Million Dollar Considerations (7)

by Joan Marques

Published on this site: February 15th, 2004

Making decisions is a process that every one of us gets confronted with on a regular basis. Some decisions are easy to make. Others are just harder. The more important the issue at hand, the more time and information we will need to make an appropriate decision.

In management, decision-making is part of the daily routine. Not just those experience-based decisions that are made everyday at regular hours, but the ones that pop-up at the least expected moments as well. And what counts in private life, counts even more in the corporate setting: The more there is at stake, the more cautious we become in making decisions.

Some of us want to refrain from making decisions for as long as possible.
This is probably due to the change-reluctance within us: After all, change
means: having to adapt: having to get used to new things. And who wants to go through that hassle if it’s not necessary?

Unfortunately, there is no way of maintaining our companies or ourselves if we don’t adapt to change, and if we don’t make the necessary decisions to establish that. In fact it has become generally known that the more we familiarize ourselves with decisions and their subsequent changes, the easier we will continue to spin along in the dazzling business environment of today, and the better we will perform.

In our management sessions this week, my team of university students and myself reviewed a number of interesting decision-making issues. We talked about the disadvantages of programmed compared to non-programmed decisions; we examined our attitudes toward ethical decision-making in the workplace; and we zoomed into the negative effects of prejudiced decision-making.

• As for programmed versus non-programmed decisions: the first mentioned is the one where management clings to a long-term, predictable chain of actions, which ultimately enables the competition to take over the competitive advantage. Programmed decision-making is the kind where changes are rarely made. It very much supports the mindset of “If it is not broken why fix it?” But it is the most important reason why many foreign competitors –with their lean and mean approach – ultimately take over the markets that we once dominated. Non-programmed decision-making relies on whatever emerges in the market, and anticipates rapidly on every signal that is received. It entails more risk taking than programmed decision-making, but the rewards exceed the losses.
  
  
• As for the issue of ethical decision-making: of course there is no single
  rule regarding this subjective topic. But we all know how important it is to feel good about our decisions. Therefore, we should continuously ask ourselves if we truly agree with our actions. If not, we should withdraw from executing them right away. After all, the only person you will always have to live with is yourself. Therefore we should never engage in practices that cannot stand our personal ethics-test. Some simple questions to find out whether an issue withstands your personal ethics test? Try these: “How do I feel about it?” , “How would I feel if my family knew about it?”, and
  “How would I feel if everyone knew about it?” Remember: you may be able to get away with unethical behavior on the short term, but the long run damage is not worth it.
  
  
• And then there is the prejudice issue: Most of us, without even realizing
  it, have a certain degree of chauvinism in us that guides us in the way we make our decisions: Especially in top management, there is a tendency to look for people that resemble a successful person, not only in managerial behavior, but also in looks, education, beliefs, and approaches. Needless to say how much of a barrier that means to all those who may have outstanding qualities, but are just different from the picture we painted. It takes a lot of effort and alertness on our own thought processes, but once we can get rid of those ingrained prejudices regarding the type and kind we are looking for, we will have paved the way for our organization toward unlimited success in performance.

One last note: no matter how well-informed and sharp the decisions we make, remember that success does not only depend on a good decision, but even more on the actions we take AFTER the decision has been made.

Joan Marques, Burbank, February 14, 2004

Joan Marques, holds an MBA, is a doctoral candidate in Organizational Leadership, and a university instructor in Business and Management in Burbank, California. You may visit her web site at www.joanmarques.com Joan's manual "Feel Good About Yourself," a six part series to get you over the bumps in life and onto success, can be purchased and downloaded at:
http://www.non-books.com/FeelGoodSeries.html.