A decision matrix, also known as the Pugh matrix or problem matrix, is a decision-making tool, which allows teams in an organization to take the most informed decision by quantifying different variables that influences decision making process. The decision matrix takes the shape of an L-shaped grid, where a list of weighted criteria is first established and the respective options against those criteria are evaluated. The decision matrix can be quite useful for business management student, especially when putting forward a business decision in a justified manner. This article presents an in-depth discussion on the decision matrix which can help you in your college essay, particularly in your business plan. You can also ask us at PenMyPaper to write an essay if you are stuck with any assignment.
As mentioned earlier, the decision matrix is a quantitative research methodology tool for effective decision making. Typically, it is used when an organization needs to narrow down from a several proposed decisions to the most suitable one. Moreover, the decision matrix is suitable in situations where a decision has to be made based on various criteria or parameters. From the organizational perspective, it should be noted that firms often face the challenge of taking the right decisions. Based on the given scenario a company can have multiple options to choose from and may find it quite difficult to select the most suitable strategy. The decision matrix was designed to make this choice easier. Let us now look at how you can apply the decision matrix in your own professional essay writing.
variables which can influence outcome of the decision.While making all the list of all the possible criteria, the team must be extremely careful to add every possible factor that can influence the given situation.
Next, the identified factors/criteria need to be assigned different quantitative values or “weights” based on their importance in the given situation. Typically, 10 points are distributed over all the criteria. In the following step, the matrix itself needs to be prepared. An L-shaped grid is drawn, where all the criteria along with their assigned weights are written as labels in one axis and the list of options/choices on the other axis. Now let us make a decision matrix of our own as a research paper example.
|
|
Options |
|||||||
Weight |
Supplier 1 |
Supplier 2 |
Supplier 3 |
Supplier 4 |
|||||
Criteria |
|
Score |
Value |
Score |
Value |
Score |
Value |
Score |
Value |
Reputation |
2 |
4 |
8 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
8 |
Materials cost |
3 |
3 |
9 |
4 |
12 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
12 |
Logistics cost |
1 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
Technological availability |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
3 |
6 |
Past business relationship |
2 |
4 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
Total |
10 |
|
32 |
|
22 |
|
25 |
|
36 |
The table shown above represents a weighted decision matrix. In this situation, an organization tries to find out which supplier will be the best to collaborate with. So, four suppliers (supplier 1 to 4) are the possible options that the company has. Now in order to make the decision for their suitability, several factors or criteria has been identified, which can play a major role in the outcome of the decision. In this case, the criteria for selection are reputation, material cost, logistics cost, technological availability and past business relationships. Since different criteria is likely to have different importance, therefore each of them has been assigned different weights. In this example, we have assigned 10 points across all the factors. However, you can even choose to distribute points in decimal, making the total to be 1. To write a high-quality essay on the topic of decision matrix, you need to have a solid understanding of the methodology, its advantages, and its applications. If you're struggling with the topic or need help in writing a well-structured and coherent paper, say writing about the McDonalds mission statement or so, you can pay for an essay to be written by a professional writer from a reputable online writing service.
In the next step, we have put in the respective scores for each of the four suppliers, in their columns. For example, Supplier 1 has a very good reputation than Supplier 2, which is why Supplier 1 has a reputation score of 4 where as the other has a score of 2. This approach has been used for each criterion on all the available supplier options (Supplier 1 to 4). In the following step, the total value of each criterion for respective Suppliers have been calculated by multiplying the weights with the individual scores. These total values have then been summed up to determine the most suitable candidate. In this case, as we can see from the decision matrix that Supplier 4 has the highest total score of 36, which makes it the most suitable supplier partner for the company.
The key advantage of using the decision matrix is that it can help organizations to take their decisions more objectives. As this framework converts subjective criteria and options to objective ones, by quantifying them, it makes it much easier to determine the most suitable option. However, it should be noted that the effectiveness of this model relies on accurate allocation of scores and weights, depending on the proper assessment of the situation. Thus, for organizations it is essential to conduct a thorough assessment of the given situation.
Before you start working on your papers without a thesis paper writing help, let us recapitulate what we have learnt from this article. The decision matrix is a theoretical framework which enables more effective decision making. This model focus on objective decision making by qualifying the importance of different factors and their presence in each of the available options. This approach makes it much easier for organizations to make objective decisions, while avoiding human errors as much as possible. In the decision matrix, the criteria for the intended decisions are evaluated and weighted. Next, the available options are scored against the criteria, to present individual scores for each of the options. The option with the highest score is chosen for selection.
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