Discuss what criteria a decision maker will follow in a sustainable Essay

Discuss what criteria a decision maker will follow in a sustainable management plan - Essay Example Evidently, this is highly complex, and thus, the decision-making cannot rely on intuition of managers. This calls for a thorough assessment of impacts before resorting to a given decision. As a result, decision-making in sustainable management plan requires a structured process to aid in evaluating and assessing environmental impact, ethical and social issues to make a decision that serves the interest of all stakeholders involved. Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis is one of the structured processes that managers can use for making decisions in sustainability issues. This applies in a situation whereby a manager faces problems with competing decision criteria, for example, a decision between installation of a solar panel and plan for energy efficiency enhancement. Using Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA), such a decision takes four steps. The first step involves identifying the goals and decisions that the decision maker aims at achieving and framing of the decision (Hahn, Seaman and Rob 2). The second step is identifying the alternatives regarding the decision, as well as related attributes that contribute to the objectives of the decision. Third is specifying preferences for each individual attributes, as well as between attributes in agenda. Finally, the last step involves ranking alternative decisions basing on the attribute data, according to specified preferences. Similarly, another tool that managers can utilize for making sustainable management decisions is the Rational-Iterative Decision-Making Process. This process entails several elements that need to be evaluated in order to come up with a rational decision (Decision Making Methods and Tools: Choosing among alternative courses of action 3). This includes identifying the roles of individuals involved in the process such as forest managers, decision makers, and stakeholders among others. Additionally, it involves scoping the target area, determining the goals, creating measurable criteria for