Personal and professional decision-making: a case study analysis

Decision Making

Deciding Whether to Accept a New Career Position or Not

I've been working for the same employer for eight years and have only received one raise. The company is good about providing bonuses and I have an exceptionally high level of freedom, yet I am interested in moving further ahead in my career, earning a higher salary, and getting into a company who has opportunities for advancements. I'd also like to gain greater recognition for the hard work I do and my unique skills in marketing, sales and management.

The dilemma of my decision began when I received a call from a firm in the same industry as the company I work. This firm is very well-known and is a global provider of computing services and IT, and the recruiter contacting me was interviewing for a senior position that would include a significant jump in responsibility and pay. I jumped at the chance to interview. Yet as I considered the job offer I realized I'd be giving up a reputation based on eight years of work with my current employer, including winning three President's Awards and having been given many presentations on how to excel in my role there. My position at the company was very solid, stable and my family made it clear that given the economic turmoil in the country today, they liked me staying there. Yet I was getting bored and needed a new challenge. The call from a larger company in the industry definitely had my interest.

Decision Making Process -- An Analysis

The most valuable lesson learned from the text what the perspective on decisions being much more strategic and long-term than they initially appear (Bateman & Snell, 2010). This observation led me to consider the decision factors that had initially attracted me to the new position, specifically the impressive, high status title and the salary, and potential perks as well. Yet given the lessons learned in our course, I balanced these attractive aspects of the new job with the freedom I had in my existing job, the great relationship I have with my boss, and the fact I can get off an hour early to help out coaching a local baseball team. I also considered the strategic implications of how an entirely new group of people incouding a new boss would need to be managed. Often the most strategic aspects of a new position are people-based, not necessarily role- or salary-based (Harrison, 1996). In choosing a path for framing the problem I sought out those I most trust for their insight and guidance as well, which follows the frameworks as defined in our text as well (Bateman, Snell, 2010). In the past I would have consulted these advisors on whether I should take the job or not. On this iteration I chose to ask them if my strategic framework, or my perspective of the job, was correct. This helped to put the issues of freedom vs. commitment to an entirely new role into context. One trusted friend said that the freedoms I had worked so hard to gain would need to momentarily be put on hold, or even be sacrificed, if I chose the new job. The friend also asked if the freedom I had today was worth the extra salary or not, and the bigger title. This helped me to frame the decision in an entirely different perspective than I had considered in the past.

Using the methodologies and frameworks as defined in the book I next defined specific alternatives for the decision making process (Bateman, Snell, 2010). The shift from being after a bigger salary and more prestigious title shifted to concern for the stability and security of my family. I would be gambling their futures as well as my own, and that made the entire decision-making process even more important to me. This step gave me the framework to define the values that would drive my decision. When the recruiter called they immediately appealed to my desire for more money and prestige, and the chance to have a very impressive sounding job. Yet after going through the decision-making framework in the book I realized my greatest values weren't; necessarily wealth or power, but the chance to give my family and extended family the freedom to live their lives uninterrupted.