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advantage of the rational model is that it urges decision makers to generate all
alternatives instead of only a few. By generating a large number of alternatives that
cover a wide range of possibilities, you are likely to make a more effective decision
in which you do not need to sacrifice one criterion for the sake of another.

Figure 11.7 Steps in the Rational Decision-Making Model

Despite all its benefits, you may have noticed that this decision-making model
involves a number of unrealistic assumptions. It assumes that people understand what
decision is to be made, that they know all their available choices, that they have no
perceptual biases, and that they want to make optimal decisions. Nobel Prize–
winning economist Herbert Simon observed that while the rational decision-making
model may be a helpful tool for working through problems, it doesn’t represent how
decisions are frequently made within organizations. In fact, Simon argued that it
didn’t even come close!
Think about how you make important decisions in your life. Our guess is that
you rarely sit down and complete all eight steps in the rational decision-making
model. For example, this model proposed that we should search for all possible
alternatives before making a decision, but this can be time consuming and individuals

are often under time pressure to make decisions. Moreover, even if we had access to
all the information, it could be challenging to compare the pros and cons of each

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