Help or Hinder? Factors for making decisions under stress
- johannavalentine
- Feb 27, 2016
- 6 min read
A recent unit of my Undergraduate Degree in Emergency Management included a look at making decisions.
My first paper for the unit discusses why making decisions under stress varies from just making a plain old decision and what factors play a role in the decision making process during times of hightened stress. Below is a condensed version of my paper entitled "Decision Making Under Stress: Factors that help or hinder in Stressful Situations".
My second paper was a review on an actual case and applying decision making theories to the decisions made - this paper I will discuss in a seperate blog entry.
Decision making is a critical skill for any person in emergency management and is a key component of the role. It requires the skill and ability to identify current or potential problems and make sound and timely decisions.
According to Driskell and Salas (1996) stress is “a process by which certain work demands provoke an appraisal process in which perceived demands exceed resources and result in undesirable physiological, emotional, cognitive and social change”.
Kowalski-Trakofler, Vaught and Scharf (2003) argue that this is probably the most fitting of explanations for an emergency situation because “demand exceeding resource” is the key factor. They argue that the “demand may come from various sources (including hazard, environmental elements or social factors) interacting with human resource (which depends on individual perception, physiological constraints, training, experience)” (p. 279).
Recently researchers have begun to investigate decision making in highly stressful emergency situations. Many argue traditional decision making models are not relevant to emergency situations, as “they tended to be derived from studies of specified problems…inexperienced decision makers and low stake payoffs” which many allow “best decisions…with mental energy, unlimited time and all…relevant information”. (Flin, 1996, p. 141-142).
Since 1980 research has been conducted in natural, real world situations to better understand decision making under stressful situations – a term called Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM). Klein et al (1993) determined ten factors in characterising decision making in naturalistic settings:
Ill defined goals/tasks
Ambiguity in data
Changing goals
Dynamic and changing goals
Real time reactions to changes
Time stress
High stakes
Multiple players
Organisational goals and norms
Experienced decision makers
The major NDM theory applied to decision making under stress is Recognition Primed Decision Making (RPD), developed by Klein to describe how experienced decision makers can rapidly decide on an appropriate course of action in a high pressure situation. Klein describes the key features of RPD (1993) as
Focus on situation assessment
Aim is to satisfice, not optimize
For experienced decision makers, the first option is usually workable
Serial generation and evaluation of options
Check option will work using mental simulation
Focus on elaborating and improving options
Decision maker is primed to act
Research indicates in stressful situations decision behaviours range from a formal analytical approach involving extensive analysis and comparison of options to instantaneous intuitive recognition primed decisions – or gut reaction (Crichton, 2003). Researchers suggest that intuitive decision making is more effective when a person has a high level of knowledge about the area within which the decision has to be made.
As part of the paper we had to list factors that we felt helped or hindered the decision making process in stressful situation. Below are some of the suggestions created.
Factors that help:
Personality type – thriving in challenging situation
Aptitude for problem solving
Non- essential information can be removed and attention given to important aspects by having a narrow focus
Flexibility to accept alternative course of action
Staying calm, friendly, professional
Dealing with facts not assumptions
Good relationship building with relevant stakeholders
Confidence to make decisions
Professional knowledge
Adaption
Commitment
Utilising Distributed Decision Making (Flin, p. 178)
Political, social and cultural infrastructure considerations
Knowledge of critical infrastructure of locality
Training and education pre disaster
Willingness to learn from past mistakes
Understanding critical factors
Situational awareness
Creative decision making – responding to unanticipated elements
Receiving information from reliable, trustworthy sources
Good mental and physical health
Pre-planning and risk assessments
Supportive team and higher management
Access to required resources and equipment
Factors that hinder:
Personality type – unable to thrive under stress
Unrealistic interpretation of problem due to stress
Incorrect information
Lack of leadership
Narrow focus leads to failure to see ‘bigger picture’
Task fixation
Time constraints
Overly emotional or showing hostility
Assumptions mistaken for facts
Bureaucracy
Mental overload of information
Failure to source information from experts
Expectancy bias – misinterpreting facts and selectively basing decisions to support an expected hypothesis (Collyer & Malecki, p. 5, 1998)
Swaying from correct decisions by peer pressure
Lack of sleep and physical care
Lack of concentration
Distributed Decision Making - potential lack of understanding of a situation/installation/incident; third party may not understand severity of situation.
Financial pressure
Different approaches can clash – operational, tactical, strategic (Flin, p. 178)
High turnover of staff can result in inexperience in situations
Long working hours
Long distance driving can impair judgment due to tiredness
Culture of officers paralyzed into indecision
Fear of having mistakes judged in reviews
Making decisions above employment scale
Lack of emergency management experience in decision making roles
Person that may have caused the emergency is also responsible for the initial actions in mitigating the emergency.
“Take Action – Any Action” mentality
Loss of higher ranking personnel
Conflict over responsibilities for tasks
Conflict over jurisdictions
Conflict between established and emergent groups
Decision making during a crisis situation has many factors that can make reaching a decision more difficult. Poor decisions or delays in decisions made early in the process can make a response more difficult or dangerous and can lead to further critical or complex decisions being required later. This can be demonstration by the early response to Hurricane Katrina. Even former President G. W. Bush states “the problem was not that I made the wrong decisions. It was that I took too long to decide”. (McGreal, 2010).
Decision making is a critical skill and an essential component to an emergency as the situation is fluid and dynamic. I agree with Crichton (2003) who states that essentially any “decision maker employs decision behaviours…from formal decisions involving extensive analysis…to instantaneous intuitive, recognition primed decisions”. Adaption and cooperation is critical to success and Orasanu & Fischer (1997) comment that you need to “tailor decision strategies to the features of the situation”. Decisions must take into account ethical, political, financial and social impacts.
In reviewing post-event inquiries Murphy and Dunn (2012) concluded in many significant events there has been a pattern of leadership failure “the failure is seldom one of character, but inevitably a lack of preparation and understanding.” (p. 2). As Launder and Perry (2014) note existing literature indicates almost no training in decision making is provided within Australia (p. 157).
Training should focus on decision making areas such as those stated by Launder and Perry (2014, p. 145) which include:
Assessment of situations
Selection of a decision strategies
Determination of incident objectives
Deployment and management of resources
Ongoing review of incident
In addition a holistic, inclusive approach should be adapted by organisations to assist in decision making as Bearman et al (2015) states
“…the system for managing decisions is much larger than just a decision-making tool…doctrine, policies, procedures and other organisational systems that wrap around the decision-maker all influence, and are therefore all part of the decision-making process.” (p. 4)
It is only through a collaborative effort between responders and their organisation that decision making training under stress can effectively build on knowledge and skill bases to build confidence when making decisions in emergency situations.
References
Bearman, C., Brooks, B., Curnin, S., Fitzgerald, K., Grunwald, J., Owen, C., & Rainbird, S. (2015). Practical Decision Tools for Improved Decision Making: Annual Project report 2014-2015 (p. 4). Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. Retrieved from
Collyer, S., & Malecki, G. (1998). Tactical decision making under stress: History and overview. Making Decisions Under Stress: Implications For Individual And Team Training., 3-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10278-016
Crichton, M. (2003). Incident Command Decision Making - A Psychological Perspective. Vector Command Bulletin, 201 - 238.
Driskell, J., & Salas, E. (1996). Stress and human performance. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Flin, R. (1996). Sitting in the hot seat. Chichester [England]: J. Wiley.
Klein, G., & Sullivan, J. (2001). Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions. Leadership Manage. Eng., 1(1), 21-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(asce)1532-6748(2001)1:1(21)
Kowalski-Trakofler, K., Vaught, C., & Scharf, T. (2003). Judgment and decision making under stress: an overview for emergency managers. IJEM, 1(3), 278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijem.2003.003297
Launder, D., & Perry, C. (2014). A study identifying factors influencing decision making in dynamic emergencies like urban fire and rescue settings. International Journal Of Emergency Services, 3(2), 144-161. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijes-06-2013-0016
McGreal, C. (2010). Decision Points: Katrina response was 'flawed', but I wasn't to blame – Bush. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/08/decision-points-katrina-bush
Murphy P & Dunn P 2012, Senior leadership in times of crisis. Noetic Notes, vol. 3. ACT, Australia: Noetic Group Pty Ltd. - See more at: https://ajem.infoservices.com.au/items/AJEM-30-03 05#sthash.xVzv92C8.pdf
Orasanu, J. & Fischer, U. (1997). Finding decisions in natural environments: The view from the cockpit. In C. Zsambok & G .Klein (Eds.) Naturalistic Decision Making. (pp.343-357). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates http://www.pacdeff.com/pdfs/Errors%20in%20Decision%20Making.pdf
