Summary Decision-making is the selection of a course of action from among alternatives it is the core planning. Managers make decisions that must be carried out by others. The types of decisions they make, and the conditions under which they make them, will vary. They must, therefore, tailor their decision-making approach to their particular problems and circumstances. Programmed decisions are those that are adopted by routine nature of the problem, habit or policy. Non-programmed decisions are those that are new. Most important decisions will be non-programmed; they will require careful and logical consideration. The conditions under which managers make decisions will vary with the amount of information they have. Under conditions of certainty, managers know precisely what the results will be of each of the alternatives available to them. Under conditions of risk, they know within a small margin of error the probable outcome of each alternative. Under condition of uncertainty, the probabilities are not known precisely. When managers face an important problem or opportunity, and it is their responsibility to decide what to do about it, they can best arrive at a good, rational decision by using the formal decision-making approaches. Group decision making was discussed and different types of group decision making techniques were explained. Review Questions Multiple Choice Questions 1. A decision made in response to changes in the external environment is said to be ..... a) Proactive b) Intuitive c) Reactive d) Systematic e) Pragmatic 2. A group decision making technique where individuals are not allowed to criticise solutions suggested by others is known as a) The Dephi technique b) MBO technique c) Brainstorming technique d) The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) e) Random sample technique 3. Which of these is NOT an advantage of individual decision making a) Decision fast b) Implementation of the decision will be fast c) Decision is generally correct d) Job satisfaction of the manager will be high e) The decision maker can easily be identified 4. Which of these is NOT a disadvantage of group decision making a) It is expensive b) It breeds personality conflict
135 c) It provides more information d) Consensus may not be genuine e) It is time consuming 5. A statement showing the direction of an organisation is called ..... a) Vision b) Mission c) Objective d) Focus e) Goal