Decision Making : Four Essential Steps

Decision Making

The factor that weight most heavily in the succes of failure of a manager is his decision-making ability. Thrue, there are a multitude of specific skills which he must possess to guarantee results, such as organizational ability and the capacity to plan. All of these, however, require that effective decisions be made. specific knowledge of basic concepts, principles, and procedures is essential, but knowledge by itself is passive-it must be used. It must be applied to the everyday operation.

Decision making

A second reason for stressing the very strategic role of decision-making skill lies in the changing environment in which today's manager to put his decision making on a rational basis. No matter what function he perform or activities in which he engages, the end result-the payoff-is based on the decision he makes. Decisions based solely on intuition and past experience are becoming less effective in dealing with organizational problems because things are changing at too rapid a pace and because yesterday's experience does not always mirror tomorrow's problem.

The decision-making pocess can be fundamentally and simply stated. The difficulty lies in the actual implementation, which is too often either forgotten completely or poor'y executed.

The four essential steps are :

1. Analyzing the problem
2. Developing alternative solutions
3. Analyzing alternative solutions
4. Implementing the decision

1. Analizing The Problem

If the doctor diagnoses appendicitis and the problem is ulceration, the treatment will inevitably fail. So it is in organizations. If hthe manager fails to identify correctly and completely the real problem, one of two things happens to the decision he makes : the solution fails, completely, or it puts out the fire only temporarily.

Complete problem analysis can be broken down into five activities which can provide the manager with a practical and systematic approach to problem analysis. Two cautions are in order at the out-set, however. First, although discussed separately, the activities are a long from being independent of one another. There is considerable over lap among them. second, the approach to problem analysis should not be allowed to become a staitjacket. It serves as an analytical framework which, when used, in time develops, in the dicision maker a systematic approach. In some situations, the answer to the five activities are so clear-cut and straighforward that little conscious attention need be given to the analysis process. In other it may be both desirable and necessary to return in a very formal sense to theprocedure. In any case, the manger who wishes to improve his decision-making skill will find it helpful to consciously consider and write out all the activities in the early stages of training. Once the approach is firmly established and becomes more or less automatic, adjustments can be made.

Finally, problem analysis requires tht any retrictions or limits to what otherwise might be an acceptable solution be noted. Typical restrictions include cost, personnel and facts which cannot be changed. It does little good to exten sively probe and mentally debate solutions which, although good, cannot be implemented. This is not meant to imply that new ideas and new approaces for doing things sould be stifled and cut short without first carefully weighing and analyzing them. Ifchitical limitations are set forth initially, however, the decision-making process can be simplified and speeded.

2. Developing Alternative Solutions 

When Faced with the need to develop alternative solutions to problems, the manager has two directions in which to turn : his own past experience and the experience and practice or other manager. let us consider each of these.

The most logical and undoubtedly the most widely used approach to solving problems is to draw on one's own past experiance. This method is adequate in the majority of cases. Faced with a given situation, the manager compares it with similar occurrences which he may have experienced and successfully solved at an earlier time. Noting the circumstances which are peculiar to the present case he can them follow a similar course of action, but with the necessary adjustments made. Of course, the more wepth in experience to solve a bigger variety of problems, and second, his experience will suggest more possible alternatives.

3. Analyzing Alternative Solutions 

The analysis of alternative solutions involves stating the advantages and disadvantages of each possible course of  action and then weighing each course as to how effectively it will accomplish the objectives or requrements of a satifactory solution. The analysis of advantages and disadvantages may range all the way from being relatively simple and straighforward to being a very complex and detailed procedure. The analysis may necessitate gathering and interpreting extensive cost data and the use of various statistical techniques. or this type of factual data may not hove to be used . The more comprehensive the problem, the more difficult the analysis becomes.

Stating Advantagesand Disadvantages

In considering the advantages and disadvantages that apply to each alternative, the decision maker will do well if he goes back and reviewa throughly each activity in the problem analysis step specific attention should be given to the following questions ;

1. Will the alternative in question eliminate reoceurrence of the situations originally identified as needing improvement?
2. Will the alternative meet the requirements of a satisfactory solution stated as objectives?
3. Does the alternative meet restrictions or limits?
4. What other specific benefits apply to the alternative?

Perhaps the most difficult part of analyzing alternatives is the identification of the disadvantages or consaquences of each alternative. This is particularly true in cases where either conciously or unconsciously a favorable " mental set" toward a particular course of action has already been formed. The consideration of disadvantages is extremely important. Many otherwise good decisions fail in the implementation stage simply because potential difficulties and shortcomings have not been spotted and provisions have not been made for dealing with them in advance.

4. Implementing The Decision

To maake a good decision isone thing, but to transform that decision into a plan of action is quite another. Managers who have experienced the frustation of seeing an otherwise sound decision fail or falter in the implementation stage should be keenly aware of the importance and significance of this, the fourth and final step in the decision-making process. Every decision requires a well-con ceved plan for implementing it.

In actual practice, the various activities involved in effective implementation are or should be carried out as part of or in conjuction with the other steps of decision making. The three essential aspects of effective implementation are ;

• A questining attitude concerning every detail of the decision and the development of necessary procedures.
• A plan for communicating the decision to those involved and affected by it.
• Participation

So is article about " Decision Making : Four Essential Steps" may be useful

*sources and references ; (selected readings)workshop staff review workshops

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