Managerial Decision Making in Today\'s

Managerial Decision Making

In today's increasingly competitive global business environment, the role of the upper layers of management is essential in defining a vision, a set of strategic objectives and the means by which these objectives can be reached. In many situations, a good manager can make the difference between profit and loss, between success and failure. The article "Good Managers Don't Make Policy Decisions" aims to identify, through direct observation, the main five qualities that a successful manager is likely to have. We will analyze three of these and support our critique with a couple of well picked arguments.

Talent 1: A good manager has to be well informed

The article supports the idea that a good manager has to be well informed as to the operational issues that go on within the organization. According to the author, many of the top level managers have worked during the career at different levels of the organization and, in this sense, have different sources of information they can approach in order to get multiple feedbacks and opinions related to a certain issue. This would give them a larger picture than if the information came to them only through the general hierarchical channels, which generally act a as a filter of information rather than an enhancer of facts and issues.

The purpose of such an information search at all levels of the organization is to ensure that the information is "live and accurate." This means that the strategic decisions that the upper management will make is based on the actual operational realities, of which the manager is well informed.

A connection with all levels of the organization is also important in being aware of all times of the different issues and problems that the employees may have. A touch of diplomacy is always necessary here so as not to undermine the authority of the lower level managers.

To these arguments, all directed to the internal structure of the organization, I would add that the upper level manager needs to be just as well informed about what is going on outside the company and that the decisions he makes should also be made on verifiable, perfectly sound information about the realities of the external environment as well. The internal network should probably be extrapolated to support an external network, providing just as useful information.

II. Talent 2: A good manager can focus time and energy

This talent starts from one of the basic economic principles that states that the resources are always limited, while the needs remain unlimited. Extrapolating to the condition of the manager of a company, it is obvious that his attention is practically needed by all the activities, problems and issues that might arise within the organization. The talented manager will know which of these to select, which of these require his permanent attention and which can be solved by the operational managers, with only the information being passed on to himself.

The key word related to this talent is delegation, the capacity of the manager to delegate his work and to obtain the same positive results. Obviously, there is no time for the manager to attend to everything within the company, he needs to decide which objectives require the presence of his own activity.

The flow of information is essential here, in the sense that it needs to be not only top-down (from the top manager to the lower managers carrying instructions for a certain project), but also down-top, with the operational managers providing feedback on proposed solutions, on the results obtained etc.

III. Talent 3: A good manager can "muddle without a purpose"

According to the author, this is the most important talent that a modern manager is required to have. Paraphrasing the definition for this talent given in the article, a talented manager will always be aware of the fact that not all his programs and solutions are likely to be accepted and applied throughout the organization by the company's employees. In this sense, a good manager will recognize the futility of trying to successfully implement all his programs and will regard it as a successful venture if at least some of the programs are implemented and the movement is in the direction that he has seen fit.

This is not only something that should be related with directing and implementing, but also with evaluation and control. As such, if at the end of a certain period of time, the evaluation that the manager will perform will point to towards positive trends, trends that encourage the perspective that things are moving in the right direction, then there is no need to remain stuck with the idea that some of the programs and projects were not fully implemented. A global perspective on the corporation and the way it is progressing is preferred to an operational, minimalist perspective.

Such an approach to business and decision making is also likely to give the manager a greater flexibility in a market whose conditions and general characteristics are constantly changing. It helps in discovering and speculating on the different relationships that are formed within the organization in terms of teams, ideas etc. In the end, such opportunities and relationship impact on and influence the decision making process, probably the most important goal of the top management.