Decision Making Process
It is crucial to determine a formal set of competitive decision-making criteria in order to analyze strategic choices and determine a business opportunity that should be included in a strategic plan, strategy recommendation and financial justification. It is essential to have a logical thinking process to ensure that key factors that could influence the problem and the ultimate decision are not neglected. A decision making criteria capable of guiding an organization in making timely and sound decisions consists of seven steps. These steps are problem identification, information gathering, development of courses of action, analyzing and comparing of courses of action, decision, making, plan making and implementation of the plan in order to assess results (Betsch and Haberstroh, 2005).
The first step is identifying the problem, which is the most crucial step. All common problems are exploratory in nature. This implies that leaders do not have the capability to identify the right course of the problem or come up with the best plan always. The two common mistakes that leaders make are identifying the wrong problem and the wrong problem causes. Moreover, the likelihood of leaders to make mental mistakes increases as their stress levels rise. If the wrong information is given to leaders, it may result to identify the wrong problem. Consequently this may lead to developing of a plan that is inadequate (Bhushan and Rai, 2004).
Leaders should learn to identify the actual problems by considering all perspectives. Moreover, they should learn to obtain only accurate information that leads to the actual causes of the issue or problem. Questioning of some given information’s validity is the key to ensuring that the information is accurate. This implies that leaders should take the available accurate information, make the best judgments as well as educated assumptions about the causes of the problem. The next step is for them to consider the best courses of action that have the highest likelihood of succeeding (Muller, 2010).
Despite the fact that leaders may utilize the right process of solving a problem, incorrect problem identification may lead to making the wrong decision. The thought that using a right process would lead one to the actual problem is a fallacy. Individual values, knowledge, character and the way of thinking play a direct and crucial role on a problem identified as important. The inner qualities affect how information is viewed, gathered and analyzed in relation to the identified problem (Betsch, 2005).
The second step is gathering information. Leaders are required to gather all information pertaining to or that can influence the identified problem. Information could be collected from various sources like lateral, higher and subordinate levels of command and from applicable external agencies. Despite the fact that some information may not pertain to the problem in question, it should be available for leaders to consider in the course of analyzing and developing the course of action. In cases where there is a limited time, leaders may opt to omit this step in order to concentrate and think through the remaining five steps (Bhushan, 2004).
The third step is developing the courses of action. Following problem identification and information gathering, leaders are now prepared to develop the potential courses of action. It is vital to remain open-minded throughout this step and be ready to anticipate change. The ability of anticipating is sixty percent while the ability of improvising, rejecting a preconceived idea and ruling through action is forty percent. It is necessary to come up with the courses of actions to counteract the events that might deter accomplishment of the set goals and mission. It is recommendable to conduct brainstorming sessions when faced with difficulties in coming up with the most appropriate courses of action. Brainstorming is one of the creative techniques that encourage various people give suggestions of several solutions to the identified problem as possible (Muller, 2010).
The fourth step is analyzing and comparing courses of action. This entails determining the course of action that gives the best solution to the identified problem. It is vital for leaders to develop as many merits and demerits for each course of action as possible. The next step is to logically and objectively analyze the identified merits and demerits of each action against the merits and demerits of other courses of action. The thought that the most appropriate course of action being the one with numerous merits and fewest demerits is a fallacy (Betsch, 2005).
It is essential to weigh the importance of each merit and demerit since there are times when the best course of action is the one with fewer merits, which are all vital to accomplishing the desired mission. Up to this juncture in decision making process, subordinates should be involved to investigate the problem, collect information, implement and analyze several courses of action. There is an increased likelihood of subordinates to support a decision if they participated in its development. Including subordinates are beneficial to an organization in terms of higher motivation, increased interest and increased efficiency by team members (Bhushan, 2004).
The fifth step is making a decision. After carefully analyzing the potential causes of action, it is essential to use all available data as well as consider emotions and intuitions. This is because the process of making decisions is not a mere objective, mathematical formula. The human mind does not function that way particularly in times of stress. Instead, the human mind is both intuitive and rational, and considering the fact that the decision making process involves thinking; it is similarly intuitive and rational. Intuition is an aspect of the human mind that distinguishes right from wrong (Muller, 2010).
However, leaders should never make a mistake of making decisions solely under the guidance of intuitions or emotions. This ultimately leads to a disaster. Instead, they should follow the decision making process as objectively and rationally as possible. They are required to collect information followed by developing, analyzing and comparing different courses of action. They should take into consideration their hunches, values and emotions and try to identify the best logical course of action that has the highest probability of succeeding. The course of actions should also feel light in regard to the leaders’ character, values and intuition (Bhushan, 2004).
The sixth step is making a plan that includes the people responsible for doing specific tasks at a given time and place. It is essential to be as specific as time allows and careful not to omit crucial information that could deter the mission from being accomplished. The plan should also incorporate contingencies that address potential expected actions or situations. The contingencies should be developed on the basis of the assumptions made in the course of problem identification and information gathering. Leaders should be ready to anticipate change just like they did in the course of developing the courses of action. The potentiality to make the right changes in plans and decisions needs certain mind flexibility, which is a vital trait of a good decision-maker, problem-solver and planner (Betsch, 2005).
The final step is implementation of the plan. Following the making of decision and plan, it is essential to act on the plan and then do an evaluation to ensure that the desired objectives are being achieved. Most of the times, leaders neglect the evaluation step in the process of making decisions. Consistent seeking of feedback on the progress of the plan is the key to evaluation (Muller, 2010). Feedback can be obtained from the subordinates. Leaders should go to the point of action in order to get first hand information on whether the plan is working or not. If the plan is not working, it is necessary to determining the reason for that and take an immediate action to correct it. The vital aspect of this step is mental flexibility (Bhushan, 2004).
In conclusion, the criteria to use for competitive decision making comprises of the seven steps, which are problem identification, information gathering, development of courses of action, analyzing and comparing of courses of action, decision, making, plan making and implementation of the plan
References
Betsch, T., & Haberstroh, S. (2005). The routines of decision making. Routledge
Bhushan, N., & Rai, K. (2004). Strategic decision making: applying the analytic
hierarchy process. Springer
Muller, R. (2010). Decision making process: Entrepreneurship in Today’s Society
GRIN Verlag
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