Each of us makes hundreds of decision every day. If just a fraction of those decisions could be improved through increased and better information and better processes, we’d all be delighted. Businesses feel the same way. Customers would be happier, employees would be more motivated, and managers would have an easier job. The more useful information you have, based on internal experiences or from external sources, the better your decisions.
Business decision making involves the following different levels of business:
· Senior Management: makes long-term decisions based on internal and external information
· Middle Management and Project Teams: decisions affect resources and short-range plans
· Operational Management: decisions affect resources, schedules, and personnel
· Individual employees: decisions affect vendors, employees, and customers
The different types of decisions made are: unstructured requiring judgment and insight into situations, structured which are repetitive with procedures, and semistructured that are a combination of the first two usually made by middle managers.
Stages of the decision-making process involves: intelligence and understanding the problem, design and exploring solutions to the problem, choice and choosing solution alternatives, and implementation that chooses the solution and monitoring how well it’s working.
Since we no doubt have had to make decisions in the real world, you know for a fact that the process is not as cut-and-dried as what we’ve discussed so far. Three reasons why the whole process can blow up at any moment: information quality is inaccurate, management filters are biased, and organization inertia occurs when people will do anything to keep the status quo.
The goal is to match the four decision-making levels along with the types of decisions to the appropriate kind of Decision Support System (DSS). DSS helps executives make better decisions by using historical and current data from internal information systems and external sources of data.
More and more, companies are turning to teams to get work done. Hours upon hours are spent in meetings, group collaborations, and communicating with many people. To help groups make better decisions, Group decision-support system (GDSS) was developed.
You’ve been there: a meeting where nothing was decided, people dominated the agenda, and some said nothing; it dragged on for hours. Companies have been struggling with this problem for years. They are now using GDSS to increase efficiency and effectiveness of meetings.
GDSS is more than hardware, it includes conference facilities, audiovisual equipment, and networking equipment that connects everyone. These electronic meeting systems allow people to review the agenda items in advance, information generated in the meeting is saved for future use, and because input is anonymous ideas are evaluated individually.
Making decisions can be difficult at best and managers used to rely on their instincts and best-guesses. Instead of guessing, managers and employees can now base decisions on facts and a more structured methodology thereby saving resources for the company.
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