Poor Decisions
2. Intractable Conflict Threat and Opportunity
People can make poor decisions for many reasons, of course, but intractable conflicts can make decision making particularly difficult. People in conflict tend to reduce their openness to information that contradicts what they already believe, so they may not see that the information on which they are basing a decision is (or might be) wrong. They may rush to make a decision before "the other" makes it for them, or they may delay making a decision so long that the "default" outcome occurs, which may be significantly inferior to the outcome they could have attained had they made a decision earlier. People can also make decisions for bad reasons — they might try to "get back" at the person or organization they are in conflict with, without paying enough attention to the poor outcome they will be bringing upon themselves. The result can be unnecessary harm to oneself, one's organization, or unnecessary costs (financial, emotional, or relational).
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