MGT/230
February 6, 2012

Learning Decision Making

While situations may seem rather routine and isolated to the repair of an automobile there is much more to the process here. While the world looks at “mechanics” with a particular bias the fact is the decision making process that this particular career path follows all suggested decision making process in higher education reading materials such as Bateman & Snell Management: Leading & collaboration in a competitive world (9th edition 2011.)

Growing up in the automotive repair field as a repair technician teaches one to understand and master the decision making process. When an automobile is in for service or repair the technician must evaluate the situation. Several clues are available for the deciphering should the technician choose to look for them. The work order for the automobile is the first and main clue that should be addressed. On the document clues such as the age of the auto and roughly how long it has been owned by the customer are available. Information such as mileage, time since last repair visit or service, regularity of service, year, make model of auto and customer information. Understanding something of the geographical location in which the customer resides may give clues to the way they do or do not think and what concerns that might be important to them. Lastly the complaints or concerns of the auto on the work order as well as the order in which they are listed can provide clues as far as the importance to the customer.

When armed with this knowledge the technician can examine the car based on the concerns themselves with the previously discussed knowledge in the “back” of the techs mind. The first logical step is to identify or verify the concern and begin to diagnose the problem or issue. Once diagnosed, solutions can be developed. While developing solutions to the concern the tech can use observed information from the work order to develop and consider alternative correctional methods to the issue.

Armed with complete information and potential solutions the potential repair solutions can be provided to the customer. While the decision making is generally based on the customers finances, as most decisions of this nature are, the repair team can and typically does use various forms of persuasion ,valid or not, to guide the decision making process. After the decision has been made the technician can implement the decision and perform the repair. When the repair is complete the decision will be evaluated by the tech and the customer. The tech will evaluate the decision while testing the repair while the customer will evaluate the decision on multiple levels. The customer will evaluate the decision while sitting in the waiting room, at the checkout counter, upon delivery of the automobile as well as the subsequent driving experiences.

Understanding the decision making process can come from multiple places and even unexpected places for that matter. While many spend their lives attempting to learn from mistakes or learn from curriculum there are some unexpected careers that infuse the suggested processes of leading educators.

Resources:

Bateman, T. S., & Snell, S. A. (2011). Management: Leading & collaborating in a competitive world (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.