Decision-Making Case Study

Decision-making plays a significant role in the success of an organization. For that reason, decisions made based on the foundation of ethical reasoning and knowledge can bring about long-term profitability to the enterprise. Furthermore, the decision-making process has the following steps; identifying the problem, seek information, generate alternatives, implement the decision, and evaluation. Faced with a puzzle, in his company, Alex uses the above process to solve a vice in the system analysis department. Dave and his crew were finding it hard to deliver work on time and could slow down work in other departments. However, that was not the real problem as it emerged after gathering some information; it was evident that the real issue lay beneath.

Identify the problem

In defining the problem, one can obtain assistance from a pool of participants. Again, employing that approach enables the manager to trap ideas that could have been overlooked. In involving many workers in a discussion a wide range of experience, information and knowledge are brought to the decision-making process. For that purpose, through forming a group, a manager can define the problem. In the context question, Alex discovered the problem on a Monday morning when he found workers from the finance department lined up outside the offices claiming that their computers had been stolen. On inviting Dave for dialogue, he discovered that the computers had not been stolen but had been moved to the finance department (Power, Sharda, & Burstein, 2015).

Alex realized that the problem had been caused by the system analysts and programmers. Their leader addressed Alex claiming that the disruption at hand was the result of stress to meet the customer's promise of delivering their order on Monday morning. And in a bid to meet that deadline; they transferred computers from the finance department with an aim of taking them back before work commenced. His decision to move the machines cost the finance department valuable time. From the above dialogue, Alex concluded by saying that he should have informed the finance department. However, his primary concern was that Dave had to use a crisis to get the work done. On the whole, he was not satisfied with that excuse; there needed to be some more information. 

Gathering information to define the decision

For Alex to come up with a good decision, a significant understanding of the state the company was in is crucial. For that purpose, it was ideal for him to consider the opinions of many of the workers involved. Notable information on important themes that he needed to look for would include satisfaction levels among the workers about production. Conversely, through discussions and focus groups a manager can obtain vital information for decision-making (Power, Sharda, & Burstein, 2015).

In the context question, for Alex to get more information in line with decision making, he summoned the system analysts in for some answers, lest the company lost between $3 and $6 million.Alex embarked on an informal meeting with Dave’s department in an endeavor to get more opinions from the rest of his workers.

Although Alex got similar opinions from the remainder of the crew like those of Dave, he observed during the meeting that some of the workers self-esteem were down as they were easily content on affirming Dave's ideas rather than their own. On the other hand, the Dave felt less trusted by the boss because he was he was still looking up questions he had answered. Still, that meeting was not enough as Alex left in a skeptical mood and still yearning for information. 

Generating the alternatives

Through brainstorming, a leader can come up with real alternatives for decision making. Gathering information on possible combinations can raise concepts which can be molded into possible decision-making initiatives. One can score the above goal from a small group of people. Again, they can employ decision trees as necessary support tools for dividing big decisions into smaller ones. For instance, to raise more opinions from the system analyst, Alex asked Dave to have a brainstorming session with him after work so that he could discover more about his department. To determine whether Dave was in control of his troops or he was only failing because he was new to his job and just eager to please.

Consequently, from the brainstorming session, Alex discovered that the head of the system analysts was worried about being a new father and performing well in his new job. It also came to light that some members (especially the older crew) within the department were resisting Dave's authority. With that object, it seemed as though Dave was being tested and there was a lack of trust within the team. Therefore, without confidence among workers in an organizational, there is bound to be poor results. Through teamwork and cooperation, work is broken down into simpler tasks that can easily be accomplished. Alex uses critical thinking abilities to realize that there was some information needed to complete the puzzle. It is from there that he thinks creatively to take Dave out for a discussion. When the problem is discovered, he creatively advises Dave to take his crew out. 

Implementing the decision

Many of the important decisions at this stage affect some employees. For that purpose, decision implementation is elevated by sustaining a healthy communication practice. As a consequence, negative emotion is reduced, there is minimal resistance and takes a stand on necessary actions and alterations. Dave heeded to Alex’s advice of taking his crew for a luncheon at Dave and Busters in the afternoon. Further, to increase the teamwork levels, a primary objective was made that the outing should involve the team taking part in games they enjoyed and afterward they were to take some time off to get to know each other. Similarly, Dave was advised to take part in the game, and it was to be new to all the workers.

Back at the office, the interaction was so effective; Alex was pleased with what he was seeing. The implementation of his thoughts improved the air in the room and surely there were to be positive results. As a consequence, the older members were armed with a better understanding and were less reactive to change which ushered in a new atmosphere at the workplace (Schlosser, Dunning, & Fetchenhauer, 2011). The younger workers felt that their ideas would be listened to more, therefore taking part in company discussions with ease. Therefore, due to critical thinking, Alex was in a position to play a vital move like urging Dave to take his team out hence heightening cohesion levels.

Evaluating the decision

A variety of factors must be accomplished during an evaluation; like who is responsible for undertaking the assessment, how data should be gathered and analyzed and what the focus of the evaluation will be. At the same time, the stage of sailing through the alternatives is usually the most time-consuming part of the decision accomplishment process in evaluating the results from the above decision; Alex concluded that the analyst system project did not have any flow of content. Further, at one time they needed to accomplish work on health care and another food processing; therefore, it was burdensome to come up with new ways of applying previous information. Alternatively, the hardware services were creating a limit on the number of computers to be used. Further, it was discovered that the older guys needed more training to equip them with new techniques (Meadow, Ferguson, Guido, Horangic, Owen, & Wall, 2015).

With that information, Alex, the General Manager, was able to make critical decisions in his budget that catered for all the workers in the company. Fifteen computers were bought at a cost of $75, 000.However, to avoid this shortcoming; Alex should have appointed a Human Resource manager to cater for the well-being of the workers. Therefore, he would have seen to it that the pleas of the old workers are solved by giving them extra training on computer applications.  

References

Meadow, A. M., Ferguson, D. B., Guido, Z., Horangic, A., Owen, G., & Wall, T. (2015). Moving toward the deliberate coproduction of climate science knowledge. Weather, Climate, and Society, 7(2), 179-191.

Power, D. J., Sharda, R., & Burstein, F. (2015). Decision support systems. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Schlösser, T., Dunning, D., & Fetchenhauer, D. (2011). What a Feeling: The Role of Immediate   and Anticipated Emotions in Risky Decisions. J. Behav. Dec. Making Journal of           Behavioral Decision Making, 13-30.