Management Skills Development - Essay Example

Decision making is a vital aspect for all business as being able to look into different factors and take decisions based on it ensure best results for the organization. This is something which I have witnessed myself and has seen the manner in which decision making gets affected due to various factors. I have also seen that using different tools and strategies to combat the differences that exist between the decision making and the problems witnessed helps the organization. This paper thereby looks to present the different issues related to decision making which I have witnessed and the manner in which the learning from the course will help me to deal with the situation so that positive outcome is generated. The different situations which I had to encounter to deal with the situation of decision making was the uncertainity involved while taking decisions, the ethical decisions making process, and the environmental factors which have an effect on decision making. The different issues are further reflected by looking into different steps that can be taken and the different strategies that will help to deal with the difference. Thus, the overall paper presents the different issues and the manner in which the issues will be solved for better achievement of the objectives and the manner in which it will contribute towards improved learning. Issue: Uncertainty in decision making The major problem which I faced during the process of decision making was the uncertainty which was involved while taking decisions. The manner in which the business has evolved due to changing business environment has made the business difficult to ensure survival and viability in the long run. This has impacted the decision that I take as it results in making a problem with the risk due to the risk associated with it. One of the issues which I faced under the process of decision making was regarding whether the amount should be spent on advertisements as the company has planned keeping in mind the downturn and recession that the business is witnessing. This also caught my attention to the fact that if I don’t indulge into extra expenditure into this direction I will be able to save on cost but the effect it might have on the future sale is uncertainty. This raises doubt whether moving ahead with the proposed expenditure will reap the same rewards as desired or the money spent on advertisement will go down as waste (Fizel, 1999). This was an issue which was difficult to deal with due to the uncertainty involved with the process of decision making. I took a decision which I found applicable and reduced the expenditure by half so that the effect doesn’t put an extra pressure on the financials. I also ensured some amount was spent on advertisement as it will otherwise have an impact on the future sale and might also reduce the brand power. This issue related to uncertainty is something which needs to be addressed in a manner that helps to reduce the impact on decisions and ensures better decisions for the growth of the business. The course helped to understand the manner in which different theories and learning can contribute immensely in decision making and will help to access the risk which arises out due to different economic situations. The most important learning from the course which is applicable here is the application of risk management techniques (Klapper and Love, 2003). Using risk management techniques will help to identify the different risk that the decision making has to undergo. If I had applied the risk management techniques then it would have helped me to understand the manner in which cutting down expenses on advertisement will affect the business and will also throw light on the manner the risk management techniques will help to yield effectiveness (Ross & Eeden, 2008). Along with it another method which needs to be looked into is the liquidity risk associated with taking the decision or not taking the decision. This requires that I use the technique of accessing the liquidity risk by identifying the cash inflows and outflows so that the business is able to identify different pattern through which the risk can be accessed and strategies to deal with it can be made. Another tool which can prove vital at this juncture as studied from the course is the use of Porter Five Force Model. This will help to understand the risk which arises due to external environment and will help to deal with these factors in a better way. Using this tool will help me to understand the manner in which the external factor are influencing the decision making process with regard to the advertisements expenses and will also help to understand the impact it will have (Murray, 2010). In addition to it also a strategy to deal with policy risk and the impact of decision will help to understand the manner in which the decision making process gets impacted due to different factors and the mechanism which will facilitate better decision (McGraw, 2004). This was an aspect of decision making which I was unaware of and the learning from the course will help me to use it to improve the overall process of decision making and will help to take better decisions which impacts the policies and ensures reduced risk and better decisions. Issue: Environmental Decision Making The increasing concern towards environment and increasing environmental laws is another area which has impacted the decision making process. I had to encounter a situation where I was in a dilemma whether the environment should be looked into or the betterment of the stockholders should be looked into. I was brought forward with a situation where I had to take a decision whether I should look towards allowing certain materials to be dumped or not. This was a very vital decision as it could impact either the stockholder or the environment and would mean that millions would be lost on either direction. This decision was also very complicated to the fact that accepting or not accepting the decision would backfire and would mean increased trouble for the business which needs to be addressed (Visser, 2000). I took a decision of not dumping the material but the reason behind it was not very strong as I took the decision based on the view that it will help the society and ensure positive returns over a longer period of time. The decision which I had taken could have been improved and better strategy developed as the different theories and learning from the course provides useful inputs which will benefit and ensure better decision. One of the theory which could have supported my decision is the stakeholder thereby which looks to state that business decisions should be taken keeping in mind the stakeholders and decisions which are likely to impact the stakeholders should be ignored (Dignum, Dignum & Sonenberg, 2006). This theory will help to look towards creating a match between the decision that is taken and the stakeholder process which will ensure that decisions are taken considering the larger section of the society (Derr, 2002). This will also look towards using another important framework which is the identification of the stakeholders and based on the different ranks being alloted to them decisions are taken. This will thereby ensure that the power and conflict problem which the organization witnesses due to different stakeholders and different preference for a decision will be mitigated to a large extent (Tymon, Stumpf & Doh, 2010). This will also ensure that the decisions taken reduces the power and conflicts within the organization and the decision is taken which will benefit the larger section of the society and look towards the upliftment of a large section of the society. Issue: Ethical Decision Making The increasing risk associated with business in relation to the ethical process of decision making is another area which has an effect on the process of decision making. I had encounter a situation where the departments were not looking towards following ethical steps in gauging the accuracy and reliability of the information supplied by them. This was very true in case of stock verification as the department instead of looking towards physical counting on the day of stock audit relied on the words of the godown keeper and verified the data provided by him and recorded the inventories. The amount of inventories was correct but the process adopted was wrong as there could have been a situation when the physical count and actual stock could have varied (Aljabali, Abdalmanam & Ziadat, 2011). This increases problems and creates additional problems for the business and taking a decision whether to accept it or look towards a remedy is a problem and requires development of the ethical decision process so that correct information is gathered which can be verified and use for future purposes and will also help to set examples for others to follow in the organization. The course helped to understand the manner in which moral judgment and moral actions needs to be considered in the process of decision making (Worral & Cooper, 2001). The most important aspect is moral recognition which needs that the business needs to ascertain the moral requirements and based on it look towards their moral actions. The course suggested that on the forefront the moral sensitivity in relation to employees, society and the environment should be gauged so that based on it a moral sensitivity scenario can be developed which will help to ensure moral judgment and actions (Anthon, 1998). This thereby emphasis on the need of developing a process which looks at decision which are moral. This will require the use of different ethical aspect and also moving away from the power conflict that is present in the organization. The business has to look towards developing the process based on these factors and have look towards ensuring that different factors are coordinated in such a manner that it provides moral judgment and the actions helps to depict the same. Along with it another theory which has a lot of importance is the use of personal values. People who look towards a process where decisions taken are ethical are guided by the personal values. This value ensures that the decision taken is not biased and the long term perspective is looked into (Black, Jang and Kim, 2003). This will require that the different strategy to deal with the business outcome is considered and then a process is developed based on the personal values which help to provide the required opportunities to ensure growth in the business. Thus, decision making process involves various uncertainties which need to be dealt in a manner that will help to achieve efficiency. The paper shows the manner in which different theories and strategies helps to deal with the difficult situation that the decision making process presents. This is something which I had witnessed in the decision making process as there were various parameters and different decisions could have impacted the entire process differently. I had taken the decision based on factors which I felt were important but the learning from the course has helped me to understand the different factors and areas through which the outcome can be affected. The different theories like power and conflict, personal values, uncertainties in decision making, risk management process to name a few have an impact on the decision making. Also, looking towards using this different theories and integrating them with the actual real life situation helps to ensure better output through which the business is able to take better decisions and ensures a positive outcome. This thereby requires that the business looking towards taking a decision incorporate different factors and theories so that all the environmental, external and internal factors are looked into so that the decisions are sound. The overall process of decision making is thereby very subjective and depends on the requirements of the business through which the process is developed. Using the different tools and theories helps to ensure that the business is able to provide better decision and develop the overall process for the accomplishment of the goals in the most effective manner. References Aljabali, M., Abdalmanam, O. & Ziadat, K. (2011). Internal Audit & its Role in Corporate Governance. Middle eastern Economics & Finance, 11, 161-176 Anthon, R. (1998). Management Control Function (2nd Edition), UK, Prentice Hall Black, B., Jang, H. and Kim, W. (2003). Does Corporate Governance Affect Firm Value?, Working paper 327 Derr, C. (2002). 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