Manager's Nuclear/Secret Weapon

So any idea what is that critical/secret weapon in a managers armory ?

As you have rightly guessed , 

Management and managers are all about Decision Making. Without sound decision making skills one can never be a manager let alone being a good manager. And good decisions don’t come by fluke; there is a specific technique/approach that needs to be followed to solve a problem, to take a decision. Now we will have look at the most important weapons in a manager’s armory.

DECISION MAKING

We need to take decisions in our personal and professional life every day, every time. And it is very important for us to arrive at the best possible decision. Not doing that can lead to big repercussions like , a company running into huge losses because of a wrong decision taken, personal loss/catastrophe in personal life because of a bad decision taken. I hope none of us want that. To help you out, I would like to preset before you the secret recipe for success, for optimal decision making. The Secret Nuclear weapon is none other than Decision Making/Problem Solving.

There are four steps in the Problem Solving - Decision Making process:

Step 1: Situation Analysis. Out of all the problems we have at hand, we need to do some valuing and we need to set priorities of what is urgent and what is important based on the urgency and criticality of the problems.

Step 2: Problem Analysis. After deciding in the first step what problem to take up first, then we need to properly DEFINE the problem at hand. This needs information gathering from various sources both internal and external to explore all the dimensions.

Step 3: Solution Analysis.  After defining the problem we move towards solving it. To do the same, first we need to GET IDEAS to solve the problem. This can be from brain storming sessions. Then we need to MAKE A DECISION. By nature, both these are contradictory. IDEA GETTING is an expanding or selection process while the DECISION MAKING process is a contracting or eliminating process. Usually we use the Dialectical Method to reach a decision.

Step 4: Implementation. After making the decision and selecting an appropriate solution, implementation is extremely important. Without this then all the decision making is an utter waste of time. We need to get others involved as they are also stakeholders and we need to make a proper plan for implementation. 

For achieving greater simplicity in understanding we can break down this 4 step process into 7 steps:

There are other aspects of decision making too. Would like to throw some light on them below:

These are the four types of decision making and their implementation. 

·                     Individual Decision and Individual Implementation: In the first process, there is a possibility of wrong decision being taken as the problem understanding and decision making is done by a single individual who might not have explored the problem multi-dimensionally, or may have approached the problem in a biased manner. In this case the implementer is a single person, so based on the same lines the possibility of implementation of a good solution is also less.

·                     Individual Decision and Group Implementation: In the second one, everything is same except that there is a group to perform the task. In such case if a good decision is taken, then the implementation can be much better than in the first case.

·                     Group Decision and Individual Implementation: In the third one, a group decision is taken. This increases the chance of understanding the problem holistically and multi-dimensionally and thereby increasing the probability of arriving at the correct solution. But implementation still depends upon the single person who can make some mistakes as he is the only one performing the task. This model is followed very rarely.

·                     Group Decision and Group Implementation: This combines the best of both the worlds. Here a group decision is taken along with a group implementation. This increases the chance of the problem being efficiently solved and implemented.

So considering all the above models, 'group decision and group implementation ' when rightly used, has the highest chances of being the most successful one.

Now you know what that secret weapon is. If you used efficiently and effectively it can lead to wonder and excellence !

We also happened to touch upon the very important concept of Job Design :

 Job Design is the process of deciding the contents of a job. It fixes the duties and responsibilities of the job, the methods of doing the job and the relationships between the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.   

        We must understand that Job Design is different from Organizational Design. Job Design is a MICRO level process while Organizational Design is a MACRO level process. How jobs are designed is very important and crucial to an organization. Jobs SHOULD lead to happiness and self-satisfaction which in turn MUST lead to high Productivity and better levels of Excellence. We can improve significance by giving incentives. Incentives need not be money alone. It could be recognition from higher management (like a photo with the CEO for the best employee.

Job design basically takes place by looking into 5 Aspects:

1) Skill Variant - If it is Low , Medium or High?

2) Task Identity - If it has Low , No or High identity?

3) Task Significance - Is the job least significant, most significant or of no significance at all?

4) Autonomy - does the worker have autonomy?

5) Feedback - how quickly will feedback be given?

Next time you are satisfied/dissatisfied with your job , you will now be able to relate what went right or what went wrong !