特别广播英语第 121 课：What Is a Decision? 什么是决策？-4

Some of these objectives are more important than others, but the order and degree of importance often vary from person to person and from department to department. 虽然有些目标比另一些重要，但重要程度和次序则常常因人而异，因部门而异。

Different managers define the same problem in different terms. 管理者不同对同一问题所做的解说也是不同的。

When presented with a common case, sales managers tend to see sales problems, production managers see production problems, and so on. 把同样一种情况摆在他们面前，销售经理看的是销售问题，生产经理看的是生产问题，如此等等。

The ordering and importance of multiple objectives is also based, in part, on the values of the decision maker. 多个目标的排序和重要性在某种程度上是以决策者的价值观为依据的。

Such values are personal; they are hard to understand, even by the individual, because they are so dynamic and complex. 这些价值观念是个性的，很难捉摸，甚至抱有这种观念的人自己也很难弄清楚；这是因为价值观不断变化，也很复杂。

In many business situations different people's values about acceptable degrees of risk and profitability cause disagreement about the correctness of decisions. 很多商业活动中，不同的人对于风险和收益的可接受程度的价值观不一样，这就导致了他们对决策正确与否的看法也不同。

People often assume that a decision is an isolated phenomenon. But from a systems point of view, problems have multiple causes, and decisions have intended and unintended consequences. 人们常以为决策是一个孤立的现象，但从系统的观念看，问题的产生有多种原因，所以决策既有意料中的结果，又有意料外的结果。

An organization is an ongoing entity, and a decision made today may have consequences far into the future. 一个组织是一个发展的实体，所以今天所做的决策对未来可能产生意义深远的影响。

Thus the skilled manager looks toward the future consequences of current decisions. 因此一个老练的管理者常要考虑当前决策在将来产生的结果。