Open Access

Alexander Dutour

• Decisions are made every day, every second of our lives, and are particularly important in a business context. Projects, from their objectives to their ending are a sum of organized and unorganized decisions where facts and data battle with human nature. In this paper, we will analyse how those decisions are organized in project management, and in general. After having defined extensively project Management, Decision-Making and their link, a new structure of decision-making will be presented. It is composed of seven steps: 1. Establishing the objectives 2. Identify and define the challenge 3. Analyse the challenge 4. Find solutions and alternatives 5. Evaluate alternatives 6. Choosing the best solution 7. Implementing the decision. This structure is based on Simon, Drucker, Rolstadås and other researchers’ work. It completes and extends former models in order to go beyond classical schemes. Everyone, from the CEO to the road sweeper goes through these steps, consciously or unconsciously. Of course, all responsibilities and stakes proportionally adapted. According to the size of the project, the consequences of the decision, the risks and many other factors, this theoretical structure shifts to fit the needs and becomes less “heavy”, being reduced to its simple titles, becoming usable for simpler tasks. Even though this structure identifies as instinctive and easy to use, it comes out managers rarely follow formal models or strict rules in projects and decision-making. Detailed models are more suited to strategic decisions and projects, as well as during the preparation of a project. It is important to note that we are not looking for the way to take a “good” decision, but how to take a “right” decision, as the point is to analyse the process.