A632.2.3.RB - Shuck, Allison

How to Make Choosing Easier

In the video “How to Make Choosing Easier” Sheena Lyengar discusses the various problems of choice overload. She states that when people are given an abundance of choices, they often choose not to choose. One prime example of this was when I had to decide what Vanguard funds to include within my retirement portfolio. During my new employee orientation, I was given a packet of information, and within the packet was a list of roughly 88 different fund options. Well, because I did not know much about Vanguard or the funds that were being offering, I decided not to choose. I actually contacted my old boss who is a broker/financial planner and asked him to choose the funds for me. Luckily, omitting my option to choose my own funds did not negatively impact the progress of my portfolio.

I guess the only way I would have felt comfortable deciding what funds to choose is if the number of fund options had been reduced. Surprisingly, Vanguard caught on to this and decided to re-evaluate their funds. Within the past year, the number of funds options available to me within my retirement plan had been reduced from 88 to 44. All funds with overlapping investment objectives have been suspended or removed from the plan.

Another example of choice overload occurred when my boyfriend and I decided to buy a new car. With the advancement of technology in automobiles, choosing between car manufactures has become extremely difficult. Now a days, all car manufactures offer cars that get high gas mileage. So in order to decide what car to buy, my boyfriend and I had to narrow down the options. We could no longer base our choice on gas mileage, we had to consider all of the different options available to us. Thus we began conditioning for complexity; we made a list of options ranging from low too high in importance. We asked ourselves, what type of warranty is being offered? What incentives are being given? Does the car have a reverse camera, tented windows, or fog lights? Should we get a sedan or a cope? After a few weeks of reflecting, we finally made a decision; we decided to stick with the Nissan Altima. We knew, from our past experience, that the Altima was a reliable, well rounded car.

However, it goes without saying that choice overload reduces: engagement, decision quality and overall customer satisfaction. And, the only way to reduce choice overload, according to Sheena Lyengar, it to: (1) cut unnecessary options, (2) making consequences concrete through comfortization, (3) group similar products in the same category (4) determining the order in which to present information.

A632.1.4.RB - Shuck, Allison

Multistage Decision Making

After reading this week’s material, I have come to the conclusion that I am pretty wise when it comes to making decisions. Throughout my life, I have had to make some tough, life altering decisions that not only affected myself, but those around me. For example, when I decided to quit my job at Everest University and accept the job offered to me by Embry Riddle, I took a big risk.  I knew that the impact of my decision, either positive or negative, would not only affect me, but would also affect my boyfriend Steven, whom I share financial responsibilities with. At the time, tons of thoughts were running through my mind, what do I do if I did not like my new job or the people I work with? What if I do not pass the 90 day probationary period? Determining which path to take become difficult, especially when I factored in my fear of the unknown. I knew that the only way to figure this out was too seek advice from others.

For some reason, I find confidence from obtaining guidance from others. I guess my confidence comes from that fact that most of my friends know me better than I know myself, especially my friend Wally. Wally has always been there for me and I knew I could count on him for advice. Before I began telling Wally my situation, he told me to grab a piece of paper and a pin to write down my thoughts. He advised me to make a pros and cons list of why should I stay, why should I leave. He also said that no matter what choice I make, everything would work itself out. After making my list, I realized that Embry Riddle was the right choice; Embry Riddle was a part of my future and that Everest was a part of the past. At that moment, I knew that in order to grow in my professional career, I had to change my way of thinking. I must start focus on what is to come, instead of focusing on the here and now.