Management and Decision Making - Essay Example

Marie R.Tordecillas Order Number: 433526 Essay: Management and Decision Making Report Chosen Problem ment: The wishes toincrease the engagement of students on its degree programmes. I. Introduction It is important to realize that people have different decision-making styles which favour certain faculties or thought processes. The problem, 'The University wishes to increase the engagement of students on its degree programmes' requires proposed recommendations for achieving the goal suggested by the problem statement under analysis. Application of the holistic soft systems methodology, evidenced by the awareness of the literature and best practice in other areas of management decision making, supports the discussions about how individuals and groups make decisions within the problem context. The following learning outcomes are expected after careful assessment of the problem: (i) Identify objectively the nature of the problem/opportunity facing the organization; and (ii) apply a range of qualitative and quantitative problem solving techniques to reach reasoned and balanced recommendations about operational activities. The report includes outlines of rich pictures to fully present the situation which will be supported by clear research strategy and methodology to justify the picture. The proposed notional or conceptual system helps the problem issues. Following and experiencing a soft systems methodology approach will really affect change. Decision Action Outcomes ______________________________________________________________________________ Decision ______________________________________________________________________________ Other decision making processes may be used to give the best learning outcomes after careful assessment. II. Decision-Making Methods In analysing the problem statement, many techniques or models were examined. The list below were studied 1. Choosing by Advantages (CBA) Suhr (1999) explained that there are four concepts of CBA. The first is factor which is an element or a component of a decision. Second is criterion which is a decision rule or a guideline; any standard on which a judgment is based. The third is attribute; this is a characteristics or consequence for one alternative, and the fourth is advantage. This is the difference between the attributes of two alternatives. The future success of both individuals and organizations will depend on their mental, emotional and physical choices. What might not be obvious is that their choices will depend on their methods of decision-making, according to Suhr. The need for a decision arises when anomalous events occur. Often these events stem from internal changes The CBA model works by listing the advantages of each alternative and selecting the alternative with the greatest number of advantages. SIMPLE METHODS FOR SIMPLE DECISIONS Special Methods for Complex and Very Complex Decisions Tabular Method Two-List Method Simplified Tabular Method Simplified Two-List Method Instant CBA Very Simple Methods for Very Simple Decisions Attributes - Attributes - - Advantages Advantages (Advantages) Advantages (Advantages) Importance Importance - - - Total Important Total Importance (Total Importance) (Total Importance) (Total Importance The CBA process does the following: (i) summarizes the attributes of each alternative; (ii) decides the advantages of each alternative; (iii) decides the importance of each advantage; and (iv) chooses the alternative with the greatest total importance of advantages. This is also sometimes called the Cause-Effect Model. Beach (1997) observed that the need for a decision arises when anomalous events occur. Often these events stem from internal changes. To make sense of the anomalous events, the decision maker must mentally put the events in the proper context to give them meaning which allows him or her to draw on previous experience to decide what to do. 2. Decision-Making Triangle Dearlove (1998) introduced another technique which was taken from the ideas of the famous Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, who said, "Intuition is perception of the possible inherent in a situation". Dearlove put it as important to realize that people have different decision-making styles which favour certain faculties or thought processes. He further said that the key to making effective decisions is striking the right balance between logic, intuition and experience. Managers require all three elements if they are to handle the many different situations they face in their jobs. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ It could clearly be seen that the Manager on the right side uses logic in his decisions heavily than experience and intuition. 3. Analytic Hierarchy Process There are two ways to analyse causal influences and their effects according to Saaty and Vargas (2006). These are: (i) Using traditional deductive logic beginning with assumptions and carefully deducing an outcome from them. This is a linear and piecemeal approach in which several separate conclusions may be obtained and the problem is to piece them together in some coherent way which needs imagination and experience as logic tells us little or nothing about how to bring the different conclusions into an integrated outcome. (ii) The holistic approach in which all the factors and criteria involved are laid out in advance in a hierarchy or in a network system that allows for dependencies. All possible outcomes that can be thought of are joined together and them both judgment and logic are used to estimate the relative influence from which the overall answer is derived. This approach requires knowledge and experience with the subject and is not totally dependent on the ability to reason logically which is not guaranteed to discover the truth because the assumptions may be poor and the reasoning faulty. _____________________________________________________________________________ The AHP Model ___________________________________________________________________________ The decision goal is to for the university to engage an increased number of students in its degree programs. Factors to be considered are benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks. Depending on the judgments of the decision makers in the university, the most suitable alternative will have to be used. III. The Soft System Methodology (SSM) In 1970, Peter Checkland and his colleagues at the Lancaster University developed the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) designed to solve problematic situations in management. It is different from other decision-making methods because it is more reflective of action research in its philosophy and approach. Messy problematic situations that may arise in human activity can easily be resolved by using SSM. According to Checkland, systems analysts need to apply their craft to problems of complexity that are not well defined. For the purpose of this project, the method to be used in the decision-making process would be the Soft Systems Methodology or SSM. Other decision-making models which have been discussed earlier served only as comparators of the study. The method of solving a problem using SSM requires a 7- stage process as follows: 1. Identifying the problematic situation that it is desired to intervene. This is sometimes termed as 'finding out'. 2. Researching the situation and building a 'rich picture (interpretive representation) of it. This is sometimes known as 'modelling'. 3. Selecting perspectives and building 'root definitions' (key process that need to take place within the desired system) 4. Developing a conceptual model of the change system 5. Comparing the model with the real world situation 6. Defining the changes to be implemented 7. Taking action The SSM inquiry addresses the 'real world' and a 'conceptual world'. To illustrate the flow of the inquiry and decision making process, the following representation may be useful. identifying which of the problem situation he decided to intervene, the problem situation was expressed. This is now the second step of the whole process. It requires researching the situation and building a 'rich picture or interpretive representation of what was in mind. From the 'real world', the researcher tries to go to the 'conceptual world' where he can express the situation in an unstructured form. Real World ================================================================ Systems Thinking about Real World The rich pictures above show that in increasing the engagement of students on its degree programs, the university will of course receive additional income which will be generated from the tuition fees that each student will pay for the course. However, it will not be one-sided. It means that there is a risk involved in this kind of investment. Increasing students means increasing also the professors. Recruitment of professors also incur expenses, not to mention the accompanying expenses, i.e., additional classrooms and equipment, heaters, and the salaries and benefits of these professors. Granting that the students will pay their tuition fees, proper computation of income less expenses should be performed. IV. CATWOE Going out to the world of systems, from the real world, starts stage three of the process. Checkland suggested that each perspective and build root definitions. He developed a mnemonic CATWOE to help us identify the elements of the system. According to him, the starting point is the Transformation. C-ustomers who will benefit from the transformation. In this project, customers are the students. A-ctors who facilitates the transformation to these customers (university administration). T-ransformation from start to finish. (from the time the university administrators expressed plans of increasing the engagement of students in its degree programs) W-eltanschauung what gives the transformation some meaning. For instance, "increasing the number of students admitted in the degree programs of the university will give additional income. O-wner, to whom the "system" is answerable and/or could cause it not to exist. (University) E-nvironment, that influences but does not control the system. After identifying all the elements of the problem, through CATWOE, the model will be developed for step four. Going to stages five to seven, the process goes back to the real world. It is through these stages that the actors and owners gain insights to the problem through which the solution to the earlier problematic situation may be resolved. It should not however, be confused that reality is real, and model is conceptual. V. Conclusions A mature way of solving problems is using careful analysis and employing any of the different kinds of decision making tools in order to arrive at a sound solution. This project discussed decision making tools or models that include: Choosing by Advantage (CBA), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), decision-making triangle, and Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). SSM works through CATWOE which is considered the powerhouse of the methodology. The seven stages of SSM help the manager in analysing and carefully solving the problem. List of References: Beach, Lee Roy. The Psychology of Decision-Making: People in Organizations. Foundation for Organizational Science. USA: Sage Publications, Inc. 1997. Checkland, Peter and Jim Scholes. Classic Book Review: Sofot Systems Methodology in Action. John Wiley. 1999. Dearlove, Des. Key Management Decisions: Tools and Techniques of the Executive Decision Maker. London: Pitman Publishing. 1998. Saaty, Thomas L. and Luis G.Vargas. Decision Making with the Analytic Network Process. PA: University of Pittsburgg Press. 2006. Suhr, Jim. The Choosing By Advantages Decision-making System. USA: Greenwoods Publishing Group, Inc. 1999. Read More