Managers of all kinds and types are primarily tasked to provide

leadership in the quest for the attainment of the organization's

objectives. If he is to become effective, he must learn the
intricacies of decision-making. Many times, he will be
confronted by situations where he will have to choose from
among various options. Whatever he chooses, it will have
effects, good or bad, immediate or otherwise, in the operations
of his organization.

The manager's decision-making skills will be very crucial to his

success as a professional. A major blunder in his decision-
making may be sufficient to cause the destruction of his
organization. On the other hand, when good decisions are
made, the right environment is provided for continuous growth
and success of any organized effort.
Decision-making as a Management Responsibility
Decisions must be made at various levels in the workplace.
They are also made at the various stages in the management
process. If certain resources must be used, someone must
make a decision authorizing certain persons to appropriate
such resources.
Decision-making is a responsibility of the manager. It is
understandable for managers to make wrong decisions at
times. The wise manager will correct them as soon as they
are identified. The bigger problem is the manager who
cannot or do not want to make decisions. This type of
managers are dangerous and should be replaced
immediately with qualified ones.
Management must strive to learn how to choose a decision
option as correctly as possible. Since they have that power to
decide, they are responsible for whatever outcomes their
decisions bring. The higher the management level is, the bigger
and more complicated decision-making becomes.
An example may be provided as follows:
The manager of a retailing firm has decided to open a branch in
one of the provinces within his area of assignment. After
considering various towns, he came to a conclusion that his
choice must be one of the three potential sites identified. Each
of the sites has advantages and disadvantages.
A decision must be made quickly by the manager. His choice,
however, must be based on sound criteria. The manager will be
held responsible, later on, if he made the wrong choice.
What is Decision-making
Decision-making may be defined as the process of defining
the problem and identifying and choosing alternative
courses of action in a manner appropriate to the demands of
the situation.
The definition indicates that the manager must adapt a
certain procedure designed to determine the best option
available to solve certain problems.
Decisions are made at various management levels (i.e., top,
middle, and lower levels) and at various management
functions (i.e., planning, organizing, directing, and
controlling). Since this is so, decision-making is regarded
as "the heart of all the management functions.
The Decision-making process
Rational decision-making is a process involving the
following steps:
1. diagnosing the problem;
2. analyzing the environment;
3. articulating the problem or opportunity;
4. developing viable alternatives;
5. evaluating the alternatives;
6. making a choice;
7. implementing the decision; and
8. evaluating and adapting the decision results.
Diagnosing the Problem
If the manager wants to make an intelligent decision,
his first move must be to identify the problem. If the
manager fails in this aspect, his next moves will be
useless. If the manager is not able to identify the real
problem, the solution he will offer will be irrelevant
and may even be costly and destructive. Being able to
identify the real problem is tantamount to having the
problem half-solved.
What is a Problem. A problem exist when there is a
difference between the actual situation and the
desired situation. For instance, the management of a
construction company entered into a contract with
another party for the construction of a 25-storey
building on a certain site. The actual situation for the
existing situation) is that the firm has not yet
constructed the building. The desired situation is the
finished 25 storey building. In this case, the actual
situation is different from the desired situation. The
company, therefore, has a problem and that is, the
construction of the 25-storey building
Analyzing the Environment
The environment where the organization is situated plays a
very significant role in the success or failure of such an
organization. It is, therefore, very important that an analysis
of the environment is undertakes
The objective of environmental analysis is the
identification of constraints, which may be spelled out as
either internal or external limitations. Examples of Internal
limitations are as follows:
1. limited funds available for the purchase of
equipment:
2. limited training on the part of the employees
3. ill designed facilities and
4. irrelevant organization structure.
Examples of external limitations are as follows:
1. product patents are controlled by other
organizations
2. a very limited market for the company's
products and
Services exists: and
3. strict enforcement of local zoning regulations.
Figure 11, The Firm and Its Environment
The strength of the alternative solutions will
depend on how well they are formulated. To
achieve this goal, the decision maker must
familiarize himself thoroughly with the problem. A
way to do it is to view the problem from different
angles. He must be able to separate the trivial from
the important components of the problem.
Constructing a 25-storey building, for example,
may be elaborated as a problem by determining the
construction requirements to pertaining to usage,
design and materials, and structure.
Breaking the problem into several components will
simplify the task of generation alternatives. When
at times it becomes difficult to offer a solution for
the entire problem, individual solutions may be use
to deal with the components
Government
Professional Labor Union
Managers

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