Making decisions is an important part of running any business or organization. To a greater extent, managers are involved in the decision making process when deciding the next cause of the business and when directing employees. Employees are not left out in the decision making process either. When carrying out their duties, employees will need to constantly decide on the methods to use, the approach to take, and how to achieve the best results using minimal resources and time. To make good decisions, managers and employees need to undergo thorough training. It is through training and development that employees and managers learn the best approaches of handling business problems, by making good decisions.
Decision making Process for Employees with two different Strengths
In an organization, employees’ strengths will tend to differ greatly. Some employees will be stronger than others, and this calls for a change in the management, especially in regard to how decisions are made. If an employee has strong input skills, he/she will be more inclined towards gathering as much details as possible before making a decision (Panagiotakopoulos, 2015). The strong employee’s decision making process will come in four major steps including decision identification, information gathering, identifying alternatives, and implementation. For example, when deciding on the best way to test a system, an employee will gather information on multiple testing methods and consult with the owners on how the systems are implemented.
If an employee has strong deliberative skills, he/she will want to keenly examine all possible options before making the final decision. The four main steps in this case will include identification of the decision’s purpose, comparison of choices using brainstorming, evaluation of alternatives, and decision execution. The main aim of deliberative decision-making is to ensure that the best option is implemented in decision making (Panagiotakopoulos, 2015). For example, when deciding on the best method of testing a system, a deliberative decision maker will compare agile, active, accessibility and acceptance testing methods and select the best.
Developing Employees with different Strengths
As the leader of an organization, the manager has an important role of developing great employees’ strengths so that the employees can effectively attend to their duties. The best way to do this will be to hire the needed strengths in the first place. In addition to hiring the right employees, a manager will have the responsibility to develop the strengths of existing employees through observation of beliefs and values, right placement, and training (Heathfield, 2016). After examining the employees’ values, the manager will be able to determine what makes them happy and what offends them. By promoting the things that make the employees happy, and suppressing those that offend them, the manager will be able to boost employees’ strength.
Employees will perform differently in different tasks, depending on their skills and experience. By understanding employees’ skills and experiences, the manager will be able to place employees at the position where they will utilize their full strength. Training helps employees develop new skills or improve on the skills they already have (Heathfield, 2016). By developing training programs, the manager will be able to enhance employees’ skills. Training employees will be a good way of improving employees’ productivity and morale at their work.
Developing Viable Courses of Action
There are seven major steps to a good decision making process. The first step is to recognize the decision. In this step, the decision-maker recognizes the need to make a decision, probably to solve a problem. The second step is gathering needed information and evidence. The best information sources will be identified at this point. The third step is to examine alternatives in form of likely paths of action (Morselli, 2015). The fourth step is to consider the evidence as a way of identifying whether the needs identified in step 1 will be met. The fifth step is to select the best alternative among the various choices. The sixth step is to take action by starting the implementation process. The seventh and the final step is to review the decision made to see whether the need for the decision has been met (Morselli, 2015).
Aspects of Managerial Planning Process
The first aspect of the managerial planning process is that it is made up of inter-linked steps that must be implemented in the correct order for a successful decision to be reached. For example, the fifth step cannot be started unless the first four are finished. The second aspect is that the process is psychological and requires the manager to reach out to the employees’ minds through talk and physical demonstrations. The third aspect is that the planning process requires teamwork. Managers and employees must come together for better decisions to be made.
Issues in Management Concepts
The main issue in management concepts is poor communication. Without effective communication, it will be very hard for members in a team to work together towards common objectives. This issue can be dealt with through good leadership and clear definition of roles. The other issue in management concepts is setting the bar at the right place (Morselli, 2015). Setting the bar too high or low will greatly reduce employees’ productivity and enthusiasm.
Conclusion
Making good decisions is an important business aspect that helps in promoting the activities of a business. Since different employees will make decisions differently, depending on their strength, a manager has an important role of boosting employees’ capabilities to aid them in decision making. In the future, finding ways of evaluating and improving employees’ decision making capabilities will greatly help managers in their role of promoting organizational success.
- Heathfield, S. (2016). Help Develop Employee Strengths – Not Weaknesses. The Balance. Retrieved February 03, 2017 from https://www.thebalance.com/help-develop-employee-strengths-not-weaknesses-1918672
- Morselli, A. (2015). The decision-making process between convention and cognition. ECONOMICS & SOCIOLOGY, 8(1), 205-221. http://dx.doi.org/10.14254/2071-789x.2015/8-1/16
- Panagiotakopoulos, A. (2015). Creating a high-skills society during recession: issues for policy makers. International Journal Of Training And Development, 19(4), 253-269. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ijtd.12061
