Decision-making is a key task for every manager. Many senior managers are paid high salaries simply because they are able to analyse large quantities of information and reach a good decision.

Middle managers will have to make decisions about how their team or department will carry out particular tasks, and will need to decide on a suitable work plan. Even the most junior manager will be expected to make a decision when a team member asks questions such as “What do you want me to do next?”

Many decisions at work need to be made in a systematic, logical way. This module focuses largely on that systematic approach.

The manager needs to start by deciding exactly what aspects of work they need to think about - what problem of opportunity are we considering?

The next stage is to identify the possible ways of overcoming the problem of benefiting from the opportunity - what options have we got?

He or she can then go on to collect information about the situation and each of the options. What do we know, and (often just as important) what don’t we know?

Finally, the manager (perhaps in consultation with other people) needs to make a decision. You’ll see that there are a number of techniques that can help here, but you’ll also see that this stage involves considering a range of factors and thinking about the options from many perspectives. One of the key points is to beware of unintended consequences: you don’t want to adopt what you think is a good policy and find that it causes you problems that you had not even thought about.

As you work though this module, you will also meet a range of decisions that may affect any manager.  Inevitably these will not relate to the specific situations that affect your particular company, industry and country. Try always to expand the ideas here to apply to your own work situation, perhaps discussing them with colleagues or friends.

We will encourage you to think about ways of making the best decision and selecting the best option. However, you should also remember the risks of making a poor decision. You would not want to be remembered for selecting the design for the 2001 PontiacAztek, the 1987 Yugo, or the 1958 Edsel Corsair: all on the lists of the worst ten cars. And you certainly would not want to be remembered as the manager who made health and safety decisions before Union Carbide’s disastrous explosion at their Bhopal factory, killing 2,500 people overnight. 

Decision making is certainly one of the key areas upon which a managers success depends and therefore that which has the greatest potential impact on a business’s success or failure. A great decision can make a business. A poor decision can destroy a business. This module explores the various issues involved in making good decisions and implants various models that can be employed to ensure at least part of the risk is removed from decision making. By the end of the module students will understand the complexity of decision masking and be able to put in place a clear process in improving their own skills.