INOORERO UNIVERSITYROSE OLWAL

ANALYSIS AND DECISION IN HRMQuestion One

a) Five parties and their role in decision making Decision making is a cognitive process that results in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Decision making is a daily activity for any human being. There is no exception about that. When it comes to business organizations, decision making is a habit and a process as well. Effective and successful decisions make profit to the company and unsuccessful ones make losses. Therefore, corporate decision making process is the most critical process in any organization. In the decision making process, we choose one course of action from a few possible alternatives. In the process of decision making, we may use many tools, techniques and perceptions.Five parties in decision making in an organization are:

a. The Management /Leaders – This are involved in making decision that affect the overall organization in terms of strategy, policies and objectives. Decisions are made at the three levels, i.e. strategic, tactical and operational levels. In HRM for example, another very important area of decision making for organizational leaders is the specific decision to terminate employees’ contracts of employment.

b. The owners / shareholders – Their role is decision making relates to the direction the organization takes in terms of the investments and what is to be done to sustain the organization. For example, they decide whether profits are to be reinvested or distributed as divided if it’s a company.

c. The employees/ Worker – Their role in the decision making process relates to their contribution towards the achievement of the objectives and mission of the organization. They are engaged in

making decisions involving how work and tasks are to be accomplished.

d. The worker representatives / unions – They play a part in making decisions on the workers welfare and how they will be remunerated for the services they offer. They also participate in collective bargaining agreements on behalf of the employees among other related issues.

e. Community /Society – This represent those who are affected by the decisions made. They will play the role of ensuring that the decisions made are favourable and in line with their expectations. They moderate the actions of other decision makers by ensuring the decisions made do not adversely affect them. There are many stakeholders who are concerned with the decisions made including the state or government in this circle.

b) The steps involved in Decision Making Process

Decision making is the process of selecting a logical choice from among the available options. When trying to make a good decision, the HR Manager must weigh the positives and negatives of each option, and consider all the alternatives. For effective decision making, a the manager must be able to forecast the outcome of each option as well, and based on all these items, determine which option is the best for that particular situation.

Decision making is the process of generating and evaluating alternatives and making choices among them. Decision making is a daily activity for any human being. There is no exception about that. When it comes to business organizations, decision making is a habit and a process as well. The steps involved in the decision making process are:1. Identifying the Problem: Identification of the real problem is the first step in the process of decision-making. It is rightly said that a problem

well-defined is a problem half-solved. Information relevant to the problem should be gathered so that critical analysis of the problem is possible. This is how the problem can be diagnosed. Clear distinction should be made between the problem and the symptoms which may cloud the real issue. In brief, the manager should search the 'critical factor' at work. It is the point at which the choice applies. Similarly, while diagnosing the real problem the manager should consider causes and find out whether they are controllable or uncontrollable. For example, high employee turnover may be as a result of bad supervision methods and not necessary poor pay or finding better jobs. 2. Analyzing the Problem: After defining the problem, the next step in the decision-making process is to analyze the problem in depth. This is necessary to classify the problem in order to know who must take the decision and who must be informed about the decision taken. Here, the following four factors should be kept in mind:i) Futurity of the decision,ii) The scope of its impact,iii) Number of qualitative considerations involved, andiv) Uniqueness of the decision.3. Collecting Relevant Data: After defining the problem and analyzing its nature, the next step is to obtain the relevant information/ data about it. There is information flood in the business world due to new developments in the field of information technology. All available information should be utilized fully for analysis of the problem. This brings clarity to all aspects of the problem.4. Developing Alternative Solutions: After the problem has been defined, diagnosed on the basis of relevant information, the manager has to determine available alternative courses of action that could be used to solve the problem at hand. Only realistic alternatives should be considered. It is equally important to take into account time and cost constraints and psychological barriers that will restrict that number of

alternatives. If necessary, group participation techniques may be used while developing alternative solutions as depending on one solution is undesirable. For examples, if there is high turnover, the alternatives could be to do job rotation among the supervisors or to institute new regulations. 5. Selecting the Best Solution: After preparing alternative solutions, the next step in the decision-making process is to select an alternative that seems to be most rational for solving the problem. The alternative thus selected must be communicated to those who are likely to be affected by it. Acceptance of the decision by group members is always desirable and useful for its effective implementation. The HR manager must effectively communicate to avoid future disappointments, for example, in performance appraisal; the standards must be communicated earlier. 6. Converting Decision into Action: After the selection of the best decision, the next step is to convert the selected decision into an effective action. Without such action, the decision will remain merely a declaration of good intentions. Here, the HR manager has to convert 'his decision into 'their decision' through his leadership. For this, the subordinates should be taken in confidence and they should be convinced about the correctness of the decision. Thereafter, the HR manager has to take follow-up steps for the execution of decision taken.7. Ensuring Feedback: Feedback is the last step in the decision-making process. Here, the HR manager has to make built-in arrangements to ensure feedback for continuously testing actual developments against the expectations. It is like checking the effectiveness of follow-up measures. Feedback is possible in the form of organized information, reports and personal observations. Feedback is necessary to decide whether the decision already taken should be continued or be modified in the light of changed conditions.Every step in the decision-making process is important and needs proper consideration by the HR managers. This facilitates accurate decision-making. Decision-making is important as it facilitates entire management

process including the human resources. Management activities are just not possible without decision-making as it is an integral aspect of management process itself. However, the quality of decision-making should be always superior as faulty/irrational decisions are always dangerous.

c) The barriers to managerial problem in decision making:A manager has to take a decision before acting or before preparing a plan for execution. Moreover, his ability is very often judged by the quality of decisions he takes. Thus, management is always a decision-making process. It is a part of every managerial function. This is because action is not possible unless a firm decision is taken about a business problem or situation. The effectiveness of management depends on the quality of decision-making. Inadequate information, data and knowledge: For rational decision-making accurate, reliable and complete information about various aspects of the problem under investigation is necessary. The possible future trends can be estimated with the help of such information. This facilitates rational decision-making. However, adequate and reliable information may not be available at the time of decision-making. As a result, the decisions become defective or irrational. Such decision may prove to be faulty in the course of time. This is how the decisions become irrational to certain extent. Uncertain environment: Decisions are taken on the basis of information available about various environmental variables. However, the variables are many and complex in nature. They may be related to political, economic, social and other aspects. It is not possible to study all such variables in depth due to inadequate information/data. This leads to inaccuracy in decision making and the decisions taken are not fully rational. Limited capacity of decision-maker: A decision-maker (manager) should be expert, knowledgeable, intelligent and matured. He needs vision and capacity to imagine possible future situation. In the absence of such

qualities, the decision-maker may not be able to take rational decisions. Similarly, the decision taken may not be rational if the decision-maker fails to follow all necessary steps required for scientific decision-making. A hasty decision or decision taken without full use of all mental faculties may not be fully rational. Thus, decisions are likely to be less rational if the decision maker lacks capacity to take rational decisions. Personal element in decision-making: Decision-making should be always impartial and also favorable to the organization. Decision against organization but favorable to decision maker or other employees will be unfair. Such decision will not be rational. Similarly, every decision-maker has his own personal background in the form of personal beliefs, attributes, preferences, likes and dislikes and so on. A decision-maker is expected to keep these elements away while taking management decisions. This may not be possible in the case of all decision-makers and on all occasions. However, decisions are not fully rational when such personal element comes in the picture. A decision cannot be fully independent: Managerial decisions are interlinked and interdependent. A manager has to make adjustments or compromises while making decisions. For example, for reducing price, some compromise with the quality may be necessary. A manager gives more importance to one and less to the other. He takes one decision which is rational at the same time makes some compromise in the other decision. As a result, other decision is not likely to be fully rational. In short, business decisions are interlinked. This brings an element of irrationality in some decisions.

Psychological Biases - Decision makers are far from objective in the way they gather, evaluate, and apply information in making their choices. People have biases that interfere with objective rationality. Framing effects: A decision bias influenced by the way in which a problem or decision alternative is phrased or presented. Refer to how problems or decision alternatives are phrased or presented and how these

subjective influences can override objective facts. Managers may be quick to frame a problem as being similar to problems they have already handled, so they don't search for new alternatives. Often decision makers discount the future: A bias weighting short-term costs and benefits more heavily than longer-term costs and benefits. . That is, in their evaluation of alternatives, they weigh short-term costs and benefits more heavily than longer-term costs and benefits. Time Pressures: In today's rapidly changing business environment, the premium is on acting quickly and keeping pace. The most conscientiously made business decisions can become irrelevant and even disastrous if managers take too long. Social Realities- Many decisions are made by a group rather than by an individual manager. In slow-moving firms, interpersonal factors decrease decision-making effectiveness. Even the manager acting alone is accountable to the boss and to others and must consider the preferences and reactions of many people.

Question Twoa) The characteristics of the three levels of decision making:

Decision making is the process of selecting the most desirable or optimum alternative to solve a problem or achieve an objective. The quality and soundness of managerial decisions is largely contingent upon the information available to the decision-maker. Classified decision making on three levels of a continuum:

• Strategic decisions are future-oriented because of uncertainty. They are part of the planning activity.

• Tactical decision making combines planning activities with controlling. It is for short-term activities and associated allocation of resources to them to achieve the objectives.

• Technical decision making is a process of ensuring efficient and effective implementation of specific tasks.

Decision making is an important process in an organization. It will affect the effectiveness of an organization. Decision making is almost universally defined as choosing between alternatives. In an organization, managers have formal authority to use organizational resources and to make decision. There are typically three levels of management which are top-level, middle-level, and first-level.Top level management usually will make the strategic decision which will affect the long term direction of the business. Strategic decision is concerned with the future planning and taken accordance with organization vision and mission. Furthermore, it also deals with the organization growth and involves a change of major kind since an organization operates in ever changing environment. Top level management who adopt strategic decision are concerned to the various administrative functions, determine objectives of the business enterprise, taking important business decisions, deciding future course of action taking into considering economic policies, public opening and other social, national and international factors and giving guidelines to middle level managers. Top level management consists of board of director, president, vice president, and corporate head.Middle level management will made the tactical decision. These are medium term decision about how to implement strategy which set by the top level management. For example, how many staff needed to be hired? The middle level manager usually implements the instructions from top level management and passes it to the lower level management. They also have to compiling statistical reports for top level management and preparing records of their department, recommend revised and amended policies of their respective department. Middle level management also performs in motivating subordinates for higher productivity and awarding them for their great performance.Lower level management make operational decision which is short term decisions about how to implement the tactics. In operational decision

making, the decision makers have to consider about volume, latency, variability, managing risk, self-service and personalized. Volume is the number of decisions of a specific type that decision makers made must be high. The volume can cause problems or exacerbate another decision problem, such as compliance and risk assessment. Besides that, latency means when you could foresee problem is coming but still couldn’t change how you are going to make decision in time. So you might have an operational problem. For example how much money should spend on this month? They receive instruction from middle level management and implementing them in day-to-day affair of the business. They also assign duties to individual workers inspecting and supervising workers under command at work. They attend workers' problem and help in solving by removing doubts in their mind and inspiring them for maximum productivity.Characteristics of Decision Making Decision making implies choice: Decision making is choosing from among two or more alternative courses of action. Thus, it is the process of selection of one solution out of many available. For any business problem, alternative solutions are available. Managers have to consider these alternatives and select the best one for actual execution. Continuous activity/process: Decision-making is a continuous and dynamic process. It pervades all organizational activity. Managers have to take decisions on various policy and administrative matters. It is a never ending activity in business management. Mental/intellectual activity: Decision-making is a mental as well as intellectual activity/process and requires knowledge, skills, experience and maturity on the part of decision-maker. It is essentially a human activity. Based on reliable information/feedback: Good decisions are always based on reliable information. The quality of decision-making at all levels of the organization can be improved with the support of an effective and efficient management information system (MIS).

Goal oriented process: Decision-making aims at providing a solution to a given problem/ difficulty before a business enterprise. It is a goal-oriented process and provides solutions to problems faced by a business unit. Means and not the end: Decision-making is a means for solving a problem or for achieving a target/objective and not the end in itself. Relates to specific problem: Decision-making is not identical with problem solving but it has its roots in a problem itself. Time-consuming activity: Decision-making is a time-consuming activity as various aspects need careful consideration before taking final decision. For decision makers, various steps are required to be completed. This makes decision-making a time consuming activity. Needs effective communication: Decision-taken needs to be communicated to all concerned parties for suitable follow-up actions. Decisions taken will remain on paper if they are not communicated to concerned persons. Pervasive process: Decision-making process is all pervasive. This means managers working at all levels have to take decisions on matters within their jurisdiction. Responsible job: Decision-making is a responsible job as wrong decisions prove to be too costly to the organization. Decision-makers should be matured, experienced, knowledgeable and rational in their approach. Decision-making need not be treated as routing and casual activity. It is a delicate and responsible job.

b) The importance of MIS in Planning, Decision Making and Controlling Management information system (MIS) is a system or process that provides information needed to manage organizations effectively. Management information systems are regarded to be a subset of the overall internal controls procedures in a business, which cover the

application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures used by management accountants to solve business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Management information systems are distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization. Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, e.g. Decision Support Systems, Expert systems, and Executive information systems.A management information system (MIS) is 'an integrated user-machine system for providing information to support operations, management and decision making functions in an organization. The system utilizes computers, manual procedures, models for analysis, planning, control and decision making, and a database'. MIS facilitates managerial functioning. Management information is an important input at every level in the organization for decision making, planning, organizing, implementing, and monitoring and controlling. MIS is valuable because of its content, form and timing of presentation. In the context of different levels of decision making, information can be described as: • Source, • Data, • Inferences and predictions drawn from data, • Value and choices (evaluation of inferences with regard to the

objectives and then choosing a course of action), and • Action which involves course of action.The MIS concept comprises three interrelated and interdependent key elements: management, system and information.

Management and the MIS processAn MIS is directed towards the managerial functions of planning, controlling and monitoring, and decision making.

PlanningPlanning consists of five sequential and interactive steps. These are: • Selecting objectives; • Identification of the activities which are required to achieve the stipulated objectives; • Detailing the resources - including the various skills - required to undertake the activities; • Determining the duration of each activity to be performed; and • Defining the sequence of the activities.The basic requirements during the planning process of most importance in designing and implementing an MIS for an organization are: • Providing the information required by the planner at each step of planning; • Establishing procedures for obtaining the information; • Arranging for storage of the approved plans, as these will provide the information requisite to monitoring and controlling; and • Evolving methods for communicating the plans to employees in the organization.

ControllingControlling 'compels events to conform to plans'. It involves: • establishing standards of performance in order to reach the objective; • measuring actual performance against the set standards; and • keeping actions on course by correcting deviations as they appear (mid-course corrections).

The requirements for successful development of a control system are: • defining expectations in terms of information attributes; and • developing the logic for reporting deviations to all levels of management prior to the actual occurrence of the deviation.

Decision making

Decision making is the process of selecting the most desirable or optimum alternative to solve a problem or achieve an objective. The quality and soundness of managerial decisions is largely contingent upon the information available to the decision-maker. The classification of decision making on three levels of a continuum: • Strategic decisions are future-oriented because of uncertainty. They are part of the planning activity. • Tactical decision making combines planning activities with controlling. It is for short-term activities and associated allocation of resources to them to achieve the objectives. • Technical decision making is a process of ensuring efficient and effective implementation of specific tasks.Elements of decision makingThe four components of the decision making process are: • Model- A model is an abstract description of the decision problem. The model may be quantitative or qualitative. • Criteria -The criteria must state how goals or objectives of the decision problem can be achieved. When there is a conflict between different criteria, a choice has to be made through compromise. • Constraints- Constraints are limiting factors which define outer limits and have to be respected while making a decision. For example, limited availability of funds is a constraint with which most decision makers have to live. • Optimization -Once the decision problem is fully described in a model, criteria for decision making stipulated and constraints identified, the decision-maker can select the best possible solution.

Question Three a) The steps involved in the formal strategic planning process

Strategic planning has also been known under various labels encompassing “long range planning”, “corporate planning”, and even equated with “strategic management”.When the term formal strategic planning is used, the intent is to convey that an organization’s strategic planning process involves explicit systematic procedures used to gain the involvement and commitment of those principal stakeholders affected by the plan, and in particular the beneficiaries for whose benefit the organization exists.By the word 'formal' with regard to strategic planning, it is referring to the extent to which roles in or contributions to corporate strategic planning are structured in the organization of the planning process, and the activities of the persons involved are governed by explicit procedures. These activities are primarily discussions that lead to the taking of strategic decisions.Formal strategic planning calls for an explicit process for determining the firm's long-range objectives, procedures for generating and evaluating alternative strategies, and a system for monitoring the results of the plan when implemented. During each of these steps, it is important that a systematic procedure be used to gain commitment of those who will be affected by the plan.

The steps involved are:Specify Objectives:The specification of objectives (goals) has long been regarded as a major aspect of formal planning. The objectives should be written clearly. They should start with the ultimate objectives for the organization, and then should be translated into specific measurable objectives. In addition, the objectives should be challenging.Strategic planning calls for an examination of the complete system. Consequently, many objectives are involved. “Stakeholder” analysis can help to ensure that all of the important objectives are included. This

analysis calls first for a listing of all groups that contribute to the organization. For most firms, this would include creditors, stockholders, employees, consumers, suppliers, dealers, and the local community. The planners should then identify explicit objectives for each group (e.g., return on investment for stockholders; stability, good wages, and good working conditions for employees; reliable and safe products for consumers; adequate return on investment for retailers; and low pollution for the local community).

Generate Strategies:Formal planning calls for the generation of alternative strategies. These strategies should be written in enough detail to allow for an explicit evaluation (the next step). The generation of the strategies should be completed before any evaluation begins. Two guidelines are typically recommended for the development of strategies. First, an attempt should be made to provide comprehensive strategies; that is, the plan should consider all important factors. The second guideline is that the plan contains slack resources; that is, extra time, money, and facilities should be held in reserve. This recognizes uncertainty and adds flexibility to the plan.Alternative strategies can improve the adaptability of the organization in two ways. First, by explicitly examining alternatives, it is likely that the organization will find alternatives that are superior to the current procedure. Second, the organization may encounter environmental changes; if alternative (contingency) plans have been prepared for these changes, the organization can react in a systematic way.Evaluate Alternative StrategiesFormal planning calls for a systematic procedure for evaluating the various alternatives. First the alternatives must be screened to ensure that they do not violate any constraints. The feasible strategies should then be rated against each of the listed objectives. Various procedures can be used here,

such as checklists, the Delphi technique (with internal experts), or the “devil's advocate” (where one person is given the role to challenge a proposed strategy). Traditional meetings, as commonly used in informal planning, are seldom adequate.Monitor ResultsThe plan should provide for explicit feedback at given intervals. To allow for corrective action, the following should be monitored:

(1) Changes in the environment,(2) Changes in the organization's capabilities and in the capabilities of its competitors (strengths and weaknesses),(3) Actions taken by the organization,(4) Actions taken by competitors, and(5) Results.

The monitoring of results should relate to the objectives for each stakeholder. This comparison between results and objectives can provide a basis for action. The monitoring system should have explicit performance standards so that the firm can determine whether the strategies are achieving the desired results.The monitoring system is expected to have a greater impact if it is tied into the organization's incentive system. This helps the organization maintain commitment to the goals represented by the strategic plan. This does not always occur; organizations sometimes focus solely on the stockholders or on the personal goals of the managers. Also; they seem to stress short-range goals at the expense of the long-range goals.Apparently, not many firms have a systematic procedure for monitoring the success of their strategic plans.Seek CommitmentIt is not sufficient to develop plans. Plans are frequently ignored. Other times they are used to rationalize a course of action previously decided. Formal planning calls for an explicit procedure for gaining commitment to

the plan. This implies, for example, a need for meetings. Presumably, the need for meetings carries through all phases of planning.Commitment to objectives is expected to be higher if the various stakeholders participate in the objective setting process. In other words, “self-set” goals are expected to be superior to goals set by others. Participation in the generation and evaluation of alternative strategies is often helpful in gaining commitment for a plan. Participation seems especially important when the strategies involve large changes.To maintain commitment to the plan, it is useful to develop a monitoring system that provides relevant and accurate feedback. This feedback should be provided in a timely fashion with fixed reporting periods. It should inform all key stakeholders so they can see how their interests are affected.Rather than seeking commitment to the plan, managers sometimes use planning to gain control over others. This may help to explain why formal planning is more popular among higher than lower level management.

b) The characteristics of strategic planningStrategic planning is essentially a decision making process. It is an organizational managerial process, which can be broadly defined as a set of procedures for setting long range quantified overall corporate objectives and of determining the strategies, and assignments of accountability, within policies that govern the acquisition and allocation of resources to achieve the fundamental purpose of the organization.The characteristics of strategic planning include:1. Communication Strategy – the development of a communication strategy is essential for the effective development and implementation of a strategic plan. In the communications strategy, you should determine who will be involved in the planning process, how they will be involved and what is being communicated to whom on the staff.

2. Strategic Planning Task Force – the development of a core team of organizational leaders’ is mandatory in the effective creation of a strategic plan. Each task force member should represent a key business area or department of the organization to ensure the plan has organization wide input and buy-in. The task force meets regularly with clearly defineddeliverables to be presented at each meeting.3. Vision Statement – an organization’s vision statement is simply their roadmap for the future.The direction of the organization should be broad to include all areas of impact but narrow enough to clearly define a path.4. Mission Statement – an organization’s mission is a definition of whom and what they are. Often mission statements include core goals and values of the organization.5. Values – values are the organization’s fundamental beliefs in how they operate. Values can provide a guideline for management and staff for acceptable organizational behavior. Often values relate to the organization’s organizational culture.6. Goals – goals are broad based strategies needed to achieve your organization’s mission.7. Objectives – objectives are specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic and time bound strategies that achieve the organization’s goals and vision.8. Tasks – tasks are specific actionable events that are assigned to individuals/departments to achieve. They, too, should be specific, measurable and time bound.9. Implementation Strategy – once the plan has been outlined, a tactical strategy is built that prioritizes initiatives and aligns resources. The implementation strategy pulls all the plan pieces together to ensure collectively there are no missing pieces and that the plan is feasible. As a part of the implementation strategy, accountability measures are put in place to ensure implementation takes place.

10. Monitoring of Strategic Plan – during implementation of a strategic plan, it is critical to monitor the success and challenges of planning assumptions and initiatives. When evaluating the successes of a plan, you must look objectively at the measurement criteria defined in our goals and objectives. It may be necessary to retool the plan and its assumptions if elements of the plan are off track.

Question Four a) Tools for decision making

These are key questions that all organizations face, whether businesses, schools, government agencies, or community groups. In a complex and rapidly changing society, being anticipatory and gaining strategic advantage requires sophisticated intelligence-gathering techniques, new models of decision making, and ways to judge the results. Collectively, these tools allow organizations to identify new opportunities, avoid being blindsided by external forces, and to turn potential threats into opportunities.Some of the most commonly used tools in the decision making process are: Pareto Analysis - Often better known as “The 80/20 Rule,” Pareto helps one locate where they can derive the greatest benefit by expending the least relative effort (or cost or resources or what have you). Paired Comparison – This involves composing a table that pits each option directly against each other option, cage-match-style, and weighting each for relative importance. It’s a fast and bloodless way to plow through what would otherwise be a huge mess to evaluate. Decision Trees - Basically it involves building a set of “what-ifs” based on a tree of possible options, assigning the estimated value, cost, or savings associated with each choice. Force Field Analysis- You identify all the forces for and against a theoretical change, weighted for amount of force exerted by each “side.”

This might help in mitigating risk and knowing where best to allocate your resources and influence. Six Thinking Hats - It’s a method for seeing an issue from all perspectives by forcing yourself (or more often your team) to—one at a time—adopt different “thinking hats” that reflect opposing and orthogonal points of view (analytical, positive, negative, creative, etc.). Cost/Benefit Analysis - This involves estimating the costs and the benefits and decide if the delta is worth the hassle. Be sure to account for all the costs of a change.

b) The various constraints to the decision making processConstraints are limiting factors which define outer limits and have to be respected while making a decision. For example, limited availability of funds is a constraint with which most decision makers have to live with. Other constraints include:Environmental Constraints - The nature, legal regulations, social responsiveness, competitors, and customer needs are all environmental constraints that affect the final outcome of a decision. The decision maker must have an understanding of the environment so that the effects of alternative solutions can be predicted. Businesses operate in an ever changing environment and must consider the effects on their decision making processes.Personal knowledge and skill – This can also affect a decision, especially the amount of knowledge one has about a problem and its alternatives. Clearly, the manager must have the ability and resources if a decisional problem is to meaningful. For instance, if a manager knows very little about production but is very knowledge about computers, a decision concerning capital expenditures might be to purchase a new computer. Personal Values - A decision is also influenced by the personal values of the decision maker at the time each alternative action is being considered. Thus, the motivation to develop a strong work force may be sufficiency the manager to see the importance of creating a personnel department. However, this would not be likely unless it was felt that the department would better fulfill the company's overall objectives than some other available alternative. Unfortunately, in many organizations, managers perceive that problems of this type exist but are not sufficiently motivated to try to solve them.Behavioural Characteristics Some of the behavioral elements that influence the decision process are given below:

Group (peer) pressures, both supportive and non-supportive, that are exerted on the decision maker.

The decision maker's stated position within various groups (managerial and non-managerial)

Personal attitudes about what and how others will think if a particular decision is made.

Feelings about the expectations of others and the weight of public opinion.

Ability to use the reactions of key individuals and groups to access the impact of a decision on the organization.

The stress to which the decision maker is exposed.

Question FiveWriting short notes on the following

Analytical styleAnalytical is a style of decision making and uses direct observations, facts and data to determine the best outcome. Managers using analytic decision making style have much greater tolerance for ambiguity and rational way of thinking. They want more information before making a decision and also consider more alternatives. Such managers are more careful decision makers as they consider factual and detailed information before taking any decision. They have the ability to adapt or cope with unique situations.Analytic Style as opposed to the directive style, a person with an analytic decision-making style has greater tolerance to ambiguity. They are careful decision makers that like to be well informed and thoroughly assess their options. They usually have the ability to adapt or cope with unique and challenging situations.Analytical decision makers have a high tolerance for ambiguity and a strong task and technical orientation. These types like to analyze situations; in fact, they often tend to overanalyze things. They evaluate

more information and alternatives than do directive decision makers. They also take a long time to make decisions, but they do respond well to new or uncertain situations. They also tend to have an autocratic leadership style.

Intuitive decision making models Intuition in the context of decision-making is defined as a “non-sequential information-processing mode.” Intuition can influence judgment through either emotion or cognition, and there has been some suggestion that it may be a means of bridging the two. Individuals use intuition and more deliberative decision-making styles interchangeably, but there has been some evidence that people tend to gravitate to one or the other style more naturally.Intuitive decision-making can be described as the process by which information acquired through associated learning and stored in long-term memory is accessed unconsciously to form the basis of a judgment or decision. Intuitive decision-making can be contrasted with deliberative decision-making, which is based on cognitive factors like beliefs, arguments, and reasons, commonly referred to as one's explicit knowledge.Decision making situations where intuitive approach can help most include the following.

a) Expedient decision making and rapid response are required. The circumstances leave you no time to go through complete rational analysis.

b) Fast paced change. The factors on which you base your analysis change rapidly.

c) The problem is poorly structured.d) The factors and rules that you need to take into account are hard to

articulate in an unambiguous way.e) You have to deal with ambiguous, incomplete, or conflicting

information.

f) There is no precedent.An Intuitive Decision Making ModelTo make a decision intuitively the person or group just to go with the option that satisfies their emotional reactions to the alternatives.

The advantage of this type of model is that it is quick and it helps ensure that it takes into account what one really care about. Intuitive decisions can have some serious drawbacks. One might not have fully considered all the alternatives and therefore have missed an even better solution. One might also have based the decision on inaccurate or incomplete information. One’s prejudices might make you overrule the facts. For example, you might not hire the best qualified person because of say prejudice in terms of age, sex, or race.Intuitive decisions might be very difficult in a team decision situation because people have different intuitive perspectives.

Rational problem solving Much of what people do is solve problems and make decisions. Often, they are "under the gun", stressed and very short for time. Consequently, when they encounter a new problem or decision they must make, they react with a decision that seemed to work before. It's easy with this approach to get stuck in a circle of solving the same problem over and over again. Therefore, it's often useful to get used to an organized approach to problem solving and decision making.A person with this preference often prefers using a comprehensive and logical approach similar to the guidelines in the above section. The rational approach, described below, is often used when addressing large, complex matters:

a) Define the problem.b) Examine all potential causes for the problem.c) Identify all alternatives to resolve the problem.

d) Carefully select an alternative.e) Develop an orderly implementation plan to implement that best

alternative.f) Carefully monitor implementation of the plan.g) Verify if the problem has been resolved or not.

A major advantage of this approach is that it gives a strong sense of order in an otherwise chaotic situation and provides a common frame of reference from which people can communicate in the situation. A major disadvantage of this approach is that it can take a long time to finish. Some people might argue, too, that the world is much too chaotic for the rational approach to be useful.

Defensive avoidance Defensive avoidance is the decision makers attempt to avoid or postpone the stress of the decision. It is manifested by procrastination, shifting of responsibility or rationalization. Hyper vigilance, or panic, represents a frantic search for a solution and a shifting back and forth between alternatives with a failure to see obvious faults in the possible solutions.It is the general tendency to try to avoid or escape having to make avoid or escape having to make decisions. There are three kinds of decisions. There are three kinds of defensive avoidance such as rationalization, buck passing and procrastination. The Manager is unable to find good alternatives so he / she denies any risk, procrastinates or passes the buck. It may involve not making a decision at all.

Voice processingDecisions result from an interaction between multiple functional systems acting in parallel to process information in very different ways, each with strengths and weaknesses.

The computerized handling of voice, which includes voice store and forward, voice response, voice recognition and text to speech technologies.