Principles of Management CLEP Practice Exam 2025 – Your Comprehensive All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

The term that describes a decision-making approach prioritizing initial needs over optimal solutions is satisficing. This concept, introduced by Herbert Simon, suggests that when faced with a complex problem, decision-makers often choose the first solution that meets their basic criteria rather than exhaustively searching for the perfect solution. This approach acknowledges the limitations of time, resources, and information that decision-makers often encounter.

By focusing on meeting immediate needs, satisficing allows individuals and organizations to make timely decisions that may not be perfect but are sufficient to address current issues. This is particularly useful when decisions need to be made quickly or when the cost of searching for the best possible solution outweighs the benefits it would provide.

In contrast, decision trees and rational decision-making emphasize systematic and thorough processes aimed at finding the best solution, while intuitive decision-making relies on gut feelings and personal experiences rather than a structured approach. These methods tend to focus on optimization, which can be impractical in many real-world situations where resources and time are limited.