Decisions Under Certainty

Two Types of Decision Making Conditions

The conditions for making decisions can be divided into two types, certainty and uncertainty.

Decisions made under certainty or uncertainty are based on our feelings and our experiences.

1. Certainty

We experience certainty about a specific question when we have a feeling of complete belief or complete confidence in a single answer to the question.

Decisions such as deciding on a new carpet for the office or installing a new piece of equipment or promoting an employee to a supervisory position are made with a high level of certainty.

While there is always some degree of uncertainty about the eventual outcome of such decisions there is enough clarity about the problem, the situation and the alternatives to consider the conditions to be certain.

2. Uncertainty

A decision under uncertainty is when there are many unknowns and no possibility of knowing what could occur in the future to alter the outcome of a decision. We feel uncertainty about a situation when we can't predict with complete confidence