There are more and more
choices available to consumers, and being overwhelmed by these choices is
common. Sheena Iyengar, a
management professor at Columbia University Business School gave an outstanding Ted Talks presentation about the
affects of choosing. A survey by the
Consumer Reports National Research Center confirms that option overload can be
a hindrance as well as help. Almost 80 percent of the
2,818 subscribers surveyed said they’d found an especially wide range of
choices in the previous month, and 36 percent of those said they were
overwhelmed by the information they had to process to make a buying decision (Supermarket
Product Choices - Consumer Reports Magazine, 2014).
Iyengar (2011) presented two questions: Do you know how many choices you make in a
typical day? Do you know how many choices you make in typical week? Iyengar (2011)
did a recent survey with over 2,000 Americans, and the average number of
choices that the typical American reported making is about 70 in a typical day.
This observation is intriguing because today alone I have already made over 20
decisions, from getting up from bed, to what breakfast to make. Furthermore,
these are only the ones I made consciously. We are constantly being faced with
decisions and how we manage these decisions greatly effects how productive we
are.
Iyengar (2011) suggests
four techniques that may make choices more manageable. First, she
recommends using the “cut” technique, which is about reducing the choices and
cutting back. An example of this is when Proctor & Gamble went from 26
different kinds of Head & Shoulders to 15; they saw an increase in sales by
10 percent (Iyengar, 2011). Iyerngar (2011) believes that “less is more,” and I
absolutely relate. I love to have quality rather than quantity when making a
decision. The second technique is “concretize,” which emphasized how there is a consequence
associated with each choice made (Iyengar, 2011). The third technique is
“categorization,” which suggests that we can handle more categories than we can
handle choices. The fourth and final technique is “Condition for complexity.”
Iyengar (2011) concluded that we are able to handle a lot more information than
we think, but we just need to take it easy. The example that Iyengar (2011)
presented was about a German car manufacturer that gave the opportunity to
completely custom made cars. Her example demonstrated how the way the
information is presented greatly influences the way you stay in engaged. Not
overwhelming potential buyers at the beginning of the selection kept the buyer
proactive and engaged and not overwhelmed by the process.
I can relate with the first
technique where Iyengar (2011) suggests that reducing the choices helps make decisions.
My wife sent me to the store to get flour; my mistake was not to ask which type
to get. I did not realize the many
choices of flour, from all-purpose flour, bread flour, cake flour, oat flour
and many more. I felt overwhelmed by the
choices by the thought of choosing the wrong one and having to possibly come
back to the store. Thankfully I had my IPhone and was able to make a quick call
to clarify. On a different occasion, I was faced with a condition for
complexity. We were renovating our upstairs bedroom with hardwood flooring. I
became overwhelmed by the many choices of flooring at the store. I decided categorize
by concentrating on the specific color and size of the flooring. This made the
information more manageable and I was able to make an attractive decision.
As a leader I’m challenged
to make the right decisions from all the choices presented. Iyengars’ (2011)
four techniques for making decisions more manageable is going to help my
decision making process and the way I approach situations. I used to offer many
choices to my teams in my departments, I can see now this was making things a
little bit complicated. By only offering the choices that really matter, I
might see an increase in productivity as suggested by Iyenagrs (2011). I look forward
to implementing these techniques in my upcoming projects.
Reference:
Supermarket
Product Choices - Consumer Reports Magazine. (2014). Retrieved November 1,
2015, from
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/03/too-many-product-choices-in-supermarkets/index.htm
Iyengar, S. (2011). How to
make choosing easier. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_choosing_what_to_choose.
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