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Decision Making & Empowerment

Deepak Bharara Article - Decision Making & Empowerment

What is Decision Making?

The Decision Making is the process of examining all possibilities & options, comparing them, and choosing a right course of action. Using a step-by-step decision-making process can help you make more deliberate, thoughtful decisions by organizing relevant information and defining alternatives

It is a Choice from two or more alternatives – A Rational Thinking

The process by which Managers respond to opportunity and treats by analyzing options & making decision about goals & course of action

Factors for making Effective Decision

  • Perception
  • Goals
  • Priority
  • Acceptability
  • Values
  • Demands
  • Styles
  • Risk
  • Resources
  • Judgement

Types of Decision Making

Strategic – Long Term, Complex, Apex Level, focus to be Market Leader
Tactical – Medium Term, Less Complex, Mid-Level, Launch of New Product/Service
Operational – Day to day, Simple & routine, Junior Management Level, Regular Supply & dispatch issues & staff rotation etc.

In other words:

Programmed Decision – Usual & Automated
Un programmed Decision – Unusual & Situation Driven
Intuition Based Decision – Based on experience, feeling, & accumulated judgments

What are the 6 C’s in Decision Making

  • Construct
  • Compile
  • Collect
  • Compare
  • Consider
  • Commit

Steps of Decision making

  • Identify a problem
  • Identifying decision making
  • Allocating weights to the criteria
  • Developing Alternatives
  • Analyzing Alternatives
  • Selecting an Alternatives
  • Implementing the Alternative
  • Evaluating the Decision-Making effectiveness

Important Diagnosis Questions – Brain Storming

  1. What is the state of disequilibrium affecting us
  2. When did it occur
  3. Where did it occur
  4. How did it occur
  5. To whom did it occur
  6. What is the urgency of the problem
  7. What is the interconnectedness of event
  8. What outcome is expected from what activity

Popular Methods for Decision Making

  • Decision by running out of time
  • Decision by chaos
  • Decision by Fiat
  • Decision by Coercion
  • Decision by Competition
  • Decision by Voting
  • Decision by Inertia

Hurdles faced during effective Decision Making

  1. Lack of Time
  2. Lack of Reliable Data
  3. Risk Taking Ability – Level of Decision Making is not clear
  4. Too many options to choose
  5. Inadequate support – Inability to change
  6. Lack of Resource

Some Interesting Quotes

Be sure you are right – than go ahead – Davy Crocket
Doing what’s right isn’t hard – knowing what’s right is – Lyndon B Johnson
Mine own applause is the only applause which matters – Cicero
Once you’ve made your mark, watch out for eraser – Will Rogers

Exercise on Decision Making

Suppose that you are a manager and running organization. Take complete ownership kindly respond to following questions. Use the key of 5 scale…

  1. Not at all
  2. Rarely
  3. Sometime
  4. Often
  5. Very often

Get Ready for Questions

  1. I evaluate the risk associated with each alternative before making a Decision
  2. After I make decision, it is final – because I know my process is strong
  3. I try to determine the real issue before starting a decision-making process
  4. I rely on my own experience to find potential solutions to a problem
  5. I tend to have strong gut instinct about problems, and I rely on it in decision making
  6. I am sometimes surprised by the actual consequences of my decision
  7. I think that involving many stakeholders to generate solutions can make the process more complicated than it needs to be
  8. If I have doubt about my decision, I go back and recheck my assumptions and my process
  9. I take the time needed to choose the best decision-making tool for each specific decision
  10. I consider a variety of potential solutions before I make my decision
  11. Before I communicate my decision, I create an implementation plan
  12. In a group decision – making process, I tend to support my friends’ proposals and try to find ways to make them work
  13. I use a well-defined process to structure my decisions
  14. When communicating my decision, I include my rationale & justification
  15. Some of the options I’ve chosen have been much more difficult to implement than I expected
  16. I prefer to make decisions on my own, and then let other people know what I have decided
  17. I determine the factors most important to the decision, and then use those factors to evaluate my choices
  18. I emphasize how confident I am in my decision as a way to gain support from my plans

Calculate your Score:

Not at all – 1, Rarely – 2, Sometimes – 3 Often – 4 Very often – 5

Evaluations:

18-42: Your decision making hasn’t fully matured
43-66: your decision-making process is Okay – Good Understanding
67-90: Your decision-making approach is excellent

What is Empowerment?

Empowerment means authority or power given to someone to do some thing

Examples:

  • Involve employees in company decisions
  • Provide training courses for Managers
  • Use Employees Recognition awards
  • Allow Autonomy in decision making

Importance of Empowerment

Empowerment enables leaders & team members to live to their fullest potential & to own their work. The leaders who build a culture of empowerment set their people up for success in three major ways by 1) Enabling employees to experience continual growth, 2) Align their vision & 3) Values with the organizational Goals

Types of Empowerments

  1. 1. Individual Empowerment – Power to change your own circumstances
  2. Gender Empowerment – All Gender identities should work for Society
  3. Social Empowerment – All can make difference to the society
  4. Educational Empowerment – Provide free access to high quality education resources
  5. Economic Empowerment – Build Economic Empowerment by use of Financial Tools
  6. Political Empowerment – Increase diversity of voices & opportunities in political area
  7. Phycological Empowerment – Increase in Empathy
  8. Physical Empowerment – Focus on Primary Health Care to make people physical fit

Elements of Empowerment

  • Self-Reliance
  • Self Determination
  • Self-Rule
  • Autonomy

Ways to Empower

  • Cooperate with others
  • Empower Everyone
  • Always be positive
  • Be Appreciative
  • Ask them what their goals are
  • Help them to find their strengths
  • Lead by example
  • Give you team Autonomy
  • Extend support when the individuals are struggling
  • Support Individuals when they are succeeding
  • Don’t give your team the answers – help them to find them …

Principals of Empowerment

  • Being respectful and non-judgemental
  • Building a relationship where the person feels comfortable to discuss their feelings and what they want
  • Focussing on strengths and abilities
  • Supporting and encouraging involvement in decision making
  • Respecting the decisions a person makes about their own life