Chapter 9

Decision Making
This Multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; Any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

Decision Making
Decision

Making is at the heart of organizational effectiveness, climate, and health. Two dominant issues affect how decisions are made in organizations;

Stability (application of existing practices and maintenance of existing performance levels) Change (environmental demands for quick response and emerging problems that are ambiguous)

Participative decision making structures are required to effectively manage change.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 2

Decision Making
Daniel

Griffiths Theory of Leadership is About Decision Making

Administration is a process of directing and controlling life in a social organization. The specific function of administration is to develop and regulate the decision making process in the most effective manner.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

Griffith (continued)
Griffith
An

proposed that:

individual's rank equals his or her degree of control of the decision-making process. Effectiveness of the leader is inversely proportional to the number of decisions made personally. The major differences between types of organizations are related to differences in the decision-making process.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

Individual v. Organizational Decision Making

What is meant by the expectation that administrators should be decisive? How is this different from organizational decisions? It is the responsibility of administrators to establish decision-making processes that establish a positive culture.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

Rationality in Decision Making

Herbert Simons three phases of decision making:

Intelligence activity, Design activity, Choice activity

Peter Druckers rational steps in decision making:

Define the Problem

Analyze the Problem Develop Alternative Solutions

Decide on the Best Solution

Convert decisions into Effective Actions
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 6

Rational Decision-Making Models

Some

models add a feedback loop to make successively better decisions eventually reaching optimal decisions.

We

must recognize that we generally make decisions that are called satisficing, that is, they are a solution that is satisfactory, but not necessarily the optimal solution. Why?
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 7

Limits on Rationality in Decision Making

Vroom and Yetton developed a taxonomy of five leadership styles based on decision making processes: Autocratic Process:

AI. Leaders makes decision with information available. AII. Leader gets information from followers (may not tell them the problem) and then makes decision. CI. Leader shares problem with individuals, gets suggestions, then makes decision. CII. Leader shares problem with the group and then makes decision.

Consultative Process:

Group Process: GI. Leaders facilitates a group decision based on consensus. The leader avoids giving his/her opinion, but lets the group decide.
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 8

Vroom and Yetton (continued)

Analysis of the situation depends on answers to 7 questions:

Does the problem possess a quality requirement? Does the leaders have sufficient information to make a good decision? Is the problem structured? Is it necessary for others to accept the decision in order for it to be implemented? If the leaders makes the decision alone, how certain is it that others will accept it? Do others share the organizational goals that will be attained by solving this problem? Are the preferred solutions to the problem likely to create conflict among others in the group?
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 9

The Nature of Managerial and Administrative Work

Henry Mintzbergs five propositions:

Administrators do a great deal of work, and do it at an unrelenting pace. Administrators devote brief periods to many decisions that tend to be specific, well defined issues. Administrators prefer to deal with active problems that are well defined and non-routine. Administrators prefer verbal communications. Administrators maintain working relationships with three principal groups: superiors, subordinates, and outsiders.
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 10

Mintzberg (continued)
The work of administrators is taxing. He states: The quantity of work to be done . . .during the day is substantial and the pace is unrelenting. An unrelenting pace is not an unvarying pace, but that there is always more work to do, and that administrators seldom stop thinking about their work. Mintzbergs work has been confirmed in studies done with school administrators.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

11

How Administrators Think

Do administrators apply rational (linear) decision making principles to decision making, and are they reflective about the decisions they make? Perhaps, but Karl Weick believes that administrators thinking is woven into, and simultaneously occurs with, action. Schn agrees, believing that decision making is an art, or trained intuition. That is, one learns through education and experience to see a complex system and to view a decision holistically. Probable connection to left brain thinking (rational, logical, analytical) and right brain thinking (intuitive, holistic, nonlogical)

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

12

Influence of Organizational Culture on Decision Making

The norms, values, traditions, and beliefs of an organization shape decision making. Weick believes that culture helps participants ascribe credibility to interpretations they make of their experiences. Therefore, the culture represents significant thinking prior to action and is implicit in the decision making of administrators.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

13

Theory of Practice
The overlapping theories of many scholars provide the basis for HRD concepts: motivation, leadership, conflict management, decision making, and change. Some cultures are more effective in implementing HRD concepts. Together these HRD concepts constitute a theory of decision making, the centerpiece of which is participative methods or empowerment.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

14

Participative Decision Making

Potential benefits:

Make better decisions Enhance the growth and development of participants

Tannenbaum and Schmidts Model provides a range of potential decision making options for a leader and the organization. This ranges from the leader making the decision to a team making the decision within limits defined by organizational constraints.

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007

15

Participative or Democratic

Democratic decision making may involve a vote, with the majority winning. Participative decision making as presented in the Vroom and Yetton model and the Tannenbaum and Schmidt model provide the leader with a range of options, but leave the control of the decision in the leaders domain. As participation in decisions increases, teachers power and influence increase and principals power and influence decrease. The leader should work with participants in the organization to establish a process for making decisions. Participants should evaluate how the process is working and suggest changes for making the process better.
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 16

Emergent and Discrete Problems

Discrete problems: elements are unambiguous, clear-cut and quantifiable; elements are readily separable; solution requires a logical sequence of acts by one person; and the boundaries of the problem are easily discernable. Emergent problems: ambiguous, uncertain and not easily quantifiable; elements are intertwined; solution requires coordination and interaction of many; the dimensions of the problem cannot be fully known until the process begins to unfold. Administrators or experts can make decisions for discrete problems, while emergent problems are best made with open communication among those individuals who have information and who will be involved in implementing the decision.
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 17

Who Should Participate?

Edwin Bridges suggests we involve others in decisions when two tests are met: Test of Relevance--when they have an important personal stake in the problem and their interest is high (Chester Barnards Zone of Indifference, Zone of Sensitivity, and Zone of Ambivalence). Test of Expertisethey can contribute competently to the solution. We add a third test: Test of Jurisdictionif a problem is in their jurisdiction or within their work domain allow participation, but if not, dont allow them to decide as it may lead to frustration.
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 18

Team Administration

Five techniques of team administration:

Discussion Information

seeking Democratic-centralist Parliamentarian Participant-determining

Participation, however, requires a high level of skills, in particular training in the group process.
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 19

A Paradigm for Decision Making

Using the four typical steps in the rational model of decision making, the administrator can choose to include others in any or all of the steps:

Defining the problem Identifying possible alternative solutions Predicting the consequences of each alternative Choosing the alternative to follow

In other words, the administrator can make the decision alone, use their input to make the decision, or make a group decision.
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2007 20