Managerial Decision Making and Business Decision Making

There are often advantages to having a group or team participate in decision making in business and other areas. Usually, a wider variety of knowledge, experience, and expertise will be available. More ideas may be generated, people feel better about being part of the procedure, communication is improved, and there are other advantages. This applies even if the final decision rests with one individual.

Decision Making Tool
- Use by Groups of the Complete Guide and Worksheet for SM-14

This guide is a new tool and a very helpful improvement that groups can now use. Look at the one- and two-page guides that are included in this booklet. You can freely duplicate them and

• Hold training sessions on their use.
• Pass out a blank guide form before or at meetings.
• Insert material you prepare before a meeting on the forms or attached to them.
• Cut headings from the two-page form and prepare a one-page form for each stage. This provides more space for advance material and participant notes.
• If you don't need to use the complete method, provide only pages for the short SM-4.

Decision Sciences - About Group Problem Solving and Decision Making

There has developed a little science of group problem solving and decision making. There are a number of books and many articles, book chapters, and internet sites on the subject. Here I present a few highlights about group shared decision making.

Members of the Group

Select a group that in total has the necessary experience, expertise, interest, and thinking ability to accomplish reaching a good decision. Too large a group may slow the process but a larger one may provide a wider basis of knowledge, experiences, and expertise. The group leader should know the level of experience of the various members of the group. The leader will have to evaluate the personal characteristics of the members, as experience isn't always productive of the best decision. Ethical decision making should be discussed.

In complex decision making you should still have one researcher or more who is assigned to use SM-14 in digging deep into the problem-decision. Even among a large group, all the issues may not be adequately brought out. So consider a study team or consultants who report to the larger group and is available to them during discussions. This results in effective decision making.

Emotional Intelligence

This is especially necessary in group decision making. Team members must exhibit empathy, zeal, impulse control, self-awareness, how to see things from others' perspectives, social skills, and get the best out of everybody.

Group Leader

This is an important task. The leader needs the necessary skills to guide and bring out the best thinking of the group. The leader must be a coach, inspire the group, teach decision making strategies, encourage conflict, and control members of the group. He may want to hire consultants to help conduct group decision making meetings. There are consulting firms specializing in aiding groups in the decision making process. Read the ads alongside page rankings on the web. The group leader may encounter strong majority opinions. These are often detrimental to a full airing of alternative courses of action, as people are reluctant to oppose the majority. The leader should be careful to encourage others to speak out.

Brainstorming

Groups frequently use this technique in the search for new alternatives or ideas. The leader should be experienced or a professional facilitator.

Psychology of Decision Making - Bad Decision Making

One of the biggest problems in arriving at a group decision is that there are often people who are a hindrance in the discussions. Watch for these bad attributes. Be sure you avoid falling into one of these classifications.

Good Decision Making Procedures for Quantitative and Qualitative Decision Making

• Group leader records ideas on blackboard or flip chart. Be careful not to get group drowned in data. Classify information following SM-14 as a guide.
• Ideas or alternatives are rated by the group.
• Keep the group on track - don't get into side issues.
• Present ratio analyses.
• Consider emotions of participants and those affected by the decision.
• Identify constraints that affect alternatives.
• Have a computer monitor at each team member's table position.
• Sometimes a retreat to a vacation-type resort may be advantageous.
• Keep records of how decisions are made. This facilitates looking back months or years later.

Decision Implementation

Once a decision is reached, implementation should be discussed and planned for.