Organizational Management : Decision Making

Decision making is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

Effective managers are tasked with making decisions ranging from large to small on a daily basis. An effective organization employs managers who are problem-solvers and who can make good decisions constantly.

It is critical to first prioritize issues and problems based on the issues potential effect on the organization. Those that stand to have the greatest impact should be dealt with first, and all problems need to be addressed in a systematic way prior to a decision being made.

Knee-jerk decisions can be harmful, and to avoid them, one must gather and assess all information available about an issue. It is risky to rely on just one source when collecting information and facts as the source may be biased. Further, only verifiable information should be used to make a determination.

Collecting information in order to obtain a complete understanding of the issue is only the first step, however. Once the information is available, then it is wise to brainstorm different solutions and possible options in order to get more than one perspective. Such options can start out as wide-ranging, and then can be narrowed down to fit the scope of the problem.

Having identified a set of options and solutions, feedback and suggestions on them, along with alternatives, should be sought from consultations with others. For the most part, group decisions (particularly where the group contains people who the end decision will affect) are preferable to those made by individuals as a pool of knowledge, skills and experience can be drawn upon.

There exists a risk that the individual actually making a decision may be too close to the issue to render a reasonable solution, and that is where some tools, methods of analysis and different techniques can be very beneficial. Some of these include Pareto Analysis; Paired Comparison Analysis; Grid Analysis; PMI; Six Thinking Hats; Starbursting; and Decision Trees. These methods will not provide a hard and fast decision for you, but will guide you in the right direction, using more of a scientific approach.

The final step will be to weigh the positive benefit of each proposed solution against any negative impact such decision may incur, as few solutions can be implemented without some draw-back. The best solution will be the one that offers the most positive benefit, with the least likelihood of negative side-effects.