Decision Making

Decision making is one of the most important aspects of a manager the job. It can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every manager should strive to improve their decision making skills. The effectiveness and quality of those decisions determine how successful a manager will be.

The decision-making process involves the following steps:

• Define the problem

• Collect Information

• Develop potential alternatives

• Analyze the alternatives

• Select the best alternative

• Implement the decision

• Evaluation and feedback

Define the Problem

The need of decision occurs when there is problem or opportunity. Problem is the difference between the actual and desired goal. If the problem is inaccurately defined, every step in the decision-making process will be based on an incorrect starting point. Therefore it is necessary to outline the goal and outcome. This will enable decision makers to see exactly what they are trying to accomplish and keep them on a specific path.

Collect Information

Gather data, have the ideal resources: information, time, personnel, equipment, and supplies; and identify any limiting factors. This will help decision makers have actual evidence to help them come up with a solution.

Develop potential alternatives

When the problem or opportunity has been recognized and analyzed, decision maker should begin to consider taking into action quickly. The next step is to develop possible alternatives solutions to solve the problem or avail the opportunity. Brainstorm to develop alternatives. Multiple solutions enable you to see which one can actually work.

Analyze the alternatives

The purpose of this step is to decide the relative merits of each idea. Managers must identify the pros and cons of each alternative solution before making a final decision. With the list of pros and cons, one can eliminate the solutions that have more cons than pros, making the decision easier.

Select the best alternative

After all alternatives have been analyzed, the manager must decide on the best one. The best alternative is the one that produces the most advantages and the fewest serious disadvantages. Sometimes, the selection process can be fairly straightforward, such as the alternative with the most pros and fewest cons. Other times, the optimal solution is a combination of several alternatives. The best chosen alternative should be the one which best fits the overall goals and values and also achieves the desired result with minimum use of resources and that should have least amount of risk and uncertainty.

Implement the decision

This stage involves the selected alternatives are put in action. The ultimate success of the chosen alternative depends on its translation into action because sometimes the chosen alternative remain the available solution but doesn’t come into action because of the reason of lack of availability of resources.

Evaluation and feedback

An evaluation system should provide feedback on how well the decision is being implemented and whether it has been effective and whether the desired results have been obtained or not. If the desired results have not been obtained then it needs to be seen what went wrong and corrective actions should be taken.