Responses - Making Important Decisions

Write 3 separate short peer responses to the following 3 supported with one scholar for each: DQ1 “Oct 16” somehow became a turning point in my life on two different occasions. Oct 16, 2001, was the date that I immigrated to Canada, with my family. It was a tough decision, but the decision that I want to discuss today also happened on an Oct 16th, and that when on Oct 16, 2015, I quit my job of 14 years. I think leaving a job for another job is a bit easier than leaving a position to become self-employed. However, when I read the six steps to making an effective decision, I think my decision, in hindsight, followed the six steps. First of all, my family and some close friends were also of the opinion that I can do better if I was working for myself. They were on-side with me on this decision. Since 2004, when I had some idea of how the finances work in Canada, I started to learn about taxes, corporate taxes, financial planning, and insurances. As I studied, and as I secured licenses to do multiple things like life insurance and mutual funds, I was generating alternatives for myself. Having worked part-time with few accountants, H&R Block, Intuit, and Turbo-Tax in an advisory role, I explored many options and experienced many corporate cultures. And all these experiences increased my belief that a job would not be a fit for me, having seen the potential that was there for “expert and honest advice.” So I selected the best alternative – leave being an employee and become my own boss. The first year was tough. You get used to routine life, having worked for so many years. Either it is nine to five, morning or evening, everything follows a set pattern. But now, I don’t have to wake up early or go anywhere. Seems like a dream come true, but it started to hurt my financials. The biggest struggle that I faced in the early days was to get out of the home. Once I overcame this, I have never looked back. I started to advertise my services, and sooner than later, my book of business began to grow. The good thing with “honest advice” is that your customers become your marketers. The decision was taken, and there was no turning back. A few friends at work suggested to take some time off and come back if the business doesn’t go well. I know that they were sincere in their advice, but I told them that I do not want to to be in two boats simultaneously and I need to burn my ships so that there is not coming back. Coming back to the type of approach, I think my decision was the result of a systematic approach, a qualitative one. The choice that I made has its challenges and risks, but I consider it to be one of the best decisions of my life. And finally, to answer “would you approach the decision differently after learning about some of the tools and techniques in this course?”, I must say that I am glad that I took this course. The solver techniques learned in this course would go a long way for me to plan so many things for my business as well as for my clients. Marketing budgets, investment returns, scheduling, and preparing for peak times, would definitely get better. I think by adopting some of the tools, I would be able to optimize my work better and be more efficient. DQ2 We all make decisions in our lives on a daily basis, whether small or big, however some significant decisions cannot be made lightly and best possible outcome is considered. A significant decision I have made was when I decided to purchase my first car. I did a lot of research, looked at my budget and determined which car would be right for me. I did want to put a good amount down in order to make my monthly payments a bit more manageable. Using a systemic approach with both qualitative and quantitative approach seemed to help. I would need to be approved for financing which was more quantitative. When purchasing a car, you also need to look at insurance, which is where a systematic approach is needed to shop around. Things like gas costs, budget and final cost of the car would be the constraints. In the end, I believe I made an ok decision with the vehicle I purchased, but perhaps if I were to use a linear programming tool I would have been able to look at the purchase price in greater detail and be able to analyze it a bit more in order to get the best return on investment. In an article on the Harvard Business Review, it states that “Decision making in business has long been more art than science. In part, that is because most managers had relatively little access to accurate information until recently. Few decision tools are widely used; the pros-and-cons list, popularized by Benjamin Franklin, is probably the most common — and it’s nearly 250 years old (Larson 2016). Sometimes a checklist is what is needed, or a pros/cons list in order to weigh out the fact when making an informed decision. Reference: Larson, E. (2016). A Checklist for Making Faster, Better Decisions. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–4. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid&db=bth&AN=118685946 DQ 3 Thinking back of a decision I made three years ago when my husband got relocated to North Bay, was to select the school my children will be attending for the next 5 years or so. Having only a hand full of schools that my children could attend, I begging to narrow down to those alternatives. Considering that my two children were to attend different grades and have different needs, I had to consider the opportunities that each school represented for them. When I became aware that North bay populations are 60% 40% English-francophone, as a bilingual person (Spanish- English), I decided a French or French immersion school will have a priority over English schools, as I knew this offer a greater opportunity to have them both in the same school, (separating them was not an option). I knew my daughter would have no problem going to a French, English or French immersion school, however, my son had some limitations as a second grader entering a French or French immersion school could represent a bigger challenge for him without any French background knowledge. I wanted to offer my children the opportunity to learn a third language, however, I needed to consider other elements such as the school’s reputations, parents experiences with school, size and locations among other elements. This decision I’ll say it was a systematic decision making process, as it involved establishing the objective (by enrolling my kids on a school that offer French language), get my husband and children on board with the plan, as this required a team effort, as without my children or my husband support it could be harder or impossible to achieve the desired outcome. The alternatives, where; registering them in a French immersion school, a French school, or English school. Some of the ideas generated where: The first and ideal option was to be registering them both in the French immersion which has only ten minutes away, will offer the opportunity to learn French, and having them both in the same school. The second option was to send them to a different school where my daughter could attend a French school, across town which was farther from home than the English school. Considering the challenges of entering grade 2 with zero French knowledge, my son was not very likely to be accepted in the French School. This option required for my daughter to transfer buses and travel twice as much as my son would have, being her first-time riding on a bus, a transfer was simply not ideal. The third option was to register them both in the English school which was very close from home. But will not meet the objective of registering them in a school that offers French. My daughter was starting kindergarten and could go to any school I choose. My son had been in an English school throughout JK and SK and grade one, entering second grade in either a French immersion or full French school will be very difficult as classes in grade second students required to speak English and French 60%/ 40%. Exploring alternatives considering our alternatives we wanted to pursue the objective to register the kids in a French immersion school. While my daughter had no problem been accepted to the French immersion and after hearing the principal’s suggesting registering my son for grade one instead of grade two, will give my son greater chances to catch up on basic French requirements. Although this option required an additional compromise, it ultimately was the best decision we could have made. My kids are now reading and speaking French much better than I ever thought I could teach them. This decision was based considering both qualitative and quantitative approaches, both leading to the same alternative and desired outcomes. I will say that this was a good decision with a great outcome, they love their school, they are learning a new language, great location, brand-new installations and amazing staff. Something that I learned from this course that could have been applying in this case is a ratio, analysis (e.g., No. of teachers per students per, etc.      

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