Making Decisions For An Organization

Every day we are faced with decisions, both easy and challenging ones. We are faced with decisions we do not even realize we are making, like brushing your teeth in the morning. In our lifetime we are also faced and with life altering decisions like making a big move to a new transfer

Making the right decisions is an ongoing struggle for man, because making decisions is never easy, and the wrong decision can lead to endless perils. Decisions must be made when dealing with power, loyalty, and trust. Yet, unlike other decisions, ones that are about these three fields are the most important, due to the risk involved, and because of the consequences that might follow.

Information theory is the modern theory of organization that views organizations as requiring constant input of information in order to continue functioning systemically and productively; assumes that a lack of information will lead to chaos in organizational operations (p.165). Decision making includes making a choice to alter some existing condition, choosing one course of action in preference to others, expending some amount of organizational assets or individual resources to implement the decision, and acting with the expectation of gaining something desirable (p.194). Things that are important to the decision-making process includes increasing potential gains, monitoring the ongoing decisional process, and reducing the resource expenditure, uncertainty, and risk involved in achieving whatever gains are made (p. 195). Through every carefully thought out decision the government makes on behalf of its citizens there are risks involved. A risk involved in routine decision making is that decision makers may fail to perceive a need to reconsider existing policy or program assumptions on which routine decisions are based (p.195).

If managers are to put Gladwell's theories into practice, they must abandon a certain degree of top-down decision making. In our textbook, Greenberg defines top-down decision-making as an approach that puts the power to make decisions in the hands of managers, leaving lower level workers with little or no opportunity to make decisions. Gladwell also recognizes that in order for people to make effective split-second decisions, they must be given the right set of inputs. In other words, employees must be properly trained before they can trust their instinctive decision making ability. However, once employees have been given

The most important decisions can come when you least expect it. Being put on the spot can be stressful, but you always need to keep an open mind when choosing one way or another. From big to small, we all struggle with making the “right” choices every day. There are people in the world that are called upon to make difficult decisions as part of their profession, such as the President or a judge and jury. Others, like actors and directors, may not have life and death situations looming over them, but they still are faced with many conflicts within just one project or performance. When thinking about anything of importance, it is best to take into consideration knowledge and advice from a variety of sources before ultimately choosing one’s direction.

Wigand was a tobacco researcher who exposed industry deceptions and secrets to hook people” (Higgs) on the habit-forming drug, nicotine. He morally struggled with the information that he learned while employed at B&W. If he took the high salary and kept his mouth shut, how many deaths from tobacco would have resulted? He devoted the rest of his life to battling the tobacco industry and educating the world on the dangers. While he went through a personal hell, he made a significant impact to the field of corporate ethics. At that time, he was the highest paid executive to blow the whistle on unethical practices. This is a relatively new practice in business, and Wigand paved the way for other executives to blow the whistle on unethical behavior when it causes significant harm or death because of a company’s irresponsible action. Perhaps the famous whistle blowers from the early 2000s may not have reported their findings if Dr. Wigand did not pave the way in the mid-1990s. It also shows companies “what can and should be done if they wish to be both moral and successful” (DeGeorge 317). Most importantly, he opened the eyes of the public to more than just the dangers of tobacco. He taught the world that you need to use your own moral compass, and it is a personal choice on whether you decide to blow the whistle or remain

Many times, time and perseverance is the key to the best result possible. But like Gary Collins said “We can try to avoid making choices by doing nothing, but even that is a decision. Therefore, decision making is in us relentlessly whether we want it or not.

Information theory is the modern theory of organization that views organizations as requiring constant input of information in order to continue functioning systemically and productively; assumes that a lack of information will lead to chaos in organizational operations (p.165). Decision making includes making a choice to alter some existing condition, choosing one course of action in preference to others, expending some amount of organizational assets or individual resources to implement the decision, and acting with the expectation of gaining something desirable (p.194). Things that are important to the decision-making process includes increasing potential gains, monitoring the ongoing decisional process, and reducing the resource expenditure, uncertainty, and risk involved in achieving whatever gains are made (p. 195). Through every carefully thought out decision the government makes on behalf of its citizens there are risks involved. A risk involved in routine decision making is that decision makers may fail to perceive a need to reconsider existing policy or program assumptions on which routine decisions are based (p.195).

Not all employees knowingly put themselves in a difficult situation, some happen to stumble into it without realizing what the future holds. Some even give into the temptation of unethical behavior (Pollock, 2013).

Garvin, David, and Roberto, Michael. What You Don’t Know About Making Decisions. N.p.: Harvard Business Review, n.d. Pdf

In chapter 1, and the videos presented to us, we learned that there are bad decisions being made at all levels of management. We assume that as executives the answers should be straightforward and easy. The reality is such that decisions made by these individuals are flawed from the beginning due to nature of thinking applied to them.

The rational decision-making model describes a series of steps that decision makers should consider if their goal is to maximize the quality of their outcome. In other words, if you want to make sure that you make the best choice, going through the formal steps of the rational decision-making model may make sense. The following are the steps taken to come to a rational decision: 1. Identify the problem, 2. Establish decision criteria, 3. Weigh decision criteria, 4. Generate alternatives, 5. Evaluate the alternative, 6. Choose the best alternative, 7. Implement the decision, 8. Evaluate the decision.

Owing to limited rationality of man, Herbert Simon contends that most decisions are based on limited rationality, that is, the organization is working like a brain. It would be impossible for organizations to attain perfection since their members have limited information-processing abilities (Morgan, G, 1997)

Decision-making is very vital in the study of administration. Decision-making is the act of deciding the best choice or alternative that brings success or advantage to a situation that will ensure maximum benefits and least risk. Probability can be applied to decision-making in public administration because it is possible to estimate the probability of occurrence of specific events. A part of decision-making in relationship to public administration has to do with goals. The probability of you meeting those goals depends on decision-making. For example a restaurant owner has received more revenue on Thursdays than on any other day And less Revenue on Saturdays than any other day. The owner has looked at everything that could have influenced his sales. The owner realized that the only things that were different on Thursdays than any other day was the chief special and the drink special. According to the receipts of the last four Thursdays the probability that a customer orders a drink special is 60%. The probability that a customer orders the chief special is 50%. The probability of them ordering both is 42%. This shows the restaurant owner that Thursdays drink special should be considered on both Thursdays and Saturdays.

. This case talks about an A-Cat Corporation and decision making process in A-Cat corp. This company is founded in India in 1986 as an electrical appliances producer. A-Cat Corporation owns two medium-sized manufacturing units in town Gonida, from district Vidabraha, in region Maharashtra. This company has alliance with Jupiter Inc. for production of cabinets, and venture with Global Electrics for manufacturing TV signal boosters, and battery chargers. A-Cat Corporation is a production leader, and their annual sales in budget year 2000 – 2001 was Rs. 9.800.000. They produce variety of products like voltage regulators, signal boosters, battery chargers, volt-amperes, etc.