On Decision Making

Decision making is an integral part of your function as a manager of an organization or business. It is important because in managing a business or organization, there will always be issues that will arise in the workplace which need to be resolved to avoid affecting the operations. So, I will ask, is this a skill, a process, or an activity? I will leave you to decide on that but just read on.

Prior to my transition to management role, I have always been guided by my intuition when making decisions. I decided to develop my skills and expertise to qualify to be a better manager as well as take on more leadership positions hence my reason for going through the MBA program. I’m grateful I made the decision to undergo the MBA because I am unlearning and learning new habits that are critical to my role as a manager.

The first habit I have unlearned is not relying on my intuition when I need to make a decision. Now this is not to say that following your intuition about a situation is bad, but it is prone to bias, and you need to think about the possibilities and consider the alternatives you have to avoid making mistakes.

I have learned during the sessions on Analysis of Business Problems – ABP that there are frameworks which contain the process of analyzing problems and making informed decisions. The framework which we practice in class has 8 steps for analyzing any given problem in a case. I have even started applying the process in making decisions in my workplace.

This course has helped me to apply critical thinking to make informed judgement. The last session we had on this course utilized the process of questioning. We asked questions that helped us identify the objective and problem in a case study, develop criteria for analyzing the alternatives we had which led us to make a decision as the protagonist of the case.

The ability to think critically about any given issue or situation is an ability that is currently deficient among some school (secondary and tertiary) students. The case is usually that they expect to be given every information which they learn for the sole purpose of passing exams. It is important that critical thinking should be encouraged in schools such that the students are able to research on issues and acquire knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions such as career choice, etc. This can also help them to avoid the problem of bias and conformism and enable them to challenge the status quo by asking questions.

#MMBA 4