Normative Decision Theory

Many people believe that making tough decisions is at the heart of leadership. Yet experienced leaders will tell you that deciding how to make decisions is just as important. The normative decision theory (also known as the Vroom-Yetton-Jago model) helps leaders decide how much employee participation (from none to letting employees make the entire decision) should be used when making decisions.

Unlike nearly all of the other leadership theories, which have specified leadership styles, that is, the way a leader generally behaves toward followers, the normative decision theory specifies five different decision styles, or ways of making decisions.

Leaders are responsible for improving the performance of organizations. Two significant components of [a leader’s] decisions are the quality of the decision and the level of buy-in associated with it. Effective leaders want them both.

According to the normative decision theory, using the right degree of employee participation improves the quality of decisions and the extent to which employees accept and are committed to decisions (that is, buy-in). The quality, leader information, subordinate information, goal congruence, and problem structure rules are used to increase decision quality.