In business management leaders have to take dozens of decision daily. Critical thinking and decision making are the main pillars of any business management. It is important to understand that the decision-making process is an art as well as science. Any business activity like work prioritization or work scheduling starts from decision making. Therefore it is the responsibility of a leader to take decisions effectively. Otherwise, it may cost to the organization.
There are many way to take decisions depending upon the different types of leadership style. They are as follow:
1.Directly give order
- In this, a decision is directly taken by the leader without consulting their team member.
- They directly gives an order, and the team has to follow it at any cost.
- This approach allows the leader to take decision faster and effective.
- This can be seen in Autocratic leadership and Bureaucratic leadership.
2.Involve every subordinate in decision making
- In this, the leader takes opinion and ideas from their team member while making decisions.
- But the final authority to take the decision is in the hands of the leader.
- In this approach, it takes more time to make the decision.
- It can be seen in Laissez Faire leadership and democratic leadership.
3.Decision based on majority
- In this, voting is done to make the final decision.
- The final decision is based on the majority.
- The decision made may not be the best alternative.
- This approach can be seen in a democratic leadership style.
Step involve in making the decision
- Identify the problem or opportunity: First, you need to define the problem very clearly. You should also look for the opportunity if any. You should be very clear about the output obtained after solving a problem or accomplishing a goal.
- Collect relevant information: You need to gather all the information which is suitable in decision making. Here you need to define all the variables. It may in the form of data, people, equipment, material, etc.
- Find out the alternative solution: Here you need to generate all the possible options. You need to be very creative and positive.
- Selecting the best alternative: You need to test every alternative. You need to check the feasibility, quality and cost for each alternative. Finally, you need to select one best alternative.
- Implementing the best alternative: After selecting the best alternative you need to implement it for the problem solving or accomplishing of the goal.
- Monitoring and Feedback: Here you need to check the decision taken should be aligned to the goal or objective of the task assigned. You should take the feedback which is very useful for further planning.
