Weeks 6-7: Decision Making as a Human Endeavor

Organizational decision making is about taking action in a manner that is aligned with the organization’s vision, mission, strategic goals, and values. It is about taking action in a manner that moves the organization forward, and has all of the organization’s stakeholders in mind. Decisions cannot only be for the benefit of one sector or unit of the organization, nor for one person or group.

Decisions involve:

• Making an informed choice.
• Thinking strategically and acting intentionally with purpose.
• Selecting among choices and acting prudently.
• Making intelligent trade-offs when needed.

Decision making involves:

• Leading with vision.
• Assessing risk, but willing to “step out into the unknown,” try something new, and to act innovatively as needed.

It is important to remember that decision makers are human and are influenced by many types of factors. It is also imperative to recognize personal interests, biases, fears and emotional issues. This includes conflicts of interests, and the tendency to rationalize away problems related to choices.

So, making decisions with integrity involves:
• Being ethical.
• Listening, being willing to compromise, and being willing to meet others needs reasonably and with a sense of equity.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, time to gather information, discuss options, and critically reflect, is difficult. Sometimes it is considered impossible.

While some decisions are more significant or “weighty” than others, as a professional member of the business enterprise, one makes decisions daily that impact the success of the organization, its operations, its well-being and its future. One has a responsibility to make the most informed, prudent, unbiased and just decision possible, weighing all possibilities. It is important to keep in mind that one’s choices and actions not only affect the organization, but also the livelihood of the business enterprise’s workforce, as well as the local and global societies.

When making decisions it is critical to balance reason with intuition. Decision making is not only about discerning the most rational or logical choice or course of action. Information and insight come from both sensory observation and feelins.

As the online Time-Management Guide.com explains, the intuitive mode of thinking is characterized by:

1. A process “dominated by your subconscious mind, even if you use your conscious mind to formulate or rationalize the final results.”

2.Processing information “in parallel rather than sequentially. Instead of going through a logical sequence of thoughts one by one, you see the situation more as a whole, with different fragments emerging in parallel.”

3. Being “connected with your emotions. For example, it may occur to you that an option you consider does not feel right, even though there is no clear logic to prove that.”

Some professional are more intuitive decision makers while others are more reasoned based. Having a team or workplace where both are present and respected can be very beneficial. This notion can pose a challenge in a data-driven emperically oriented business arena.