Decision Making
Decision making is distinctive in the management process because it is regarded as a crucial technique in workplaces. The following is a list of the resources available to you. Making decisions is important for achieving success in life and at work. Before making a decision, one must have sufficient knowledge, commitment, and objective because it can lead to either failure or success at work (Tversky, 2012). When a decision was taken at the wrong moment and there was a misfit, a remedy to redo what was redone must be devised. A successful, efficient, productive and successful decision making involve enough knowledge from the gathered data, selection, evaluating data and the plan of development.
The Importance of a Systematic Approach
It is advisable to avoid focusing on the position, but the interest if in case acceptance and mutual gain is to be achieved. When an individual is at work, some workmates may help them to make positive and productive decisions. It is important to have a systematic approach when making decisions so as to have confidentiality in conclusion reached. The best method of making the decision is by having the ability to listen so as to learn from others and to also have the confidence of making a fair decision. This essay focuses on the critical reflection of a personal decision that an individual will make in a particular scenario. We will also discuss the issue that emerged, the decision that was made by using frameworks and models while coming up with the conclusion. We will also look at the Cognitive Dissonance that occurred and how it was dealt with.
Scenario
I used to work in an electronic company as an intern in the HR department, and my duties were to assist the branch manager in the HR roles such as recruiting, selecting, making performance and employees sheet so as to determine the role of each staff. It was a good experience since I was gaining a lot of experience regarding the activities and methods involved in processes and functioning of human resource department. My manager had diverse experience and knowledge particularly in the function and process of human resource. My work entailed more on job analysis and helping my boss in designing job specifications & description, making salary spreadsheet and appropriate selection of candidates who had applied for different positions in the organization.
Realizing Problems
The first step that one needs, to do is to have the decision-making component because it is highly recognized it times of coming up with decisions. One problem that may occur in an organization or company is when the target is unsatisfied. When a manager sees something productive in employees, they may then make a decision especially when it comes to recruiting. The leader should also recognize a problem and act fast before they make up their mind. (Eastlick, 2012). The process of realizing problems requires one to be alert towards the external and internal environment because it can affect the organization either directly or indirectly.
The Recruitment Process
There was a period I worked closely with my supervisor in hiring because we wanted to fill the right candidate to the vacancy and only one person was required. My role entailed making phone calls to the applicants, inviting them, and directing them for the aptitude tests so that they could take the preliminary interview. Out of the ten candidates that had good experiences in their curriculum vitae, only one passed the initial test and got an invite for the second interview. He had two years' expertise in the related field but differed a bit with the exact position he applied for, but due to the good experience history, he was selected. The salary for the candidate was also negotiable, and he sure got a good remuneration which was based on his experience of work. Personally, I did not make any decisions when the candidate was being employed, but I was part of the decision-making process since I still had to enquire from my supervisor concerning any step that was to be taken.
The Role of the External Environment
The external environment plays a very vital role, particularly when information is provided towards an organization since it assesses the weaknesses and strengths of the company which is sometimes accompanied with the external threats. Enduring problems from the decisions made needs subsequent steps since the manager must define and determine ways of achieving the desired outcomes. Also, the manager needs to realize the mistake that happened so as to make a prompt and efficient decision taking into account the nature of the internal and external environment.
Poor Performance and Ignored Appraisals
When the employee was recruited, his performance did not meet the variable remunerations because they were below satisfactory. He had abysmal performance and was not even able to show his excellence in the field he was hired for. When the entire team was going through the process of appraisal particularly for the new employees after a few months, the results for this particular employee was below expectations, and the manager ignored. The manager instead recognized the second appraisal when the employee's performance improved. This in other words is known as heuristic because the bias of decision making from the leader while rating the employee ignored the overall picture. Based on bad performance, the manager could have been cautious in the general overview of the overall performance during the whole period.
Availability Bias and Lack of Alternatives
The situation had an issue related to the availability of making a right decision bias of recruiting. The majority of people have the tendency of making their judgment based on the readily provided information. In this case, the manager was impressed with the experience the candidate had and even after realizing the poor performance, he still believed he was capable. Events that tend to occur after a decision is made tends to be available in their memory longer. Another constraint that was seen was for the company because of the actions of the manager of not having other alternatives about the matter of the candidate.
Effects of Past Decisions
Past decision usually affects the present situation, and so, the conclusion from the manager was believed to be the best because he confidently selected the candidate regardless of the evidence that showed the opposite of his performance. The manager could also have determined the steps to take after discovering the problem. He could have defined the situation before achieving the desired outcomes. Then, the leader could have taken the second phase by having alternative solutions to the problem instead of assuming the way he did. He could also ask for options from me since we took the initiative of recruiting the candidate together and we could have come with a creative alternative decision.
Cognitive Dissonance and Conclusions
Cognitive dissonance is a significant cause of discomfort due to stress is seen in professionals who work in an organization that is commonly brought by the decisions from the management and human resource (Aronson, 2013). In this function, the workers are sometimes exposed towards tolerant, executing and supporting tasks that have conflicts of whether what they realize it is of training, right, and wrong or of personal values. In our scenario of recruiting, other employees were directly affected by the performance of the candidate, and this gave them stress because they could not bear the poor performance. This was also seen after the appraisal because the results were still bad but still ignored by the manager. The advantages of making such decisions particularly when the manager recruited the candidate are that, if the experience co-related to his performance, then we can say a good candidate was recruited. The disadvantages of making some decisions now depend on the overall view of the choice.
Final Thoughts
In this case, we see that the candidate did not fulfill the promises of his curriculum vitae by not performing well. Here, the manager could have found another alternative instead of assuming even after the appraisals. I have never experienced cognitive dissonance, but I had seen it when my manager who was also my trainer go through it. If it were me, I could have fired the candidate immediately because, besides the poor performance, his appraisals were also wrong. Those could be enough supporting grounds to deal with the matter. Other employees including the manager entered the stages of having stress because if this candidate. So the best way was to find a quick replacement of the same position because if left vacant, there would be still stressed because of straining to do the extra work.
References
Aronson, E. (2013). Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Eastlick, D. (2012). Assisting Decision Making in Component Design for Sustainable Manufacturing.
Tversky, A. (2012). Decision Making: Descriptive, Normative, and Prescriptive Interactions. Cambridge University Press.
