Microcomputers and Strategic Decision Making

Abstract

are routinely taught to be sophisticated about statistical analysis, decision theory, operations research, and managerial uses of computers, the belief is persistent that critical organizational choices must be made in some intuitive way. The contemporary executive, of course, would not suggest that the analytical skills practiced in graduate academic programs are peripheral to the decision-making process. It is through the use of statistics and other quantitative techniques that decision makers become more informed about the nature of problems to be solved. Nevertheless, there is much more to decision making than merely the use of analytic techniques to organize, simplify, and summarize information. The question is not whether such techniques can be used to better inform the decision maker but how critical choices concerning policies and programs, supported by information from various sources, can best be made. The focus of this paper is on the common need of all executives for better ways to make critical choices after the available time has elapsed for pertinent information to be collected and summarized. In particular, how can the use of computers assist in decision making when all available information has already been presented? Before answering that question, we need to briefly review the use of management information systems and decision support systems.