Section 1 - Decision-Making Techniques Applied Now or in the near Future at Gentherm Incorporated of the United States
In my organization, there are two broadly used decision making techniques that have their own application specific to the management needs they satisfy. They are described in detail in the following manner:
Decision Matrix
This decision making technique is used to identify and evaluate possible alternatives to any given concern or problem for arriving at a most feasible decision. It involves creation or designing of a table containing several columns where the very first column different options or alternatives considered for making a particular decision. All those factors that have a direct and indirect on decision making process and the solution, at large, are mentioned in the first row .
The concerned members to decision making process assign scores to each option or alternative depending on how effectively it can solve the problem and help in making profitable decision. Furthermore, the managerial team assigns weights to certain factors important to making a decision. In the end, the final score is established or revealed by tallying all scores and weights to determine which alternative or option is the best to make a decision .
Application of Decision Matrix in Organizational Setting
In organization under review, suppose that managers are facing a problem concerning lower employee productivity at work. Therefore, a decision needs to be made about increasing the employee morale and productivity at work simultaneously. Managers designated to make such a decision may consider different alternatives or options to motivate employees, increase their productivity and enhance their morale for retaining them in the long run.
Different alternatives available to managers include enhancing the compensation package through revision, training employees through exposure to customized training session on-board, increase their stake into the business through Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP), give warnings to low performing employees to improve their productivity or else they will lose their job etc. Of these different alternatives, managers of Gentherm Incorporated may consider selection of only one of these options to arrive at a given decision of improving work productivity and employee retention.
Pareto Analysis
This a decision making technique used, at times, when managers in the organization need to make a multiple prompt decisions in an emergency. In other words, when many decisions are required to be made in a single time, managers of my organization use Pareto Analysis. By using this decision making technique, managers can easily prioritize depending on their urgency and situation, at large. Using Pareto Analysis, managers can decide which decisions need to be made at first (with highest priority) and which ones should be delayed in the meantime due to low priority .
This is decided by determining which decisions will have a larger affect on the corporate success of an organization. If the consequences of a certain decision are enormous, such a decision is given a high priority in the Pareto Analysis. In contrast, if the decision has minor impact on organizational settings and success, it is assigned low priority mark in the analysis.
Application of Pareto Analysis to Gentherm Incorporated
Consider the same situation where managers of the said company wish to improve employee productivity at work while retaining them in the long run. As managers considered different alternatives in Decision Matrix, the Pareto Analysis can help those managers to select the most feasible ones. Here, if managers realize that all of these alternatives should be implemented in place to motivate employees, they will be tempted to use Pareto Analysis in such a situation. Depending upon their likely impact on employee productivity and retention, managers will assign high and low priorities to each of the selected alternative for implementation.
Section 2 - Comparison of Decision-Making Techniques Identified in Section 1
In decision matrix, managers consider only one decision to be made for which different alternatives or solutions to a given problem are established. In contrast, Pareto analysis involves prioritizing different courses of actions or decisions to be made at a single point of time. In other words, decision matrix attempts to arrive at a single decision whereas Pareto Analysis involves taking several decisions at the same time depending upon the assigned priorities .
In decision matrix, managers evaluate different options or alternatives and select the most feasible one to arrive at a particular decision. In comparison to this, Pareto Analysis requires managers to make certain decisions at a single time depending on their causes, priorities and effects on organizational settings.
In decision matrix only a certain decision is to be made at one time whereas Pareto Analysis involves multiple decision making for addressing numerous root causes. Decision matrix involves assigning weights to certain alternatives to a solution whereas Pareto Analysis requires mangers to make several decision by assigning weights and priorities to certain decisions depending upon their causes and influence on organization.
Section 3 - Most Feasible Decision-Making Technique for Gentherm Incorporated
Experience and test results of years dictate that both the Decision Matrix and Pareto Analysis tend to be equally beneficial to Gentherm incorporated though applicable in completely different organizational settings. This is because Decision matrix involves selecting only the most feasible alternative for making a particular decision whereas Pareto Analysis involves considering all available alternatives with assigned priority.
In the same setting, if the management of Gentherm incorporated wishes to motivate all employees at the same time, it is highly suggested that the management should employ Pareto Analysis. This should be done to motivate and retain the existing workforce of Gentherm Incorporated by implementing all of the alternatives identified in section 1. However, this should be done by categorizing or prioritizing which of these alternatives are highly valued by the human capital of Gentherm incorporated for assigning high priority badges to each category.
In short, for Gentherm Incorporated, the ideal situation is to employ Decision Matrix whenever a certain number of employees need to be motivated for enhanced work productivity on an individual basis. However, when the entire workforce of Gentherm Incorporated is to be motivated for higher productivity and retention, it is imperative that Pareto Analysis should be used. In other words, one can say that Decision Matrix could be used to address an individual problem whereas Pareto Analysis could be structured to make simultaneous decisions about a more complex, collective and sophisticated concerns .
References
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Herrmann, J. W. (2015). Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management. John Wiley & Sons.
Power, D. J. (2013). Engineering Effective Decision Support Technologies: New Models and Applications: New Models and Applications. IGI Global.
Schoenfeldt, T. I. (2008). A Practical Application of Supply Chain Management Principles. ASQ Quality Press.
Vaughn, R. H. (2010). Decision-Making Training. American Society for Training and Development.
