The Manager : the Decision Maker

Decision in the Management Functions

Planning

* What are the organization's long term objective?
* What strategies will best achieve those objectives?
* What should the organization's short term objectives be?
* How difficult should individual goals be?

Organizing

* How many employees should I have report directly to me?
* How much centralization should there be in the organization?
* How should jobs be designed?
* When should the organization implement a different a different structure?

Leading

* How do I handle employees who appear to be low in motivation?
* What is the most effective leadership style in a given situation?
* How will a specific change affect worker productivity?
* When is the right time to stimulate conflict?

Controlling

* What activities in the organization need to be controlled?
* How should those activities be controlled?
* When is a performance deviation significant?
* What type of management information system should the organization have?

The fact that almost everything a manager does involves making decision doesn't mean that decision are always time-consuming, complex, or evident to an outside observer. Much of manager'sdecision making is routine. Every day of the year you make a decision about when to eat dinner. It's no big deal. You've made the decision thousand of times before. It's a pretty simple decision and can usually be handled quickly. It's the type of decision you almost forget is a decision. Manger's make dozens of these routine decision every day, such as, for example, which employee will work, what shift next week, what information should be included in a report, or how to resolve customers complaint. Keep in mind that even though a decision seems easy to make or has been faced by a manager's a number of times before, it still is a decision.