The making of decisions is one of the oldest mysteries. Often, people are judged by the decisions they make. The opaque nature of decision-making has led to many theories. According to one of the oldest theories, the ability to think rationally is what makes human beings different from animals. When deciding, an individual should look past the emotions and think through the problem carefully. According to Plato, human being are part animal but are also capable of reason and oversight, having the gift of rationality (Lehrer, 2009).
Decisions in the work place are often left to the managers, team-leaders and supervisors. This helps avoid confusion in making decisions. Decision-making, however, needs to be transparent and fair to all. It is necessary, therefore, for managers and team leaders to call for ideas from the members of their teams.
Nevertheless each decision making process depends on the situation. Everyone involved in a consensus decision is willing to support the decision. This does not mean everyone agrees to the decision, but whether one agrees or not, they are willing to support it. This approach is paramount in situations that are extremely valuable to all. Minority decisions, in contrast to majority vote where the parties involved vote and then count and the majority take the day, involve forming a subcommittee to make decisions with authority from the team. This method is effective where it is difficult to get everyone together (Highlight: Decision making approaches, 2001).
The problem described in scenario one are budgetary allocation problems. This is to be done without affecting service delivery. To make a decision that both the stuff and suppliers will agree with, the manager should use the consensus approach. This guarantees that everyone involved has his or her ideas and suggestions heard. The decisions to be made here are not the final decisions but suggestions to what the final decision should be. Once everyone has been heard and ideas made, he should present the ideas to the hospital managerial team. The second approach the manager should use is the minority decision making approach. However, in this case, it will be the ideas and suggestions made by the parties involved that will be discussed. The subcommittee comes up with the final decision.
Involving the health care team in making, the decision makes certain that effective decisions are made and with transparency and that, all parties involved are committed to the decision. It also ensures that they are all focused on the action of the decision rather than on the decision making process (Highlight: Decision making approaches, 2001). Budgetary concerns affect everyone in the organization and, therefore, making the decision as a group improvers team morale and brings the team closer together and ensure they work better towards achieving the goals of their decision.
Group decision making is beneficial in that it ensures everyone’s suggestion is heard, and there is a sense of ownership, therefore; the team members will be more willing to implement the actions of the decision. Since there are many people involved, the ideas and opinions presented are diverse which ensure there is no bias in the decision made. On the other hand, group made decisions take too long to be arrived at, and there will always be someone who disagrees.
Decision-making is a difficult process especially in a work place because the decisions made affect a lot of people. Managers should do their best to make certain they make decisions that balance both the needs of the organization and those of the teams they manage.
Recources:
Highlight: Decision-Making Approaches. (2001). Retrieved from: http://www.life-role.com/documents/Summary-%20Decision%20Making.pdf
Lehrer, J. (2009). How We Decide. Boston: Houthton Mifflin Harcourt.
