardous attitudes which are self explanatory in the larger sense of the word. These hazardous
attitudes are the following: anti-authority, impulsivity, macho, resignation, and get-home-it
is.
An important factor to making a good decision is recognizing the type of problem at
hand. There are structured and unstructured problems. Structured problems are known and have a
definite solution. Usually, structured problems can be handled by one individual. This is where
checklists come into play, which helps that one individual to keep track of what is going on so
that they do not lose their place in the progress. An unstructured problem is almost the exact

opposite to the structured problem. It is an undefined dilemma and has no known or obvious
solution. This type of problem is best solved by a team. This is due to the concept of two heads
are better than one, only it does not necessarily only need to be two people. In having more
people working on the issue, the problem can become recognized quicker. Unstructured
problems require the proper use of synergy, or a group of people functioning together to produce
a something that was not able to be obtained alone.
The DECIDE model is a closed loop process of decision making. It stands for detect,
estimate, choose, identify, do, and evaluate. The first part in the DECIDE decision making model
is to detect that a change was occurred. Second, estimate the severity and significance of that
change. Next, choose a safe outcome. Come up with a plan of recovery to safely recover from
the change, leading into the next part, identify. The identify portion of the DECIDE model is to
identify probable actions to control the change. Then do something, put your plan into motion
and execute it. Finally, after all is said and done, and the outcome has been achieved, whether it
is the desired outcome or an undesired outcome, evaluate the effect of the action. In other words,
go through each phase of the problems recovery and figure out if the result was desired, if not
why and where could the plan been implemented differently to have achieved that desired
outcome.
Though headwork and attitude are important, and knowing whether your problem is
structured or unstructured is important. And using the DECIDE model is advised, the most
important part to proper decision making is learning from the mistakes of yours and others.