DECISION MAKING PROCESS

We use our decision making skills to solve problems by selecting one course of action from several possible alternatives. Decision making skills are also a key component of time management skills. Decision making can be hard. Almost any decision involves some conflicts or dissatisfaction. The difficult part is to pick one solution where the positive outcome can outweigh possible losses. Avoiding decisions often seems easier. Yet, making your own decisions and accepting the consequence is the only way to stay in control of your time, your success, and your life.

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TYPES OF DECISIONS

The types of decisions are based on the degree of knowledge about the outcomes or the events yet to take place. If the manager has full and precise knowledge of the event or outcome which is to occur, then his problem of the decision making is not a problem. If the manager has full knowledge, then it is a situation of certainty. If he has partial knowledge or a probabilistic knowledge, then it is decision making under risk. If the manager does not have any knowledge whatsoever, then it is decision making under uncertainty.

A good MIS tries to convert a decision making situation under uncertainty to the situation under risk and further to certainty. Decision making in the operations management, is a situation of certainty. This is mainly because the manager in this field has fairly good knowledge about the events which are to take place, has full knowledge of environment, and has predetermined decision alternatives for choice or for selection.Decision making at the middle management level is of the risk type. This is because of the difficulty in forecasting an event with hundred per cent accuracy and the limited scope of generating the decision alternatives.

At the top management level, it is a situation of total uncertainty of account of insufficient knowledge of the external environment and the difficulty in forecasting business growth on a long-term basis.A good MIS design gives adequate support to all the three levees of management.

A manager can make two kinds of decision:

• Structured – which are repetitive and need a definite routine and procedure to deal with them, e.g. stock is below 15 %, so an order need to be place with a supplier.
• Unstructured – require knowledge, insight, and evaluation. They may well crop up without warning, and the right decision can be critical.