Decision Making : An Essential Skill Of A Productive And Successful Manager

This paper looks at the main issues faced by decision makers, analyses them, presents alternatives and makes recommendations based on the analysis.

Managers within organizations are faced with the challenges daily of making excellent decisions. In everyday life we are challenged in making sound decision, decision that will last for a life time. Folk often wonder after making a decision if it was the right choice, will it affect the people around me, was this a good choice for my family, and will the decision affect them. In order to be an effective manager you have to possess the skill of outstanding decision making skills. In order for one to be successful within their personal life they may also need to possess an understanding of effective decision making. The decision- making process should be one that makes a positive change. Can the decision making process work

The decision making process includes cognitive processes that eventually lead to a choice in action while taking into consideration the alternative possibilities (Allen, Dorozenko, & Roberts, 2016). Not all choices have to lead to an action. The values and preferences of the person making the choice also comes into play when making the final decision. Problem-solving to obtain a certain goal or satisfactory by a solution is the main reason people go through the decision making process (Stefaniak, & Tracey, 2014). This process has many factors that end with one final result or solution. The decisions made can be rational or irrational and can be determined by explicit or tacit knowledge (Qingyao, Dongyu, & Weihua, 2016). Since the decision making process can be very difficult at time, psychologists have viewed the process in different perspectives to get a better understanding (Rossi, Picchi, Di Stefano, Marongiu, & Scarsini, 2015). The different perspectives include; psychological, cognitive, and normative or communicative rationality.

Decision-making in the workforce is a process of responsibilities used by upper management to implement, enforce rules, regulations, and maintain a successful environment. Decision-making implemented more effectively by making a plan, thinking it through, accepting more than one opinion and determining what is best. However, decision-making often utilized more effectively by opening doors of opportunities for a suggestion, question, discussion, and feedback. Although, more involvement helps improve understanding, utilize behavior skills and present opportunities for better communication. Everyday life consists of decision-making, the right decision may not always be applied, but ensure room for improvement and opportunity. Individuals approached decision-making in many different ways. As stated by (Jones, Graham, & Bateman, 2006) decision making is a procedure used to recognize a problem, weigh the alternatives and evaluate a solution in which, certain situations will require different approaches to become effective.

Rational decision is a state of being agreeable to reasons. The correct decision is not just reasoned but it is also optimal for solving a problem. Mr Weekes, the operation manager, employed series of analytical steps to review possible outcomes for problems by discussing it with managers to come up withdevise particular courses of action.

The decision making process can also be divided into seven steps, where the first step will basically involve defining the problem. These steps allow for the main issue to be identified, and therefore the manager should make sure that it has been done correctly. After the problem identification stage, we can move forward and identify the limiting factors, and in this the manager should make use of all resources available to do it the best way. Some of the resources include information, time, personnel, equipment and supplies. Using this, managers can be able to identify the factors that might hinder them from achieving their goals.

The first step in the decision making process is to gather information about the problem. The best method to acquire this information is from the users through

The concept of ‘rationality’ has been talked through the centuries. According to Grey (2013), rationality is a big question because of this proposition which has the meaning and difficulties seem to be defining of a whole set of issues which have resonated through both organisation theory and practice ever since. And rationality is the basis of a decision, rational decision makers are objective and logical, they reach the goal that maximises the value. Not only rationality is important to organisations, and also it can be identified in various kinds of management theories. This essay will introduce the different aspects of the concept of ‘rationality’ and make explanations that how these are recognised in different management theories.

As stated by Prasad (2008), the managers should identify the different choices available in order to get most acceptable outcome of a decision. From searching different alternatives the managers can evade blocks in operations as choices are suitable if a particular idea goes wrong. Khanka (2000) expresses the view that selections can developed from in many ways such as can get from sources like experience, do training other organizations, and take others ideas and suggestions related in problems. Furthermore to improve alternatives solution the managers may investigation the signs of a problem for clues or fall back on intuition or result that stated by Griffin and Moorhead (2010). For an example in marketing department a non-programmed decision is compulsory the manager have to produce alternatives for raise market share. As McShane and Von Glinow (2000) pointed out that in a programmed decision is a standard operations is not to generate choice but can take out from the documented that already saved. Next an organizer should search the mission of a decision. In other words they need to define what is to be accomplished by it (Quick & Nelson, 2013). The decision criteria are important as mentioned by Dubrin (2002). The several criteria are consumers must aware of varies in quality of products, there not happen inflation, workers must consider the quality of improvements and lastly job satisfaction should not be reduce.

Inadequate information, data, and knowledge. For rational decision-making to be accurate, reliable, and complete, information about various aspects of the problem under investigation is necessary. Possible future trends can be estimated with the help of such information. This facilitates rational decision-making. However, adequate and reliable information may not be available at the time of decision-making. As a result, the decisions may become defective or irrational or may prove faulty in the course of time. This is how decisions become irrational.

The decision is to select an action among a number of actions that solves a given problem, that prevents a problem from happening, or that forces to apply new ideas for development. The need for understanding decision making process is increasing because the complexity of modern organizations is increasing, and because the modern organizations' effectiveness depends on the decisions made by the managers. The question is how to select the most appropriate action to solve the problem satisfying all stakeholders.

Decision analysis provides powerful techniques to structure complex problems, identify optimal choices, and facilitate communication between the decision analyzer and the person makes the decision. One of the most important values of these techniques is that they enable decision making to be rational rather than intuitive or holistic. They provide a framework for rational decision making in an uncertain environment.

This report will discuss about the approach to rational decision making process. It discusses how an everyday problem faced by management can be tackled by using

2) Decision about the organizational policy which is strongly related to organizational complexity and not on the degree of formalization.

‘Decision-making is often referred to as the heart of the management process’ (Mann, cited in Hussien Ahmad Al-Tarawneh 2011, p. 3). It is no doubt to say that. With the fast moving pace of today’s global and high competitive market, many organizations have incorporated decision-making as part of their organizational operations in order to lead them to a successful organization. Just like how Kinicki & Kreitner have defined decision-making as ‘identifying and choosing solutions that lead to a desired end result’ (2009, p. 248). Tan and Shen (2000) also noted that for a successful strategic planning, decision-making is essential. As such, many would agree that decision-making becomes a process of selecting the best option that one can benefit from the different available options.