5 - Identifying Your Values

Summary

The reason for making any decision is that you care about making something better. Identifying your values specifies what you care about regarding that decision. Articulating all of the values for a decision is difficult; numerous experiments indicate that half the values for an important decision are not recognized by the decision-maker. This chapter provides a process to stimulate the thoughts of the decision-maker to create a more complete set of values. Each identified value should be stated as an objective, which clarifies what you want to achieve by making that decision. The format for an objective is a noun–verb combination, such as “minimize cost&”or “enhance safety.&”Objectives should then be organized using means–ends relationships, where achievement in terms of a means objective influences the achievement of an ends relationship. This process results in identification of the fundamental objectives, which indicate ultimately what you want to achieve by making the decision, and provides a logically sound basis for evaluating alternatives. Numerous applications indicating the concepts and uses are presented.