Decision making and the politics of information: The art and science of decision making in the information age

Decision making is a constructive reality based on contextual knowledge or knowledge of the situation. Decision making based on information disconnected to the context is incomplete in terms of knowledge formation to make quality decisions. Whereas rational decision model gives precedence to generalizations (through non contextual information). model based on context ties information to situation (both time and space). The rational bias towards non-contextual information has allowed information to be a cheap commodity that can be used irrespective of people, space and even time. By differentiating between the science and art of decision making, the paper brings forth a model of decision making that can be used via the modern information and communication tools available today. It also highlights that the rational choice of using the science rather than the art of decision making is a paradox - information is gathered to make decisions that are counter intuitive. In addition, sophisticated information management tools are utilized to gather more information for the sake of forcing decision outcomes that are routine. The paper calls for utilizing the art of decision making and discusses methodological breakthroughs that may have important implications for learning organization of the information age.