Having a large selection to choose from may appear
interesting, but more doesn’t always mean better. On TED’s How to Make Choosing
Easier, Sheena Iyengar argued that having more choices leads to a number of
consequences: including lack of engagement, poorer quality choices, as well as
lack of satisfaction of the choice (2011). Since these consequences can
potentially harm an entire organization, Iyengar suggest four different
techniques to prevent ones from offering too many choices:
The first technique Iyengar mentioned is to simply cut the
number of options: particularly those that have little to no distinguishable
differences. From a business standpoint, Iyengar mentioned that reducing
choices can not only simplify and increase the quality of one’s choice, but it
can help reduce costs and increase sales (2011).
Concretization is Iyengar’s second technique. To boost the
quality of one’s choice, choices must not only have distinguishable differences
from others, but they must also have an actual meaning to the decision-maker.
For instance in Iyengar’s example with the grocery store, the store owner
admits that they weren’t selling well despite having a choice of 75 different
bottles of olive oil. This is likely because there’s an overwhelming number of
bottles to examine as well as most of them being too similar to one another. Olive oil is olive oil.
A possible suggestion to resolve this issue is to use
Iyengar’s third technique: categorization. Rather than laying out all the
choices at once, sorting them can help decision-makers pinpoint the choices
they’re interested in with ease and speed. For instance, the store owner might
consider separating olive oils from cheaper, low quality brands to more
expensive, gourmet quality ones. While identifying the products becomes easier,
there’s also a meaning to decision-makers: low quality or high quality.
The final technique is the condition for complexity. If
there are multiple choices involved, the best approach is to start from low to
high choice. The idea is a lot like a flow chart: we have an easy starting
point and gradually branch out to pinpoint the ultimate choice. As Iyengar
mentioned, starting off with a choice of 50 different paint colors for example can
immediately overwhelm decision-makers: ultimately leading them to make poorer
quality choices and have lower satisfaction and interest in making further choices.
Many of my personal decision-making are made with a
combination of Iyengar’s concretization and categorization techniques. A good
example is when I make decisions on purchasing collectible action figures. If
there’s a particular cartoon character I want, I go through a number of
categories: including size, price range, as well as the kind of figurine
(statue or poseable). When I come across something I like, I then ask myself
several questions to determine why my choice stands out from all the other
choices. In addition, I also consider how
the choices are offered to me (if applicable). Despite an excellent price and quality
of the figurine, I may not make the choice to purchase the figurine if the
customer service or an overall image of the business were poor. When poor
qualities are identified, ones start to feel uneasy and consider additional
risks in making the choice.
After watching Iyengar’s TED talk, it made me think about my
workplace’s recent decision-making. In as little as 5 years, the number of
degrees we offer has nearly doubled and is starting to offer degrees outside
the aviation focus (what my university mainly specializes in). While the goal
is to increase sales and improve student diversity, it made me wonder
if increasing the number of degrees will actually benefit the university. I’m
starting to notice that some of the degrees are too similar and may be in
conflict with Iyengar’s point on concretization (example: Management,
Engineering Management, Project Management). As a university that includes “Aeronautical”
in their name, many potential students often judge by the name: resulting them to lose interest for our university. While I do
not have all the information, I often worry that running multiple degrees and
not having enough students will result in a problem with cost: which can
eventually hurt my organization. To prevent this from
happening, perhaps merging similar degrees or removing “Aeronautical” from the
name of our university may help the university and simplify decision-making to
future prospective students.
References:
Iyengar, S. (2011). Sheena Yengar: How to Make Choosing Easier. TED. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_choosing_what_to_choose
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