Decision making

“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” (attributed to Theodore Roosevelt)

It is generally accepted that more people prefer a manager who makes bad decisions to one who makes no decisions at all! Decision making is a key component in the functioning of any organisation and managers need to make decisions on a variety of issues. You may be involved in some or all of the following spheres of decision making and others:

  • Financial - budget implications of spending
  • Staffing & development - training and project work
  • Product development - research, marketing
  • Customer - developing a customer base
  • Organisational - change strategies
  • Policy & procedures - new systems and policies

Decisions only need to be made where there are more than one alternative. If there is only one way forward, then there is no decision to make!

Decision making skills

Within the culture of your organisation there will already be rules of both individual and team decision making and any competent manager needs to research what these are before introducing their own processes.

However there are some general guidelines that apply to decision making:

  1. Be clear about what outcome you want
  2. Consider what appears to be the most appropriate course of action
  3. Look at the alternatives; consult your peers, team, colleagues for ideas
  4. Explore the consequences of each alternative
  5. Choose one
  6. Implement it
  7. Review it
  8. Make any appropriate changes for next time

However you decide how to decide, you need a systematic process, a process you can refer back to if you don’t get the desired outcome or if you are asked to justify the decision you took.

A planned approach following a logical process as the one above will give you this.

Group decision making

Whatever your style of management there will be times when it will be appropriate to involve a group of people in the decision making process. If you involve your team in a decision that affects them, this will normally increase their commitment and engagement to that task.

Group decision making can be defined as the process of arriving at a judgment based upon the input of multiple individuals. As with individual decision making, the use of a decision-making model is a systematic way of establishing group decision making proficiency.

Advantages of making decisions as a group

  • You can share information which is not held by all individuals
  • The synergy (two heads are better than one) of the group leads to better decisions
  • Hearing other points of view can lead to fruitful discussion and stimulate other ideas
  • Group members will be more committed to the outcome

Disadvantages of making decisions as a group

  • It takes more time
  • Members do not always agree and compromise can be difficult to achieve
  • Group members may not be willing to share information
  • Groupthink may take over; this is a process by which groups put consensus and unanimity above the quality of the decision and fail to look at all the alternatives objectively.

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