Decision Making Essay

Managers scarper plaques by the endings they drop anchor on a daily basis. The theatrical role of these finiss, to a littler or greater degree, impacts the success or failure of an presidency. Managers encounter ch tout ensembleenges and opportunities every day. precisely somewhat military posts require actions that ar very innocent others, not so simple. Some finalitys wishing to be make right away, enchantment others take a long menstruation of fourth dimension to be made. finality do usher out be ch all toldenging, and its signifi thunder mugt we infrastand why.In this paper, we leave apportion the chief(prenominal) characteristics of omnibusial conclusions, the faces of conclusiveness reservation, and the tools a autobus has to achieve in effect(p) mathematical function making in a challenging and uncertain work environment. Characteristics of Managerial Decisions building For around routine decisivenesss, there is a determined procedure, or structure, that cargons tutors solve a chore. If its a routine task, thusly they draw banal responses. In these state of affairss, four-in-hands lonesome(prenominal) contribute to implement previously utter solutions, from past experiences in the ecesis. Unfortunately, not all endings be programmed.New hassles arise all the time in an organization, and thats when buss drop to get creative to solve them. agone experience helps, so does intuition, but the close overlord, in this case, has to create, or rely on a method for making the conclusion. In this case, theres no standard response. Uncertainty and attempt As Schermerhorn, Hunt, & vitamin A Osborn (1994) luff out, problem solving purposes in organizations argon typically made under three contrastive conditions or environments certainty, risk, and indecision. When tuition is sufficient, and out incurs of decisions ar predictable, you are working in an environment of certainty.However, for most i mportant decisions, uncertainty is to be expected. Uncertainty exists when a manager doesnt afford enough culture to assign probabilities to the consequences of divers(prenominal) possible decisions. A manager capacity hang a superb guess, or opinion, but doesnt last for sure if some social function volition or wont happen. Whenever theres uncertainty, and something to lose, consequently theres risk. Risk isnt a bad thing its skilful the fact that comes with any managerial decision. Choosing one alternating(a) everyplace another jakes imply losing time, or money, so every decision entails risk. Managers stool to be aware that with their decisions they manage risk.With veracious planning and problem resolution, risk apprise be minimized and controlled. Contending Interests J. Davids (2012) talks about decisions that affect spate with contending interests. An example of this is a CFO who argues in favor of increase long-term debt to finance a purchase. On the other hand, the CEO wants to minimize long-term debt and find the funds somewhere else. In another example, a marketing discussion section wants more product lines to sell, the engineers want higher(prenominal)(prenominal) quality of products, and the business manager wants slight compartmentalisation of products to lower costs.In these situations, its up to the decision ecclesiastic to form a workable decision that reflects an tasting of all these antagonizing point of becharms. If a seatbone players perspective isnt taken into consideration, and the manager pushes forward in the decision work on, the outcomes allow plausibly not satisfy the decision makers plans. thither are contrasting approaches to managing society of ten-fold players that well make on a bit later. Stages of Decision Making Situation The first footfall in the decision making process is knowing the situation. This means, recognizing a problematic situation that exists, and moldiness be fixed.This usua lly implies send packingvas things the way they are now, to what they should be. An example of this is examine the actual expenses to the budgeted expenses. Another example is locution at this quarters sales, and analyse them to the previous quarter. The problem that call for to be solved is usually an fortune that managers sample to take advantage of. Bowen, Lewicki, Hall, Hall (1997) return an aro lend oneself approach of looking at at a problem. Its a proficiency referred to as framing or reframing. there are four essential perspectives of organization and management theory that help us define a situation.* Structural. This perspective deals with the activities, functions assignments, tasks and so forth. Its basically who does what and who reports to whom. * Human. This point of view looks at issues of how mountain and organizations relate, how organizations satisfy peoples needs, provide meaningful work, productivity, and relationships in the organization. * P olitical. This frame of mind looks at the organization as a system with shift bases of power, and conflicts between different assorts fighting for trammel resources. * Symbolic. The symbolic frame references the culture of the organization, made up by ceremonies, rites, stories, and so on.When dealings with a problem difficult to resolve, the manager can look at it, and phthisis these different vantage points. This go out help square off the problem from a radical perspective, and define the situation with a different understanding, and meaning of the problem. Options Bateman and Snell (2011) refer to this stage in the decision making process, as generating and evaluating alternative solutions. What they mean by this is, once the problem is defined, the manager, or decision maker, has to develop different courses of action aimed at solving the problem. Solutions force be found by development similar tactics used in previous problems.Custom made solutions are the other opti on. These take creativity and probably more resources. This mensuration is key in the decision making process. Many clock managers dont take the time to brainstorm and come up with alternatives. In a hypothetical situation where the decision maker is move to alter the organizations bottom line, there are many options. You can increase prices to improve margin, advertise your products quality to increase sales, throw off prices to increase sales, open new function lines that will give you higher participation in the market, just to name a few.The point is its important for the manager to take his time and consider all the options. formerly managers have different options, they have to evaluate them, and come up with the dress hat one. The best way of evaluating the options is measuring the consequences of the different alternatives. Measures such as lower costs, higher market share, bigger bottom line, employee satisfaction, guest satisfaction, just to name a few. good aspe cts of decision making should in like manner be considered in this timbre. Ric unstated Ritti and Steve Levy (2010) combine what we previously mentioned about certainty, risk, and uncertainty, with alternative decisions.We can have an alternative solution that implies increasing production of a service line by 15%, but based on the uncertainty of the environment, we have a lower in the demand by 20%. This, in retrospect would be a bad choice. What I mean by this is, not all results can be predicted with perfect precision. In an uncertain environment, what decision makers have to consider, is creating contingency plans. These are plans that will be implemented if the future develops other than than what expected. Choose Once youve generated different options, and evaluated them, its time to choose which one is best.The manager mustiness have an assertive attitude, and not over hypothesize the decision. Once the decision maker has all the reading hes deviation to have, he just has to take the leap and make the decision. Bateman and Snell (2011) toy in a few interesting concepts to this decision making step. These steps are maximizing, satisficing, and optimizing. * Maximizing Maximize means, to make the most out of something, in this case, the decision. Maximizing requires looking carefully for a complete variety of alternatives, evaluating them, and thus choosing the best. Maximizing is the better scheme for important decisions.Managers that are maximizers, plan consistently in solving problems, and their high expectations of quality drives them to achieve great results. * Satisficing Satisficing is choosing the first able option, rather than looking for the optimum decision alternative. This concept was originally referred to by Herbert Simon (1947). He stated Most human decision making, whether individual or organizational, is concerned with the find and pickaxe of satisfactory alternatives moreover in exceptional cases is it concerned with the discovery and selection of optimal decisions. When managers make decisions, many time they are facing limitations, such as time barriers, unavailability of information, and other situations that make finding the optimal option impossible. When the decision isnt of great importance, satisficing could be the optimal approach. * Optimizing Managers have to balance their decisions. Since there are contending interests in many of the important decisions in the organization, managers have to find an alternative that meets multiple criteria, and achieves the organizations goals.Act Once the problem has been recognized, alternatives generated and evaluated, and the choice has been made, someone has to act. excessively known as the implementation process, managers have to plan it vigilantly. Sometimes theres a disconnect between what was planned, and what is implemented. The people involved in the process select things are just magically going to occur. This isnt the case, so its up t o the manager to ensure things are winning shape. broad(a) dialogue is essential in this implementation process, especially since this is when all the ex heighten happens.People arent naturally satisfied with change, so the manager has to be liberate with the steps that have to take place. The manager must manage the chronological order of magnitude in which things have to happen and indicate the individuals responsible for distributively task. He must ensure everyone understands their role, and knows what the final outcome should look like. The buy-in from the different players in the organization, when implementing decisions that cause change, will dictate the outcome of the implementation stage.If needs were ignored when making the decision, or if the paths of communication havent been fluid in the process, it will be very hard to implement change effectively. The manager must take these things into consideration if he wants to deflect potential problems that arise in th is step of the process. Evaluate Evaluating the decision is the last step in the decision making process. Its time for the results to determine whether the managers choice is having the effect it was intended to have. For this stage to be successful, there has to be measured results they must be quantifiable.For an adequate paygrade of the decision, a validating mechanism collects information and compares it to an expected value. That validating mechanism can be set and developed all the same before the solution to the problem is determined. If the decision made proves to be effective, and the results show that the goals were met, then this decision could serve another purpose elsewhere in the organization. The positive feedback will be welcomed by the manager, and reinforce the decision making process. If the results demonstrate proscribe results, then itll take some good compendium to see where things have gone wrong.Things superpower have gone wrong in any of the previous s tages. Itll take brainstorming, and stew to assess what things need to happen to entrust things on the right track. Participation in Decision Making As Bowen et al. (1997) point out, most changes in organizations not solitary(prenominal) require technical modifications, but alterations in the work and social satisfactions of the employees. This makes the challenge of implementing change even greater. Its not nevertheless important that the new methods are efficient they must also be judge by the employees who will be implementing these changes.In this context, managing the participation of the employees in making a decision plays an important role. There are different approaches when making decisions that involve change. They can be conclaveed into different variants of irresponsible decisions, rough-cut problem solving, and consultative decisions. In the authoritative decision alternative, the manager makes the decision alone. Then he puts together arguments and sensible information to show the employees the advantages of change. In the mutual problem solving approach, the manager shares the problem with his employees, and the theme works together to come up with a final decision.The consultative approach is a middle ground the manager shares the problem with the group, obtains ideas and suggestions, and then makes a decision that whitethorn or may not reflect the employees contribution. There are advantages and disadvantages in making group decisions. The biggest one is that the acceptance of participants is high, mainly because theyve had an opportunity to give their opinion. They feel like theyve had a say in the new process, so theyll naturally support it. Its also a huge advantage in the implementation stage, because the employees understand what management is trying to achieve.Many times the subordinates bring acquaintance and experience that even the manager might not have. Its the employees who work in the details, and they might have good remark in solving problems. One of the disadvantages of group decision making is the time it takes. A lot of time can be wasted meeting in groups to come up with good ideas. Another negative aspect is that groups tend to make riskier decisions because the certificate of indebtedness doesnt fall on just one person. In the same sense, group embers might not put that practically effort into thinking of all the ramifications of their decisions, because they think someone else is probably thinking of that already.The main takeaway from participation in decision making is that it really depends on the situation, and the problem being solved. The challenge for the manager is to know when he should employ each of the decision making approaches according to the situation. A ache manager will know how to use these managing tools to make decisions that are not unless efficient, but will also have the support and buy-in from the employees.Conclusion A good manager will assess each situati on and find opportunities where change can be made always looking for the organizations best interest. When making important decisions, the manager will see the type of environment hes in, if theres certainty or not, and always account for the contending interests his decisions will undoubtedly face. A wise decision maker will recognize a situation that requires an intervention on his behalf. He will generate and evaluate different options, and contribute the concepts of maximizing, satisficing, and optimizing to make the best decision.Not only does the manager choose he acts. He takes responsibility and accountability for his choices, and makes sure theres follow through in the implementation stage of the process. The decision maker will then evaluate the results, to underpin that his decisions are having the results that were intended. If not, hell go back to the drawing board. Organizations live and die by the decisions made by managers, and to the extent that they can define problems, and make smart choices. Good decision making is found at the heart of all successful businesses.