Organization Management and Decision Making - Annotated Bibliography Example

Organization Management and Decision Making Name Professor Institution Course Date Organization Management and Decision Making March, J.G 1994, chapter 2 (part), ‘Rule following’, in A primer on Decision Making, The Free Press, NY Abstract Decision making has been part of management since its early years. Strategy might be in place but making decision to implement is not always easy as some people may think. The book claims that, decision making normally follows rules. However, before making such decisions there is always oneself, what is referred to individualization, and then as a social being human also finds some influences. The chapter maintains that formal organizations exercise influence both on individuals’ identities, including the rules they are supposed to obey. According to the author, the identities could be an accountant. For that reason, one would describe himself as a good accountant. The attitudes and rules are characterized in the form of social identities where personal identities are created. Becoming a good nurse or accountant implies understanding, accepting the principles and following these created rules into details. Therefore, one would be expected to obey rules of what good accountants do when making decisions. As people socialize in the organization setting and move up career ladder people internalize the rules of making decisions and the become part of you. In organization setting top level managers have internalized the rules of decision making and are experienced as part of their skill, therefore they believe decision-making is their role. The chapter argues that decision making should be conducted based on the logic appropriateness. According to “logic of appropriateness”, people obey rules that allow them to create conformity between their socially described identities such as accountants or nurses and particular circumstances. The potential decision rules are acquired from the past experiences. March argues that providing a rule to obey and obeying them is not a one-way lane since rules and practices could go under a process of modification. Rule violation sometime are considered if decisions are assigned, this is because it is not in the identity of the individual given responsible, such contributes considerably to the rule modification. Example Example Nursing is one of the crucial careers that involve taking care of other people’s lives. My nurse friend claims that nurses are urged to apply the best existing evidence to direct their practice and to be the basis for institutional procedures and policies. All through her college life as potential nurse, she asserts that lecturers who are also healthcare practioners have emphasized on the rules following, be it in college or later in my career. After getting at work as a nurse, one still find her or himself being reminded of conforming to nursing practices which are basically the rules. As a young and inexperienced nurse sometimes you find exciting occurrences and threatening experiences which you cannot wait to following the rule. For instance, a mother in labor pains next to you cries for help when you are just told to always call experiences nurses when such situation arises. The situation will make you try to help, resulting to violation of the rules. Whittaker, J 1991, A reappraisal of Probabilistic Risk analyses, Engineering Management Journal, 3(3), 13-16. Abstract This article is all about criticism of the application of fault – tree analysis, the probability calculus concept and acceptable risk concepts to tackle matters of public safety. To show the hazards that come as a result of technological presence, an introduction of the probabilistic risk assessments into public discussion has been carried out. In this analysis, fault – tree methods of reliability engineering were employed with probability theory of calculating the level of failure for the engineered system. In the assessments of Probabilistic Risk, conventional scientific fields and engineering; mechanical engineering, toxicology, atmospheric diffusion among others, were employed to predict the effects of its failure. Nevertheless, the capability of the Probabilistic Risk Analysis is doubted due to several faults in the analysis’ methodology. The major flaws which are addressed comprise of inaccuracy, incompleteness and inappropriateness. The probability computation by fault – tree analysis is not correct even if every the potential failures may perhaps be predicted and diagrammed. Fault – tree analyses that are basically linear analysis will probably include numerous interaction impacts. However, it is observed that owing to its focus on scientific and technological causes, fault–tree analysis disregards the human factors or errors which are major reasons for system failures. These flaws are pointed out as emotional stress, fatigue, and illnesses among others. The example claims that here is a man who comes home tired and forgets to switch-off the interior lights, then in the morning the battery is low and cannot start the car. The application of Fault–trees is overlooked to assess system safety in an acceptable manner, owing to the system requirements of every failure methods to be anticipated which is in fact not possible. Therefore, for the rationale of explaining the above errors, different paradigms are employed from recent happenings. The author has also provided the grounds for the rejection of the hypothesis of probability risk analysis and focus on the development and refinement of the traditional hazard enhancement practices of mitigation and redundancy. Example Student’s life is normally always full of reading and research. However, the world has moved fast and technology has made research so easy. The researches are many and done almost on a daily basis meaning they have to use their computer regularly. Like any other device, computer needs maintenance. However, as a student, I would see my computer becoming slow and just ignore it thinking with a promise to repair it the following day. I had installed antivirus just once and move though that was it. It did not take long before my computer went dead. From the organization perspective, managers must know that organization is like a tree with branches and every branch is important. To maintain effectiveness they must always maintain every department to avoid failure of the whole system. The managers in charge ought to carry out diagnostic and identify failure before the whole system breakdown. Mclntyre, R.M & Salas, E1995, “Measuring and Managing for team performance; emerging principles from complex environments,’ in Guzzo, R.A and Salas, E. & Ass (eds), Team Effectiveness and Decision making in Organization, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco Abstract This is article claims that Organizations are growingly turning out to be unstable and dynamic. This development has led to greater dependence on the teams and raised complexity with reference to team composition, required skills, and risk level involved. Just like in any organization, teamwork has frequently been a critical element of success during the military operations. However, with the framework of military operations evolving in this post-cold war age, the team’s capability to perform successfully in a complex and dynamic environment could play even more vital role. As the framework of military organization advances and turns more complex, it would be vital to acknowledge why some teams operates better compared to others and how one can inspire the required skills in various geographically scattered teams. The writers of this article pulled out twenty teamwork principles from researches on decision making teams performing in three different complex tactical naval environments. Nine of these principles were about the temperament of teamwork, seven were about leadership of the team, and four were concerned with individual roles of the team members. The outcomes presented in the article present recommendations for effective management of the teams, team performance measuring, and for conducting team training in complex locations. These will enhance their peacekeeping missions, which are normally carried out in highly complex settings. The article maintains that the previous research only focused on the task work as opposed to teamwork. It argues to concentrate on teamwork because it provides a platform to conduct training, address team learning, and skill acquisition and manage tactical teams. From this perspective, this research held that task work and teamwork are distinct. The technical elements were considered as the task work, while all the interactive behaviors in members were considered as the teamwork. The authors also claimed that teamwork entails high technical processes and activities while task work, the work performed by individuals in a team. When individuals interact to achieve common goals the activity turns out to be teamwork. Example The business environment has changed greatly because of competition that major market players pose. Organizations are currently researching and developing new products as a platform for competition. For that reason, project assignments have increased tremendously. The organizations have since adopted the strategy of forming a team which is a well oiled machine to carry out these projects. As a student in several instances, lecturers have given us assignment in a group even if some students feel that the team settings are slow. The school perspective is normally different because in school the lecturer sometimes allows students to form their own group. On the other hand, in company settings, the manager form the team which he thinks can deliver due their education background and experience. In our campus groups, we choose our group members who are close friends, but are capable of contributing in research on an individual basis. In a nutshell, everybody is given a task, before the group comes together and discusses it. Linstone, H 1984, ‘Our proposed perspectives’ in Linstone. H., Multiple Perspectives for Decision Making, North Holland, NY. Abstract In this book the author explains three perspectives in which socio-technical systems could be perceived. Not just computer models or mathematical formulae, these perceptions cover certain issues that involve carrying out a critical assessment on corporations, a system, decision and any other entity which can appropriately be subjected to scrutiny. One such perspective is a technical perspective (T) which perceives an organization as a hierarchical structure that is modeled through principles from the system dynamics, in which decision assessment and other management science tools could be, used. On the contrary, an organizational perspective (O) thinks that the organization strength is relative to rivals. Organization's effectiveness in terms of leadership and structure remains the major concerns of Organization perspective. The last perspective which is, personal (P), concentrates on concerns which relates directly mostly to individuals. Issues like job opportunities and security are the realm of the Personal perspective. The book holds that all these three perspectives reflect on the insights concerning a system. The author persuasively indicates that the incorporation of insights from these three perspectives shows which is good when it is more complete than having one of its parts. It contends that simply one part cannot understand the overall stretch from just one of the representation done in 2-D. The article formally presents interdependent perspectives for observing organizations. Observed by means of technical perspectives, personal and organization perspectives, the intrinsic complexity of decisions and systems commendable of consideration could be completely appreciated. The main attributes of every perspective are concisely tabulated, in reflection to "worldview" demission that is "science-technology" which is can be represented by T (system of the organization), social focus which is organization itself, and "ethical focus" which are the morality, personal ethics which stand for personality of employees together with other descriptors. Finally, the chapter of this book points out how the incorporation of input from different perspectives leads to an interconnected view and how these perspectives could be cross-connected to yield additional insights. Example An organization is a social unit comparison that common goal and connected to the outside environment. However, for this organization to run, through components must come together, that is systems like the departments and tools, the organization itself i.e. the leadership structure and employees. Using university as my main focus, I have realized that this institution is just like organization that conducts businesses. It's composed of the systems like the different department that is connected at the top to form university. The institution also has an organization perspective which consists of leadership structures with the Chancellor on top of the chart. The students and the people holding these leadership posts form the personal perspective. However, it is the individuals who make the systems and organization run. As such, we have to create policies, practices, and ethics make the system work for us. Without good morals and practices, the university will experience strikes. Beach, L.R 1990, The Image Theory: personal and Organizational Decisions, in Beach, L.R. Image Theory: Decision Making in Personal and Organizational Contexts, Wiley. Theory and research about how individuals make different decisions has transformed noticeably in the recent years. The article explains the course of transformation, with emphasize on a new explanatory hypothesis referred to as an Image Theory. The basic structure of this theory is illustrated and the studies that it contributed to, is discussed in this article. In the previous forty years, the study on personal decision making has always been conducted by the normative choice models, mostly used in economics. Part of this time was used to show the flaws of these given models as convincing explanations of how individuals in reality make decisions. Despite of the increasing proof that normative models are unsuccessful at an individual level of decision making, critics have shown discretion to abandon them. There are, still, fresh ideas. Alternatives of the economic model of making decision are being created. The rationale of the present article is to offer the alternative which has the greatest level of hypothetical formulation and a lot of empirical study, image theory. It supposes that decision-makers follow plans in the effort to realize objectives, and those decisions comprise of agreeing or declining new goals and plans in view of the ethics and values of the decision makers. It presumes that major decisions are arrived at an effort to “perform what is right'', and that majority of the decisions are arrived at quickly and simply-hardly ever based on weighing the benefits and losses as recommended by the classical decision theory. This exhilarating new strategy holds that decision makers are attempting to fulfill much more basic and significant consideration as opposed to the profit maximization. This research also assumes that decision makers posses three systematic knowledge to collect their thinking concerning the decision. These are what the author refers to as the images. These images include principles of the decision maker, trajectory images and the strategic value. Example Decision making is a very important element in the current organizations. It is something that is done on a daily basis because of the competitive nature of the business. Therefore, managers and employees must change their strategy to sustain competition. Sometimes we are put at an awkward position to make tough decisions, but this is part of business. As an international student, you find yourself working and also schooling on a part time basis and it even becomes difficult to manage these tight schedules. The situation makes you want to quit one so that you can concentrate on the other. The world has become competitive and from the beginning you made a decision to study and work so that you can get a promotion on the platform of the education and experience. Because the decisions are always best on what is right, past decision, principles and to the benefits I made up mind to continue. References Beach, L.R. 1990, The Image Theory: personal and Organizational Decisions, in Beach, L.R. Image Theory: Decision Making in Personal and Organizational Contexts, Wiley. Linstone, H.1984, ‘Our proposed perspectives’ in Linstone. H., Multiple Perspectives for Decision Making, North Holland, NY. March, J.G 1994, chapter 2 (part), ‘Rule following’, in A primer on Decision Making, The Free Press, NY. Whittaker, J 1991, A reappraisal of Probabilistic Risk analysis’, Engineering Management journal, 3(3), 13-16. Mclntyre, R.M & Salas, E. 1995, “Measuring and Managing for team performance; emerging principles from complex environments’ in Guzzo, R.A and Salas, E. & Ass (eds), Team Effectiveness and Decision making in Organization, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Read More