Question 2). What are the common barriers to effective Decision
making? How can they be overcome? Quote and describe the instances from your
own experiences or the experiences you are aware of relating to and
substantiating the answers to this question. Briefly describe the organisation
and the situation, you are referring to.
Answer :
You
as a manager make many decisions in your life. Some are very much easy and some
are very much complex. And some time we cant take any decision and our mind is
frozen that is the barrier of the problem solving.
A number of barriers may exist that affect the actuality of problem solving and
decision making. Decision makers may not be aware that barriers are detracting
from the decision-making process. Some of the most common barriers to problem
solving and decision making are:
1). Resistance to change: People
are often reluctant to change from the time-honored way of doing things.
Resistance to change can prevent people from taking chances and from
considering new possibilities.
2).Habits: Habits
limit our vision of what can be accomplished and many stand in the way of
solving a problem. Habits may go undetected by an individual and may be a
tremendous deterrent to correcting a problem. For example, receptionist who is
having difficulty in completing his or her work may be unaware that the habit
of taking personal calls is taking the bulk of work time.
3).Individual
insecurity: Individual insecurity may deter individuals from taking
risks or from pursuing behavior that may require them to take a stand.
Individual insecurity may come from past experiences or from an overall lack of
self-confidence.
4).Past
history: Knowing what has happened before and what worked and did
not work can inhibit an individual's desire to try new methods of problem
solving or decision making. Past history is frequently an excuse for not making
changes. The individual, who may not wish to approach a situation in a new way,
may remind others that a similar idea failed in the past.
5).Fear of
success or failure: At some time, everyone experiences some type of fear. The
fear of success or failure may be viewed as unreasonable, but it can greatly
deter the confrontation of problems. The unknown can be a frightening thing.
When a new way of doing something is attempted, the possibility exists that it
may work well or not at all. In either instance, changes may result. While some
people thrive on recognition, others shy away from it. These fears may cause
people to avoid the possibility of success or failure altogether.
6).Jumping
to conclusions: When problems must be solved and decisions made, it is
easy to jump to conclusions. When someone jumps to conclusions, assumptions are
made about what might or might not work or the possible results; assumptions may
frequently take on negative perspectives.
7).Perceptions: As we
have stated, perceptions are the ways that we see things based on our
experiences. We may be unable to see something from another perspective because
we are so blinded by our own perception.
You as a manager make many decisions in your
life. Some are very much easy and some are very much complex. To take more
effective decisions you must follow have to take care of the following steps in
order to overcome the barriers in effective decision making.
THINK AND CONSULT:
Many people do not think before taking decisions. So in order to have an effective decision you must think for a while and analyze that what are causes of the problem, then make a list of the alternatives then choose the best one from them. After brainstorming you must get help from your employees, family and friends, and also from the one who has experience, in order to have the possible means to understand the implantation of your decision.
•TAKE AN EYE ON ORGANIZATIONAL GOAL:
The most important strategy while taking decision is to keep an eye on your goal. You as a manager must have to take care of the organizational goals and interests while taking decisions. You must know what are the needs of the problem that are required to be solved? And why these should be solved? In this way you can be able make an effective decision because when you know that why you are making a decision, it will make you to stick with it and defend it.
•CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES:
This is the key step of effective decision making because in this you will be asking yourself that what the results of your decision are. How it will affect your organization. Whether the decision you are taking is in the favor of organization or not? It is important step because it will make you able to understand the pros and cons of your decision that you are going to take.
•MAKE YOUR FINAL DECISION AND EVALUATE IT:
Once you have made the final decision and took an action towards it then you must have to evaluate your decision in order check whether your actions are working in a right manner or not. And you should give yourself permission to be okay with any failure that may arise because there is not any magic formula for effective decision making. It is a type of a risk that you can control by following such steps. You must take care of the “timing” because timing matters a lot in taking actions towards decision making. You must avoid poor timing and take actions whenever these are required and do not make higher expectations from any of your decisions and always be optimistic.
Many people do not think before taking decisions. So in order to have an effective decision you must think for a while and analyze that what are causes of the problem, then make a list of the alternatives then choose the best one from them. After brainstorming you must get help from your employees, family and friends, and also from the one who has experience, in order to have the possible means to understand the implantation of your decision.
•TAKE AN EYE ON ORGANIZATIONAL GOAL:
The most important strategy while taking decision is to keep an eye on your goal. You as a manager must have to take care of the organizational goals and interests while taking decisions. You must know what are the needs of the problem that are required to be solved? And why these should be solved? In this way you can be able make an effective decision because when you know that why you are making a decision, it will make you to stick with it and defend it.
•CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES:
This is the key step of effective decision making because in this you will be asking yourself that what the results of your decision are. How it will affect your organization. Whether the decision you are taking is in the favor of organization or not? It is important step because it will make you able to understand the pros and cons of your decision that you are going to take.
•MAKE YOUR FINAL DECISION AND EVALUATE IT:
Once you have made the final decision and took an action towards it then you must have to evaluate your decision in order check whether your actions are working in a right manner or not. And you should give yourself permission to be okay with any failure that may arise because there is not any magic formula for effective decision making. It is a type of a risk that you can control by following such steps. You must take care of the “timing” because timing matters a lot in taking actions towards decision making. You must avoid poor timing and take actions whenever these are required and do not make higher expectations from any of your decisions and always be optimistic.
A well organized decision-making process
usually leads to the effective decision-making. Without a well-defined process,
you take high risk in making decisions that are based on inappropriate information
and analysis. Many variables can affect the final impact of your decision.
However, if you establish strong base for decision making, make good
alternatives, evaluate these alternatives thoroughly, and then check your
decision-making process, you will improve the quality of your decisions.
Problem solving series
There are two wasys :
1).Adaptive Decision Making
2).Group Dynamics
Adaptive Decision Making
Adaptive techniques for solving problems
are a combination of logic and common sense, and while not precise, can produce
satisfactory solutions.
§ have little time for
research
§ don't need exhaustive analysis
§ can accept the risks
§ can make reversible
decisions
Group Dynamics
- Decisions
made in groups differ
substantially from those made by individuals, and this is why
organizations put groups to use. What is less clear, and heavily debated
amongst researchers, is how decision quality
differs between groups and individuals.
- The
presence of a well developed group synergy,
often achieved through healthy levels of dissent, typically results in
preferable outcomes, while groupthink can
lead to harmonizing and premature consensus.
- Harvard
professor and researcher Richard Hackman proposed five conditions that
increase the probability of success for groups involved in decision making. Hackman mentions effective leadership,
amongst other items, within the group context that contribute materially
to successful group outcomes.
Know-how
One of the most common barriers in decision
making is not knowing how to make a decision in the first place.
It may seem strange, but many folks do
not know how specifically they actually make decisions, or they use different
decision making strategies in different circumstances without realizing it.
Expert, or not
Other barriers to decision making concern experts. Some will
defer unquestioningly to authority and make no attempt to consider whether the expert's
choice actually applies to them or not. The converse of this is where someone
is so internally referenced that they ignore expert advice that would actually
be useful for them. They are determined to do it their own way, even with difficult
decisions.
The best
Major barriers in decision making nowadays are fear and
anxiety at getting it wrong. We have this idea that there is one best
solution and that anything else is second-rate. This notion sometimes
leads to an excessive gathering of information to the point where sometimes the
decision never actually gets made.
One way around this is to make effective
decisions as opposed to perfect ones. As General George S. Patton said, 'A
good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week'.
What
might happen...
In a similar vein, further barriers in decision making
are the desires to avoid negative consequences and unpleasant aspects. This may
lead to indecision, or simply the choosing of a safe option to avoid
controversy. This can be especially tricky because often times there are
unexpected consequences to any decision.
The reason things are unexpected is that they are
unexpected! It's just not possible to predict these. Life happens and the world
is chaotic. A useful skill is to be able to use whatever occurs so
that you still get to achieve your outcome. That means you keep your goal in
mind, but be flexible in how you achieve it.
What's involved?
When you ask a question about how to
make a decision, there are two things you need to consider. You, and your decision making process.
If you need to do a particular job,
it's best to use the right tool for the job.
But if the tool is not in very good
shape, it may not work particularly well. A blunt scissors, for example, won't
perform as well as a sharp one.
Similarly, it's important that YOU are
in good form before you get to the actual decision making part.
How does this relate to how to make a
decision?
If you're having a bad time and things are not going
well, it makes sense not to make important decisions during this time. Chances
are they may not work out so well either!
So when people use phrases such as
·
weighed
down
·
feeling
down
·
the
weight of the world on his shoulders
·
cramped
·
confined
this is their bodies way of telling them they are not
working as well as they could... and it's probably not a good idea to be making
decisions at such moments.
Of course, there will be times when you absolutely have
to make decisions when you are stressed or under pressure. A useful trick here
to minimize such occurrences is to make decisions ahead of time, that is,
before you 'have to'.
For example, if you plan to buy an expensive item, you
might decide, before you go to the shop or store, what the maximum you're
prepared to pay, rather than being pressured into paying more at the last
minute by a slick salesman. Or you decide before a negotiation what you want
and what you are prepared to concede, rather than going along and hoping for
the best.
In this way you can make decisions when you are
relaxed, calm and without pressure.
The 'YOU' part
When someone is in a good mood they often describe
themselves as
·
feeling
light
·
walking
tall
·
walking
with their head held high
·
they
have a glide in their stride
·
moving
gracefully
Have you ever considered where these phrases come from?
They are actually descriptions of the awareness people have of their physical
bodies at different times.
Phrases such as
·
Shake
it off
·
Sleep
on it
·
Let's
step away from it for a moment
·
Have
a breather
are used when we want to distance ourselves, or think
differently about, some issue. We inherently know that moving our body in
different ways gives us different ways of thinking.
This also explains why it's often when someone leaves
their desk to get a coffee that they are suddenly inspired in that they realize
the answer to a problem or understand which choice to make.
There are also other more subtle internal signals that
let us know how to make good decisionsand you can learn about your
own personal signals here...
On a similar note, knowing what your own personal
values are also allows you to be able to make faster decisions.
Children and
teens
Special consideration has to be given to children and
teens in decision making because it takes time for the brain to develop and
there are many factors that influence adolescents in their decision
making.
A rough guideline...
The general guideline then is:
Good mood = good decisions,
Bad mood = bad decisions.
I am taking 'bad mood' to include
times of pressure, stress and time constraints, and I am not saying that all
decisions made in such circumstances are bad decisions. Instead, it's more
likely that we will make poorer decisions or decisions that are wrong when we
are in a 'bad mood'.
And, of course, some people prefer to
make decisions under pressure, they claim that they are more effective this
way!!
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