Decision Making – Journey of Opportunity

Think of all the decisions, both large and small, that you make during the course of a regular day. Just as you must continually make decisions in your personal life, every stakeholder in an organization is also required to make decisions.


The decision making process as a manager can prove a daunting task should one lacks the necessary steps to make a decision. As a manger situations have aroused that have caused this student to utilize different decision-making techniques. Procurement of services, technology, hiring and firing of staff, restructuring of departments are just a few of the business and management decision this student has made over the last 10 years in IT.

The decision making process for this student involves utilization of models to determine the benefits of the decision. The first step for this student is identifying the problem. The understanding of a problem provides an insight to the true challenged faced and serves as a methodology to gather more data, prior to making a decision (Drucker, 2001, p.3). Once the problem has been identified this student then reviews the different alternatives to solve the problem. Once a resolution has been selected, it is applied to the initial problem.

Gaps exist in the process utilized by this student if compared to Drucker, 2001, p.2) sequential steps. The steps include classification, definition, and specifying answer, deciding what is right, building out action and testing. This model provides an end-to-end solution for the decision maker as it involves a true understanding of the problem and a stepping-stone in the decision making process (Druckter, 2001, p.2).


References:

Drucker, F. (2001). The effective decision. Harvard Business Review on Decision Making,
Harvard Business School Publishing Company, p. 2-3.

Problem Identification Art or Skill?

When a problem's root cause is not recognized, identified, or fully explored, the effectiveness of any proposed solutions will be negatively affected. The techniques for rational thinking and recognizing filters with which you have familiarized yourself this week can make you a more effective diagnostician of problems, and thus, a more effective decision maker.

Rational decision-making is a part of daily business for this student, and several situations can be selected to address this discussion post. As an account manager, dealing with quota’s, customer satisfaction and overall growth of business is a challenge. The scenario discussed in this post will focus on the decision around increase or decrease of margin on deals in order to gain gross profit.

In sales number define the success of an organization and adjustments are often made in scenarios to ensure profitability. This student recently was placed in a position to have to choose between being “overly” profitable or gaining a new customer. The disagreement existed between management and this student. The thought from management was that we would only have one chance with the customer to attain business, however this student felt this was a potential long time customer. The decision was do we charge higher prices to obtain the one-time business or lower prices to obtain a long time customer. Management was adamant about being a single transaction account. However this student stood against this, the strategy applied to this rational thinking was similar to that of Drucker (2001). This student looked at the problem and created different specifications that would help determine a route to deciding.

Creating a clear specification list of what would happen from the decisions made was a necessary requirement in making the decision (Drucker, 2001, p.9). The need in this case was to make this customer a long-term customer rather than a single transaction customer. In order to accomplish this, this student needed to remove the stigma with management about the potential of this customer. Through a study conducted showing the growth potential of this account from the single account done at a highly discounted rate, this student was able to show management the value of the account.


This judgment strategy of anchoring and (insufficient) adjustment was the filter utilized by management in making the decision to see this account as a single transaction account. The theory is a result of our limited attention to other options and the selective strategies that we have developed through our experiences in life (Hastie & Dawes, 2010, pg. 73). Management’s decision was a conscious one, as it has been applied on different accounts but this student chooses to stand apart from other account managers.

In making decision one must utilized rational thinking and follow guided steps that analyze the proper root of the problem. In the case of this student management insufficient data was used to draw a conclusion and those filters nearly cost the organization an enterprise account.

References


Drucker, F. (2001). The effective decision. Harvard Business Review on Decision Making,
Harvard Business School Publishing Company, p. 2-3.


Hastie, R. K., & Dawes, R. M. (2010). Rational choice in an uncertain world (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Sage Publications

Theories and Models of Systems Thinking

Think about how paradigms form the structures of systems around you. What are these paradigms, and what assumptions support them? How are they formed, and how do they change over time?

This discussion will focus on the paradigm shift from traditional thinking to systems thinking within Information technology space. As a professional in this industry, understanding and seeing the system around me change over the years has been interesting. One of the topics that have proven to remain interesting in the industry has been the make versus buy decision around software. Traditionally organizations have been quick to develop applications internally rather than purchase packages off the shelf. The ability to have a “home grown” application that has internal developers providing support was primarily the methodology of thinking in the Software sector of IT. Studies show that 90% of applications within an organization are home grown and account for a majority of downtime faced by organizations (Dubie, 2007). This methodology has been resistant to change through time, even though it has proved disastrous to support.

Ledeen (n.d) stated that there is a paradigm shift in the decision-making process on how to acquire these new software packages. The author argues that the ability for an organization to purchase packages that are highly customizable and sophisticated has led to a paradigm shift in the decision-making process. Through the utilization of systems thinking methodologies, organizations now use a set of criteria to measure their decision making process for software acquisition. Two of the five criteria are:

Core versus Context – The ability to understanding what functionalities are parts of your organizations core competencies is leading to a shift in making versus buying. Historically organization’s just built entire application systems and managed all functionalities, with the utilization of outsourcing; there is a shift in the thinking of how organizations manage their core competencies.

TCO – Consideration has now been placed on the cost of ownership of these applications. Traditional thinking placed little emphasis on the cost associated with an in-house developer and the ongoing fee associated with the developer. The change in the decision-making process has lead to the consideration of an outsourced model, which places the cost as a less expensive operational cost (Ledeen, n.d).

Assumptions made historically in the technology field state that homegrown application developers often provide the best solutions. The author argues that the highly customizable packaged applications provide similar or greater features and functionalities. The shift in technology has been continuous in the software application space and as organizations apply systems thinking to their decision making, a steady shift will occur.

References

Dubie, D. (2007). Homegrown applications are prim culprits to downtime. Network world Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/nsm/2007/0702nsm1.html

Leeden, K. (n,d). Build vs. buy. A decision-making paradigm for IT applications. Retrieved from www.nevo.com/our-knowledge/whitepapers/BuildVsBuy.pdf

Adaptation to the Pace of Change

The pace of our personal and professional lives seems to be getting faster by the day. In order to operate most efficiently, we must be prepared to change at a moment's notice. While it may increase our productivity in many ways, there are also negative aspects of change that we must expect and deal with.

Since change requires adaptation, the pressure on individuals to become ever more resilient is intense: speeding up processes, demanding 24/7 attention, depending upon and integrating technological shifts, elimination of slack leading to efficiencies but also stress, and the need for continuous personal education and development, we must ask, is it realistic? Can management and the workforce be as Proteus, the first shape shifter (from Greek mythology), and become all things to all challenges?

This student views the change as a process that we have accepted and that adaptation will continue to grow rapidly. Technology has grown a desire to obtain information at a rapid rate. Server down, or email outages in business can cause a business to lose customers and millions of revenue hourly (Abrams, 2010).

Society, through technology, has increased its demand for information, and individuals and organizations have adapted. We have moved from desktop to laptops, from laptops to net books, from net books to mobile phones. The transformation is happening at an alarming pace and continues to require humans to morph to accomplish the tasks technology helps them accomplish.

The hours of operation for individuals in the business world have shifted from 9-5 to 24/7. There is an expectation that email's prompt response on email's and the user of voice mails has become obsolete. The shift continues to happen; Facebook is now developing an E-Mail services that integrates our email, instant message, Facebook message and tweets into one view (Helft, 2010). So in answering the question of the workforce continues to shape shift, this student agrees that the change is inevitable. The integration of social networks with email services will increase the response time and enhance the communication medium.

Abraham Maslow describes the human beings desire to feed their need on different levels in order to obtain satisfaction (Maslow, 2000). Technology helps feed our need for smaller and faster, the continuous availability of new technology drives us to adapt. 20 years ago, email was in its infant stages, and over the past decade, it has grown into the dominant mode of communication; now considered an outdated mode of interaction (Helft, 2010). The adaptation will continue to happen, and this student views it as a run-away train that will be challenging to slow down let alone stop.

Reference

Abrams, R. (2010). Server down? You've just lost potential customers. USA Today. Retrieved on November 17, 2010 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abrams/2010-03-19-networks-key-for-small-business_N.htm

Helft, M. (2010). Facebook to start an e-mail service. NY Times. Retrieved on November 17, 2010 from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/facebook-to-start-an-e-mail-service/

Maslow, A. (2000). The Maslow business reader. New York: Wiley.

Corporate Social Responsibility

In this week's article by Abbas J. Ali, Islamic perspectives on motivation and personality are discussed. This particular study is in contrast to most other research on the topic of humanistic theories on motivation. The author introduces a new theory that religion and spirituality can have a positive influence on organizational performance in the workplace.

What form will the organization take to address demands of corporate social responsibility? Consider stakeholder interests, inputs and outputs of materials, the distribution of power, executive accountability, and workplace well-being. How can you prepare your organization to anticipate the future? How can your organization develop the intelligence to prepare for change? Is contingency and scenario planning enough?

From what you have considered so far, can you imagine different? Can you imagine different rules, structures, processes, assumptions of managing, assumptions governing the distribution of power and rewards? Is it possible to change your current paradigm and create adaptations of what you know to what you don't know but think could be? What do you have to learn, and how should you go about learning, from the developing world, as well as our natural competitors in the developed world?

 

As a Muslim, this student has an understanding of Ali's theory behind religion and its impact on organizational performance in the work place. Islam teaches believers how to balance and organize their lives. This student in his management roles has applied some of the foundations of Islam, patience, understanding and caring to his management styles. Though there are endless management styles that he has not been exposed to, this approach has yielded a positive response.
Understanding the direction of an organization and anticipating the future can be done with the use of different tools. Though difficult to predict the unknown, the use of previous year's data and industry standards can help drive the direction of an organization. Business intelligence tools can help organizations and planners make decision based on the operational data (Negash, 2004). Understanding the business also requires the understanding of the employees. As Maslow stated, the motivation of human beings should be aligned with the business. Once this alignment is achieved, the success of each individual will lead to the success of the corporation (Maslow, 2000).
Considering what this student understands and reviewing Ali's article, the concept of utilizing goal orientation as part of their faith in Islam can be transcended into business (Ali, 2009). This student believes that managers must always explore different avenues, however the concept of religion in any organization as a form of management can prove challenging. Organizations employ different people with different faiths and belief's and the attempt to make a paradigm shift within a diverse organization can prove challenging. A foundation can be set with religious beliefs; however the manner in which the foundation is constructed must be neutral in order to prove functional within an organization.

References:

Ali, A. J. (2009). Levels of existence and motivation in Islam. Journal of Management History, 15(1), 50-65. November 1, 2010. doi:10.1108/17511340910921781

Maslow, A. (2000). The Maslow Business Reader. New York City: John Wiley &Sons, Inc.

Negash, S. (2004). Business Intelligence. Communication of the Association for Information Systems, 13, 177-195

External Threats and Opportunities

As a manager, you will act as an intermediary between the community of stakeholders and your organization. Part of your role as a manager, as well as your role as a doctoral thinker, is to address challenges that may arise from the organization, from stakeholders, or from external factors—be they environmental, cultural, or societal. For this Discussion, you should focus on big picture, higher-level approaches as noted below.

Given the current challenges facing the organization stemming from "environmental" pressures (in the broadest sense of the word), and from the historical-cultural traditions related to the country of your choosing today, identify processes and tools organizations' managers could use to address these challenges. Be sure to address how a manager can prepare for environmental contingencies through intra- and inter-organizational collaboration, where the individual manager functions at both an operational level and as a symbol and as a representative of the organization in society.

Communication within an organization has become an interregnal part of management. Stakeholders have become an influential part of business, when dealing with policies, decisions and procedures (Clutterbuck & Scholes, 1998). As a Director of Client Services, this student has developed several reports and presented data to stakeholder to obtain support for migration projects, new acquisitions and budget increases.

This student in his role as Director of Client services has used several tools to provide business intelligence to senior management and stakeholder. The use of a sustainability evaluation and reporting system provides an insight into quantitative and qualitative viewpoints of the organization for presentation to stakeholder (Perrini & Tenacati, 2006).

This student utilized purchased software to gather data and provide visualization-driven reporting, analysis and dashboard for assessment of the corporate goals. This tool provided census information for this student, in order to understand the environment of sales in different industries.

Critical information such as location of business, annual revenue, number of employees and organizational structure were all valid in identifying a target market. This student also created a database to track information of previous sales different customers, in order to identify a trend and compare purchasing patterns in different environmental conditions. The information from the tools provided management with the information to provide improvement to organizational goals and direction to stakeholder and shareholders.

The tools also modeled different environmental scenarios allowing the organization to determine the effects of individual sales associates on overall company production. The tools ability to predict the effect of a sales associate falling short of their yearly quota provided the organization with the ability to prepare a contingency plan for an unforeseen circumstance. The tools provided value to the organization in preparing them for the current economic climate in the United States. The ability to predict anticipated reduction in the budget from longtime customers and the decline of new business sales helped the organization adjust their annual numbers.

In order to enhance the relationship with stakeholders, organization can obtain feedback through surveys, involve stakeholder in understanding the criteria' needed to succeed, and invite opinions and comments in an open form (Clutterbuck & Scholes, 1998).

References

Clutterbuck, D & Scholes, E. (1998). Communication with stakeholders: An integrated approach. Long Range Planning, 31 p. 227-238.

Perrini, F & Tencati, A. (2006). Sustainability and stakeholder management: the need for new corporate performance evaluation and reporting systems. Business Strategy and Environment, 15 p. 296-308.

Societal Change and Sustainability

Globalization in its broadest sense has resulted in the utilization of all points on the compass as legitimate sources for material resources, assignment of processes, and destinations for finished products and services. The only boundaries are efficiency and profitability. However, new contingencies have arisen such as geopolitics and terrorism, the uneven responses in the local community to the impact of global forces; and, criticism of corporate activity is growing.

Because of the impact of increasing globalization, quality of life issues, the impact on lifestyles, and the uneven compatibility with the idea of progress, various issues deriving from equity/social justice arise. Examine and compare expectations of workers, local concepts of propriety, justice, and service, and their impact on the society and its economy.

Sustainable development is an idea set aside to help address concerns about environmental issues with socioeconomic issues (Hopwood El al, 2005). This student is in agreement with Victor (2006) about his statement of sustainable development becoming conventional wisdom. Sustainable development has fallen apart over the last two decades due to the political interference and influence of special interest groups (Victor, 2006).

The ideas Victor discusses are similar to the challenges faced by the World Social Form and World Economic form. The intentions of these groups are to help address globalization issues, many of these groups nonetheless are better at creating documents with ideas and costly budgets, than implementing a plan (Victor, 2006). Reviewing the World Social Forum, World Economic Forum, the United Nation and the World Trade Organization, shows these organizations as failing to deliver on their roles and require reevaluation (Tharoor, 2000).
Humans are dependent on their environment to address their needs and provide resources for daily living; the mix between the economy and the ecosystem is continuing to grow (Hopwood et al, 2005). The longer the struggle is to address the global poverty, the greater challenge to grow the economies of the less prosperous nations (Hopwood et al, 2005).

The sustainable development theory according to Victor can be repaired if taken from a full governance perspective rather, than have interest groups utilized their agenda to mediate the direction of the theory. In order to address the failure of sustainable development, the fundamentals of the theory have to be revisited. In order to implement sustainable development; organizations must address poverty, use local business to grow the country, while utilizing new technologies for growth (Victor, 2006). The implementation of these strategies will foster local growth and spin the wheels of economic growth.

Addressing global poverty can be accomplished through the use of the best polices and avoidance of the grand scheme idea. The student has viewed the impact of poverty on several West African countries, including Nigeria. Though the United Nations and other special interest groups have tried to address the issues, their policies and procedures have proved futile. Special interest groups such as the World Social Forum and the World Economic Forum have also tried to address poverty but to no avail (Victor, 2006).

The use of small and local business versus conglomerates in the impoverished nations encourages entrepreneurial minds and can grow the GDP of a country over time. Encouraging local business, without government interference, will allow for increased opportunities in different industries. These opportunities for business provide them the ability to challenge larger business in their environment and continue to grow (Hopwood et al, 2005).

This student while agreeing with Victor sees his point of view as challenging. The task of curing poverty around the world is a huge burden and financial strain on many. Victor dreams of a society where the concept of sustainable development are implemented, though, with corrupt leaders, politicians, and special interest groups, the possibilities are slim. Can we get through the hurdles to implement this theory?


References

Hopwood, B, Mellor, M & O'Brien, G. (2005). Sustainable Development: mapping different approaches. Sustainable Development. 13(1) p. 38

Tharorr, S. (2000). Does the UN still matter. Retrieved on October 12, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/911171.stm

Victor, David G. "Recovering Sustainable Development." Foreign Affairs 85.1 (2006): 91. Expanded Academic ASAP. Retrieved on October 10, 2010 from http://find.galegroup.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A142737343&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=minn4020&version=1.0