Fast Tracking Decision Making

1
Fast Tracking Decision Making

• There are times when managers need to fast
  track decisions in an organization.

2
Five ways to speed decision making

• Track real time information in the
  organization.
• Build multiple, simultaneous alternatives.
• Rely on the advice of counselors.

3
Ways to fast track continued

• Use consensus with qualification.
• Integrate the decision with other decisions and
  tactics.

4
Group Decision Making

• Groups can bring a greater sum total of knowledge
  and information to the decision making process.
• Groups generate a greater number of approaches
  (alternatives) to a problem.

5
Group Decision Making

• Group decision making is based on heterogeneity,
  or a more varied group of skills.
• There is a positive correlation with the quality
  of a group decision if the people who have the
  most experience are also the most influential.

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Group Decision Making

• Group members should have relevant experience.
• Group participation in a decision eliminates the
  need to communicate the decision to others and
  the need to persuade them of its merit.

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Group Decision Making

• Group participation in decision making results in
  an individuals acceptance of the decision and
  commitment to group goals.

8
Problems of group decision making

• Group members may fear criticism and therefore
  may be inhibited from expressing their ideas.
• The desire to be a good group member may be
  strong and therefore people self-censor their
  ideas.

9
Problems continued

• Groups can get into ruts in terms of how they
  think about a problem.
• Groups may be better in evaluating ideas
  (offering criticism) rather than generating ideas.

10
Escalation of Commitment

• People stay committed to a specific course of
  action despite negative feedback.
• People value tenacity or the attitude of
  stick-to-it.
• People value consistency.

11
Group Think

• A highly cohesive working group may take a
  distorted view of a situation, and as a result,
  the groups decision making process may be
  slanted toward seeking consensus rather than
  exploring alternative courses of action.

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Symptoms of Group Think

• An illusion of invulnerability
• Rationalization
• An assumption of morality

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Symptoms of Group Think..

• Negative stereotyping of opponents
• Pressure to conform within the group
• Self-censorship

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Symptoms of Group Think.

• An illusion of unanimity (due to self-censorship)
• Mind guards

15
Tannenbaums Model

• People vary in their leadership decision making
  style.
• Good leaders can adjust their decision making
  style to fit the occasion, from being
  authoritarian, to completely hands off.

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Tannenbaums Model

• Tannenbaum identified five levels of decision
  making styles with seven specific stages.
• Autocratic
• Consultative
• Participative
• Democratic
• Laissez-Faire

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Tannenbaums Autocratic style

• A Manager makes a decision and announces it to
  subordinates. The subordinates have no input to
  the decision.
• The manager sells the decision to subordinates.
• Very limited subordinate input.

18
Tannenbaums Consultative style

• 3. The manager presents his or her ideas, or
  decision, and invites questions.
• Somewhat increased input by subordinates.

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Tannenbaums Participative style

• 4. The manager presents tentative decision
  subject to change.
• 5. The manager presents the problem and gets
  suggestions before making the decision.

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Tannenbaums Democratic style

• 6. The manager defines the limits of possible
  solutions or alternatives, and asks the group to
  make the decision within the given parameters.

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Tannenbaums Laissez-Faire style

• The manager allows subordinates to function
  within limits defined by his or her superior.
• Please refer to Handout 1.

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Nominal Group Process Definition

• A problem identification and solving technique in
  which group members are physically present but
  operate independently.
• The technique restricts discussion during the
  decision making process.

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Nominal Group Process Definition

• Permits the group to meet formally but it does
  not restrict independent thinking.
• Best for narrowly defined problems.
• Usually free from interpersonal influences.

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Nominal Group Process steps

• The group meets.
• Before any discussion takes place each person
  independently writes down his or her ideas.
• Following the silent period, each member of the
  group presents one idea at a time to the group.

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Nominal Group Process steps

• The idea is recorded so that it is visible to the
  group.
• The process continues until all ideas on
  everyones list have been presented and recorded.
  There is no discussion until after all ideas are
  presented.

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Nominal Group Process steps

• Each idea is discussed, clarified, and evaluated.
• The leader asks each person to write down the
  ideas that seem especially important. Some may
  feel that only a few items are important. Others
  may feel that all items are important.

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Nominal Group Process steps

• Each member ranks the items that are important to
  them on a scale from 1 to 5. Some members may
  have several top priority items or only one top
  priority item.
• The idea with the highest aggregate ranking is
  chosen.

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Vrooms Model

• Vrooms model identifies different managerial
  problem-solving and decision making styles and
  then uses a decision tree for when to use the
  different styles.
• This is a contingency model.

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Vrooms Five Decision Making Styles

• AI The manager solves the problem unilaterally.
• AII The manager gathers information from
  subordinates and makes the decision unilaterally.
  Subordinates have no opportunity to generate or
  evaluate solutions.

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Vrooms Five Decision Making Styles

• CI The manager meets with relevant subordinates
  to share the problem and get ideas. The manager
  makes the decision.
• CII The manager shares the problem with
  subordinates in a group, gets ideas, and makes a
  decision.

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Vrooms Five Decision Making Styles

• GII The manager shares the problem with
  subordinates in a group. Together they generate
  ideas and evaluate alternatives. They attempt to
  reach a consensus. The manager tries not to
  influence the group and implements the group
  solution.
• See Handout 2 .

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Vrooms Decision Tree

• There are seven questions, one for each decision
  node.
• By asking the appropriate question at each node,
  and answering either yes or no to the
  problem attributes (or situational variables)
  one arrives at the decision style that is most
  appropriate for that situation.

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Vrooms Decision Tree

• See Handouts 3 and 4.