Types of Audience Decisions 85budgetary committees in hospitals worldwide when committing resources to health technol-
ogy include clinical need, health impact, affordability, and effi ciency, that is, value for the
money.^111
Audience members’ schemata for budgetary decisions include, but are not limited to, decisioncriteria that lead expert audiences to ask the following questions.^112 The list can also serve as an
outline for the documents and presentations professionals produce in order to elicit budgetary deci-
sions from their organizations.
- What is the nature and cost of the expenditure?
- How will it impact the firm’s strategy and operations?
- What are its financial benefits?
- What are the risks involved with its implementation?
- How urgent is the request?
- What are the qualifications of the requester?
Good budgetary decisions also require the audience to have access to benchmark information such
as past expenses, other divisions’ expenses, and competitors’ expenses.
Table 2.6 displays some of the think-aloud comments of two real-world audience membersas they made budgetary decisions. The comments in the fi rst column were made by the CEO of
a medium-size e-commerce fi rm as he read a manager’s 17-page proposal to acquire a $392,515
application server. The comments in the second column were made by a manager in a large credit
corporation as he read a four-page proposal one of his subordinates wrote requesting $6,240 for
the purchase of an automated envelope stuffer. Each expert was asked to play himself and to make
a decision based on the information provided. The comments displayed refl ect the decision criteria
for making budgetary decisions and illustrate how important it is that professionals address them
fully. All of the comments are numbered in the order they were made. Comments the CEO made
that were repetitive or did not directly refl ect his decision criteria, such as format-related comments,
are not included here. All of the comments made by the manager from the credit corporation are
included.
Notice that the CEO voices several major complaints about the proposal to purchase a newserver, all of which are related to criteria for making budgetary decisions:
(1) there is no evidence that the purchase will have a positive impact on the strategy and operations
of his organization;(2) there are unexamined risks associated with its implementation;
(3) there is no indication that the purchase is urgent or necessary; and
(4) the requester has not gotten others within the organization on board with the idea.
Notice that the manager from the credit corporation has even more basic problems with theproposal to purchase an envelope stuffer:
(1) the manager could not figure out what was being proposed or how much it would cost;
(2) he did not understand the reason for the purchase; and