A632.3.4.RB - Shuck, Allison

Reflections on Decision Making

In this week’s readings, Hoch, Kunreuther, & Gunther discuss some of the hazards associated with "frame blindness"; as well as some of the ways to guard against it. They state that “even with the right frame for a particular time or place, one very often finds themselves trapped by their own success”. Thus, it is important to master ones frames by conducting a frame audit, identifying and changing inadequate frames, and mastering ones techniques for reframing.

Conducting a Frame Audit

When conducting a frame audit, one must be able to acknowledging his/her own frames, understand the frames of others and anticipate new frames.

To understand one’s own frames, he/she must be able to visualize them. To do this, one can draw a visual representation of the situation and list all possible outcomes. For example, if I wanted to create a market campaign for my company Ally Nicole Photography, I could start by examining my competition. I could draw a circle diagram that lists: objectives, concerns, or notions that are central to progress, core elements important to me, and elements received my client feedback.

To understand the frames of others, one must be aware of frame overlap and conflict. For example, if I am having conflict with my mother, I can ask myself what really matters to her. What does she mention most often? In order to effectively communicate with my mother, I must create an open dialog and attempt to understand her frame of mind.

To anticipate new frames, one must understand that that the world is constantly changing and so too are people’s views. According to Hoch, Kunreuther, & Gunther (2001), people are currently changing the way they frame important questions”, thus one must learn to adapt and respond accordingly.

Identifying and Changing Inadequate Frames

In order to identify and change inadequate frames, one must be able to observe misfit frames, determine whether his/her frames is effective, question ones reference points, and recognize key assumptions.

Observing misfits frames involves understanding that one’s frame of mind may be wrong, or at least not perfect. This concept has always been a difficult one for me to grasp, because I do not like to be proven wrong. However, trying an opposite approach has been proven to be successful. For example, when I was in high school, I use to only date guys who knew how to work on cars; being a huge fan of cars, I felt it was a necessity. However, when my friend Wally showed me how wrong my judgment was, my perception changed.

At that time, I knew that my frame of mind was not effective. To only dating guys who knew how to work on cars was silly. Thus, I began to question my reference points. Where did this necessity come from? Why was it a requirement? What did I like about those types of men? What attributes are good, bad? By evaluating my reference points I was able to recognize the key assumptions associated with how I think.

I learned how to filter and process my thoughts and change my frame of mind.

Mastering Techniques of Reframing

In order to master the techniques of reframing, one must surface his or her frames, identify weaknesses and develop new frames. The challenge however, lies in one’s ability to adequately choose the right frame for the problem at hand rather than using a particular frame out of habit. Normally, I fall into this trap, I tend to use the same frame when trying to solve a problem. However, I need to break that habit and start aligning my frames with those of others; this will help me to “think outside of the box”.

In any instance where someone uses descriptive imagery to describe a problem, I always try to imaging the problem in a different light. This helps me to fully understand the problem and define ways to solve it. For example, if someone way explaining a process to me that I did not understand, I could ask the person explaining the process to write it down, or I could ask someone else to explain the process to me. Either way challenges the other person’s reference point, shifting it and giving it dimension.

For the most part, frames are used to formulate ones thought pattern; however, most people prefer to only focus on the things that are important to them and disregard all things that are not; this frame of mind hinders one’s ability to succeed. According to Hoch, Kunreuther, & Gunther (2001), “the most successful entrepreneurs challenge existing frames and set out to demonstrate that the new environment favors a new and better business theory”. As a business owner myself, I find that using a combination of frames is more beneficial than one single frame of mind. One must be able to think outside of the box and speak to the frames of others.