Introduction
The decisions in the enterprises are taken every day, and the timing and quality of the decision make the difference between the success to the failure. Important decisions from a new client agreement, a new product launch or the split of the company require information, analysis and courage take it. The analysis consists in the importance of the management engineering principle of decision making for the evolution and success of the company. The company under analysis is a software developer company called Infowarehouse Inc., from Lakeland, Florida.
Infowarehouse Inc. is a software company with ten years in the market. The company has a payroll of 50 employees plus floating freelance collaborators of 20 people in average. The company has its headquarters in Lakeland, Florida. The co-founders of the company are Tim Westbrook, John Hancock, and Luis Ignacio Mata Grosso were students of the Florida University from 2001 when they developed applications and plugins for Microsoft Office and Autodesk AutoCAD. They sold their two applications to Microsoft and Autodesk for one million dollars each, enough money to co-found the company in 2006. The company develops software in different areas: accountability, security, and banking in desktop and Android platforms.
Problem description
The company from the last year several disagreements between the three co-founders and two staff of the company. They lost the last year two important contracts with potential revenue of one billion dollars with NCR and Wells Fargo by late decisions. Besides, an investor proposed to give the company 2 billion dollars for the 10% stake in the company with the condition to move operations to California without a quick response from the Chief Executive Officer. Thanks to the previous experiences, the staff does not have a clear horizon of the company perceiving the company is not seizing the opportunities.
Principle of Management Engineering: “Make quick decisions knowing you will make mistakes”
Problem Analysis
The problem of the company is that the company, that is, the management of the company does not take quick decisions of the opportunities the market offers. The management is afraid from a bad decision that may affect the business, but a late decision is worse because with a wrong decision it is possible to fix the mistake and learn from it. Without quick decisions, the business stagnates, and the staff and collaborators receive that message. One of the principles of Engineering Management says that it is necessary to "make quick decisions knowing you will make mistakes" (Boyd, 2010). The companies that are successful today did not make 100% of correct decisions. All the companies made mistakes, but the most important of the decision-making is not to make the best decision, is to make the best decision at the right time and with the capacity to fix the decision quickly if the company fails. Today the available information change very fast and in most cases is ambiguous. With that scenario, the company cannot wait to 100% of the accurate information to make a decision. The managers of the company must use their intelligence and courage to take decisions fast but with a parallel plan to fix the potential error. That practice will improve the performance of the company and will inspire the staff to follow their leaders no matter the consequences of the decision making.
Recommendations
The recommendations for the company are to make a quick analysis of every decision considering different scenarios:
● Consequences in the short and long term: The decisions has instant consequences once the decision is taken and other have effect after one year. The decision making must consider both escenarios. For example, the decision to accept the participation of a new partner must consider the benefits of fresh cash to the equity to the company in the short term and the shared decision making for the company in the long term.
● A "fix" plan or Plan "B" for the decision: It is possible that the decision brings negative effects over the business and the company, for that reason the company must always have an alternative action plan. For example, the decision to launch a new software suite could have a negative result for the company, but the alternative plan for the company is to offer the clients a free patch for the clients that owns a previous version of the software.
● Share the responsibilities and benefits of the staff: The co-owners of the company must enhance the participation of the staff and employees in the decision making of the company and delegate the most operative actions and reserve to the co-owners the strategy of the company.
Once, the managers make a quick analysis; the managers must respond to the opportunity in a negative or positive way.
Conclusions
The decision making in companies is one of the most important engineering management principles. The lateness in the decision making is in some cases worse than a quick bad decision because acting quickly may allow the company to fix the problem in the process. Infowarehouse Inc. suffered the consequences of a lack in quick decision-making, especially a company in the software business.
Reference List
Boyd, E. (2010). Zod's Axioms: 10 Principles of Engineering Management. Obtenido de Boyd Says: http://www.boydsays.com/2010/01/zods-axioms-principles-of-engineering.html
