Posts Tagged ‘management’
Organizational Management : Making Decisions
In this part of our guide to organizational management we cover decision making…
Effective managers are tasked with making decisions ranging from large to small on a daily basis. An effective organization employs managers who are problem-solvers and who can make good decisions constantly.
The first step in doing so is to prioritize problems according to the effect they have on the organization, ensuring that decisions are made first on the ones of most significance to the organization. Having prioritized, each problem should then be worked through systematically before a final decision is made on it.
Jumping to conclusions should be avoided as first impressions rarely give the whole picture – obtaining and assessing all the information available being the best way to prevent doing this. Such information should ideally be from more than one source to prevent bias and should be verifiable in some way.
Collecting information in order to obtain a complete understanding of the issue is only the first step, however. Once the information is available, then it is wise to brainstorm different solutions and possible options in order to get more than one perspective. Such options can start out as wide-ranging, and then can be narrowed down to fit the scope of the problem.
Having identified a set of options and solutions, feedback and suggestions on them, along with alternatives, should be sought from consultations with others. For the most part, group decisions (particularly where the group contains people who the end decision will affect) are preferable to those made by individuals as a pool of knowledge, skills and experience can be drawn upon.
Available assistance in the decision-making process can come in the form of Pareto Analysis, Paired Comparison Analysis, Grid Analysis, PMI, Six Thinking Hats, Starbursting, and Decision Trees, to name but a few. These techniques should not be relied upon solely to make a decision, but should be used to guide the process and offer a more scientific-approach. This is of particular importance where the decision-maker is a little too close to the issue to see the bigger picture.
The final step will be to weigh the positive benefit of each proposed solution against any negative impact such decision may incur, as few solutions can be implemented without some draw-back. The best solution will be the one that offers the most positive benefit, with the least likelihood of negative side-effects.
Managing Our Time
Some people are just born with computer skills. They can spend hours in front of the screen without feeling the time passing by. Well, I am not one of them. I have always enjoyed traveling, meeting people personally, talking to them. Of course, these days it is impossible not to use a lot of technology every day, but I tried to do without it as much as I could.
We were shown how to use it, and we were expected to note everything down in it, all contacts, appointments, meetings we had during the day. As I said, I’m not skilled with these devices, so it wasn’t easy for me at first, plus I often forgot to charge it, but after I have understood how it works, and I have found a car charger for it, everything went on smoothly.
We were shown how to use it, and we were expected to note everything down in it, all contacts, appointments, meetings we had during the day. As I said, I’m not skilled with these devices, so it wasn’t easy for me at first, plus I often forgot to charge it, but after I have understood how it works, and I have found a car charger for it, everything went on smoothly.
This is how I got friends with my hp ipaq 211 pda , the gadget that knows everything. The company checks them periodically, so we have to put everything we do into the HP PDA. Some people felt compelled to work extra hard since they’ve got it, but as hard work has always been part of my job, I didn’t have to change anything.
Actually, this PDA has changed something. My bosses took notice of the hard work I have always done for the company, so I got a promotion. That was something I owe to my iPAQ, just as my new car is owed to it, too.
Don’t Leave a Broken Window Broken
If not repaired it won’t take long for a building with one broken window to quickly turn in to a building with many broken windows. Fixing problems when they are small will prevent them from developing into larger problems.
When considering the level of employee satisfaction the same is true. Dissatisfaction spreads like wildfire and in a surprisingly short period of time you’ve got morale problems of the kind that are notoriously hard to fix.
Ensuring your employees are happy is mostly about being tuned into what their problems are and, importantly, dealing with them early on. Keeping the initiative is important and it is nearly always better to give a little and often.
This turns out be a vicious circle. Fixing the problem when it’s small is also when it’s easiest and when it’s cheapest. There is little advantage for the employer to wait until they are prompted by the employee to make urgent change, if they are proactive the employer can operate from a position of strength and that in turn will help maintain the respect that their employees have towards them. Employees like strong, confident management and the management will gain the respect of the workforce if they take time to understand the issues.
Compare that with those managers who are out of touch. They arrive late at a problem so they are on the defensive, and with their credibility eroded they have to concede to demands which in turn could lead to further and less reasonable demands. It’s not big and it’s not clever.
How then can an organization monitor the morale of the employees without a big budget and an abundance of spare time?
Online employee surveys. They offer a solution that is quick, easy and low cost. Surveys can be created in minutes and deployed in seconds, with the results compiled in real time; and by using email and websites they cost nothing to disseminate.
A corporate internet is the ideal delivery mechanism.
By linking through to an online survey website a company can regularly conduct surveys so they become part and parcel of the daily operations.
With the ability of online surveys to produce real-time results the mood of the workforce can instantly gauged and collective and individual concerns highlighted.
Organisations can use survey results to identify problem areas and then use follow-up surveys to target specific areas of concern. With good information managers are able to get to the root of specific problems and prepare a considered response.
A major advantage of regular surveys is that it allows a company to address small problems in a timely manner avoiding ‘the straw that broke the camels back’ syndrome where a relatively insignificant incident unleashes a torrent of pent up concerns.
It should not be forgotten that most employees appreciate being consulted and asking their opinion is not seen as a sign of weakness but an indicator of good decision making.
Very occasionally management problems can be solved with something that is quick, easy and won’t break the bank; this is fortunately just one of those occasions.
Guarantee Future Earnings with Education
Most people have known for a long time that one of the secrets to success is education. There is a direct correlation between higher earnings and higher education, not to mention the many chances for more responsibility and management duties that come along with those higher wages and advancement. For many, this is the type of career they want, and yet it can be difficult for some to arrange attending school while retaining their current position or looking after their families. That is why finding an online MBA college can be the answer for many of these people. It is now possible to complete an entire MBA degree all from the comfort of your home computer, through over a hundred different schools. This means that you have options as far as the quality of the education that you will receive, as well as the cost.
For many, the cost of returning to school can be a daunting one. Although there are financial aid and student loan programs available to many, a lot of people feel that after the current financial crisis the last thing they want to do is to be taking on more debt. Fortunately, just as there is in regular brick and mortar classrooms, there is a wide price range in the available MBA programs online. An online MBA cost might vary anywhere from as little as just over $7000, to just over $100,000. This is the same sort of wild price gap that we see in regular educational institutions, and so making the decisions about which school to complete your MBA through might depend on both what specialty you wish to have, and how much you can afford to pay in tuition fees.
However, even though the cost of these courses can seem quite steep at times to people, you have to remember that you are investing in your future. An online MBA course may carry a hefty upfront payment in order to complete your course, but education is always an investment in your future, and one that pays dividends much more reliably than certain other investments you could make. No one tries to dispute the fact that education can be costly, but there are a lot of facts and figures which all go to show that people with an MBA earn considerably more than their less educated counterparts, and so not only will you earn that payment back, but likely earn it back many times over after you have completed your program.