...Re: Self-assessment of decision-making style ______________________________________________________________________________ Based on the five basic decision-making styles I do not think that I abide to one style. I believe I use the “thinker” and “controller” approach to decision making. Thinkers are known to be the toughest to persuade. They are impressed with arguments that are supported by data and when making decisions they need as much information as possible. Thinkers are adverse to risk and like to take their time when making a decision. “Controllers” are similar to “thinkers” in many ways in that they hate uncertainty and tend to focus on facts. I use both the “thinker” and “controller” style however; I use the “thinker” approach more often. When it comes to making important decisions I want to know as much information as possible and I need to know all the risks that could happen. Also, I do not work well when there is uncertainty or ambiguity. I like to know all the risks and benefits upfront before I make my decision however I never make unilateral decisions. I always like to talk through and weigh my options as well as listen to other perspectives. The best way for someone with less authority than me to approach me about a particular topic would be to explain why this topic is of interest and who it affects. For example, if this request is coming from a staff member in my department, I would need to have as much information as possible...
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...Democratic decision making is when the leader gives up ownership and control of a decision and allows the group to vote. Majority vote will decide the action. Advantages include a fairly fast decision, and a certain amount of group participation. The disadvantage of this style includes no responsibility. An individual is not responsible for the outcome. In fact, even the group feels no real responsibility because some members will say, "I didn't vote for that.". Lack of group and personal responsibility seems to disqualify this style of decision making; however, the democratic style does have its place in business. Autocratic decision making is when the leader maintains total control and ownership of the decision. The leader is also completely responsible for the good or bad outcome as a result of the decision. The leader does not ask for any suggestions or ideas from outside sources and decides from his or her own internal information and perception of the situation. Advantages include a very fast decision, and personal responsibility by the leader, for the outcome. If an emergency situation exists, the autocratic style is usually the best choice. The disadvantages are varied and sometimes include less than desired effort from the people that must carry out the decision. If the employee is personally affected by the decision but not included when the decision is made, morale and effort may or may not suffer. It is not always predictable. If the outcome for the decision is not...
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...1. What are your highest and lowest rated styles? My highest style for decision-making is Directive, where I have low tolerance for ambiguity but I am efficient, rational, and logical in the way I think. I am focused on short term and quick to make decisions with minimal information and not carefully analyzing other alternatives. My lowest style would be behavioral, where someone with this style will work well with others, are open to suggestions, and are concerned about the achievements of their team. They generally try to avoid conflict and place importance on their acceptance by others. Which as me I do not care really to be accepted by others, I want my work done fast and right the first time. I have always been told “Why do anything at all if you don’t do it right the first time.” 2. Do you think the assessment results are accurate? Evaluate the results and give at least 2 examples to confirm or deny the assessment’s analysis of both your highest and lowest rated decision-making styles. I think the assessment is pretty much right on point for me at this time, in the past it would not be this way. I use to be very conceptual on my styles which I am still on some things, and now I am still that way on some of my decisions with other jobs or at home. Now, I am quick to make a decision like when at work with Toys R Us as a front floor manager I have to be quick to make decisions on how I have to handle customers who had a problem with either another worker or the product...
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...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HCMC INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS DECISION MAKING STYLES OF BUSINESS MANAGERS IN HO CHI MINH CITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of BACHELOR OF Business Administration Advisor: PHAN TRIEU ANH, Ph.D. Student’s name: DO TIEN THINH (BAIU08113) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2012 i DECISION MAKING STYLES OF BUSINESS MANAGERS IN HO CHI MINH CITY APPROVED BY: Advisor Committee APPROVED BY: Phan Trieu Anh, PhD., Chair ……………………………… ……………………………….. ………………………………. THESIS COMMITTEE (whichever applies) ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I wish to register my great thanks to (Almighty) Jehovah, the true God who strengthen my soul and spirit, and save me from being lost. I would like to show my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Phan Trieu Anh for his brilliant support, and precise advices. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family who has supported me a lot. My sincere appreciation also goes to my professors and lecturers at School of Business Administration, International University for teaching and training me during these four years. It would be a huge mistake if not mentioning my sincere appreciate to Miss Nu Hanh and all my friends who support me a lot during the semester that I had been doing my thesis. Last but not least, I would like to give my thanks to members of CIU, a small group bible study, who encourage me a lot. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...
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...Based on the different gender and different culture, people will make their consumer decision in different way. For an international business manager, he has to know where the most suitable place for the company’s production to go is and satisfied the consumers. Besides, I think this kind of decision-making style difference has to be considered seriously when doing the negotiation. During the negotiation both of the negotiators want to know what others want and try to give their feature companion the right thing in a highly-profit way. So it is considerably important to know what they actually want. I think both of the negotiators can see others as their customers, during the first stages of the negotiation, they can try them best to get know of them, to know their preference, to know what kind of purchase style they are using, so the negotiators can give a win-win price to each other. From the article, except the knowledge in the passage, I also learned how to compare two different things. I was thinking about if I want to know two different countries’ customers’ behavior, I don’t know how to do that and I was thinking to compare almost every part of the behavior while the author only compare the customers by dividing the customers with different country, different gender and just using CDs and handbag to learn the insight knowledge of the behavior. Although this method can only draw a basic conclusion about the topic and it has lots of limitation, this is the first step to...
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...RUNNING HEAD: DECISION-MAKING January 11, 2009 Problem Formulation and Identification Every organization uses its own decision-making style. Some organizations prefer to use a rational style, which centers on facts and figures, and logical and scientific approaches to their problems. Other companies use an intuitive style, which focuses on emotional aspects of problems and gut feelings. Recently, a group of business students observed how decisions are typically made at their own places of employment. Kori at Prescription Solutions, Jacob at Combined Arms Training Center, Isela at Housing Authority of the City of El Paso, and Micah at Brown-Forman where each examined the strategy most often employed at their organizations. It was found that while each has its own particular style, there were many similarities. These working students also found that each style uses its own set of strengths and weaknesses, and explored how a problem can be described to stakeholders in a manner that is sensitive to their perspectives with various style approaches. Rational Decision-Making Rational decision-making is “a deliberate and logical approach” (Robbins, 2004, p. 21). When faced with a decision, a rational thinker will “emphasize facts, details, and rational cause-effect logic” (Robbins, 2004, p. 21). When a decision must be made, Prescription Solutions’ upper management executives consider three logical business factors: customer satisfaction...
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...simple act of making decisions is an essential task leaders must perform effectively to succeed. Behavioral theories of leadership focus on how leaders approach a situation and whether they dictate orders or involve others to encourage support. Research into decision-making behavior has identified three broad categories of leaders: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire (Changing Minds, 2011). This paper will focus on these behavioral theories of leadership, primarily concentrating on participative leadership. An autocratic leader tells employees what to do and how to do it. On the opposite extreme, a laissez-faire leader allows employees to make their own decisions with little leader involvement. In the middle lies participative leadership where the leader includes employees in the decision-making process and lets them take part in determining what to do and how to do it (Big Dog & Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition, 2010) . My preferred leadership style is participative leadership, confirmed by a 30-item leadership style self-assessment focused on leadership style beliefs (Big Dog & Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition, 2010). I identify least with a laissez-faire leadership style as my organization expects leaders to be more intimately involved in most matters. In addition, I feel the need to be involved and am not comfortable completely relinquishing control, at least for important matters. I strongly believe in involving others in decision making but also understand...
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...RELATION OF PERSONALITY FACTORS AND DECISION-MAKING STYLES OF HAKIM SABZEVARI UNIVERSITY MANAGERS FATEMEH BAHRAMI*, MOHAMMAD AMIRI*, ESLAM PARANDVAR* *Hakim Sabzevari University, Assistant Professor at Department of Educational Psychology, Sabzevar, Iran. **Hakim Sabzevari University, Department of Educational Psychology, Sabzevar, Iran. ***Hakim Sabzevari University, Department of Educational Psychology, Sabzevar, Iran. Pinnacle Research Journals http://www.prj.co.in 46 ABSTRACT The present study was conducted in order to examine the relationship between the personality traits and the decision making styles of the managers of Hakim Sabzevari University. The statistical population includes all the managers of Hakim Sabzevari University who are in-charge of different positions. The number of managers is seventy people, 60 subjects based on Morgan Table were selected using simple random sampling method. The instruments used in the present study are Scott and Bruce General Decision Making Styles Questionnaire (1995) and NEO personality traits questionnaire. In order to analyze the data, description and inferential statistics including Pearson, step by step regression, t test, unidirectional ANOVA and Tokay follow-up test were used. The results indicated that: the marital and single status did not affect the decision making styles of the manager and education and experience only affected the avoidance decision making styles. The extroversion and consciousness...
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...My Personal Leadership Style: Participative Introduction A Participative Leadership style requires the leader to include all members of the team to participate in any decision making processes. This is a very common style among new leaders and it is quickly becoming the preferred leadership style with many companies. A participative leadership style can further be broken into three subcategories: democratic, consultative, and consensus. Democratic: This type of participative leadership style is used best in environments where there is never a set constant and things are rapidly changing. Because these types of business are constantly evolving, all options or considerations for improvement must be taken into account. This styles allows for everyone including the leader to be able to speak openly and freely with any types of ideas or concerns that they may have. According to the article Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Leadership Approach for the Situation (2014), democratic leaders encourage creativity, and people are often highly engaged in projects and decisions. The leader makes the decision based off of consensus of most of the members of the team. Consultative: This type of style puts a lot of the brainstorming ideas in the hands of the team members. It uses the skill sets of others. The team members are the generally those that represent their particular department and can speak on how certain actions can affect their department. The leader is usually...
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...Leadership Style Charlene Taylor WGU 000345193 Leadership Style Analysis There are many leadership styles that were presented in the reading. As well as the reading, I completed an assessment “What’s Your Leadership Style?” (About.com). This assessment, as well as my reading of the material identified my style as participative and situational leadership. Participative leadership involves engaging multiple group members in the decision making process, as well as problem solving. The leader does have the final choice in the decision. This style of leadership helps to encourage and motivate group members. “This style of leadership often leads to more effective and accurate decisions, since no leader can be an expert in all areas” (About.com). As a participative leader, I always drive teamwork among my team. This gives the members of my team the ability to share in the decision making processes of the company. Participative leadership does have some negative factors. Participative leadership “results in extensive and time-consuming team meetings and committee work” (Dublin, 2010). Many managers also believe that giving group members a share in the decision making lowers their power. Another weakness in this style is that a decision cannot be made until the entire group agrees on something. This can slow down productivity, as the group argues and discusses the points until everyone unanimously agrees. Situational leadership occurs...
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...Weaknesses of decision making styles. While autocratic decision making styles may have their benefits there are some weaknesses that can be seen from this type of decision making style. The decision-making process is usually unilateral, and they accomplish goals by directing people. Money-Zine.com points out those organizations with many autocratic leaders have higher turnover and absenteeism than other organizations. With today's emphasis on joint decision making and empowerment, employees can become highly resistant to this management style. The autocratic leadership style should not be used when you want to get your employees engaged in the decision-making process. Autocratic decision making can also have a negative impact on a company if the company is experiencing low morale. People tend to feel worse about their situation if they feel that they don’t have any say in their organization or that their voice doesn’t matter. Collaborative-Participative is another decision making style that has a lot of benefits for employee involvement, but there are some clear disadvantages to this style. The main disadvantage is its inefficiency. It is a very slow and time intensive process because it involves many people to be involved from even an early stage. Security may also become an issue because of all of the people involved. These downfalls are the reason that collaborative-participative is used on decisions that are not time sensitive or sensitive to information...
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...Leadership Task 1 September 16, 2014 Leadership Analysis Personal Leadership Style After reading Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills, I believe that I fall into a Participative style of leadership, as I am very big on getting feedback about decisions, especially when the feedback is from a person or persons that have more experience in the current situation than I do. My philosophy in life and business is that most likely someone has already encountered the same project or problem and would have insight on how to accomplish or resolve. Further, I believe this mindset would put me in the subcategory of a consultative leader, where I gather input, but retain the final decision making authority. “Consultative leaders confer with group members before making a decision. However, they retain the final authority to make decisions” (Dubrin, 2010). I know that as a manager, I can be detached from everyday work that matters to the customers. This is where those whom I manage would be able to offer more insight on operations. Additionally, I am not well versed in every aspect of operations within a company, therefore, I would rely on experts in their fields, i.e., marketing, to provide insight. The openness of management with this style is a strength. As workers on the front line are involved with customers and daily operations, their feedback is valuable and real, it helps play a part in strategic planning. When employees know their opinions matter and that management...
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...Effective Decision Making Abstract Managers judge the effectiveness of decision in terms of quality, timeliness, acceptance, and ethical appropriateness. The decision-making process is improved though creative problem solving and brainstorming. They way managers frame problems significantly affect the outcome. The effectiveness of a decision depends on cognitive biases and organizational barriers. Effective leader communicate well and motivate others. Managers match a leadership style with a preferred style for the situation. They develop a range of leadership styles and adapt to different situations. Quality, timeliness, acceptance, and appropriateness are components of decision-making. Transformational leaders have vision that guides and motivates them to higher goals. They motivate other to a higher level. Super leaders go a step further by helping others realize and maximize their abilities. Charismatic leaders motivate followers to make significant changes. Decision-Making Skills The effectiveness of a decision depends on factors such as the characteristics of the decision maker, various cognitive biases, and organizational barriers. In decision-making, managers vary in the amount or information, skills, or experience they have. They use different styles in making decision. Some focus on the details of a situation and compile them into a sensible decision. Others rely on their intuitive sense about a situation or focus on the “big picture.” Due to the complexity and...
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...There is one thing that all leaders have him common, making decisions. A leader is one who influences others to attain goals. Leadership orchestrates change, set direction, and motivate people to overcome obstacles and move the organization toward its ideal future (Bateman & Snell, 2011, p. 444). Every leader has a different style of leading, approaching, teaching, engaging and making decisions. While some think that making the decisions is the easy job; that is not always the case. To be an effective leader there must be a thought process or plan to assist you with making those easy and tough decisions. This paper will discuss the Vroom leadership model and Fielder’s contingency model of leadership effectiveness. The Vroom model uses the basic situational approach of assessing the situation before determining the best leadership style (Bateman & Snell, 2011, p. 430). The Vroom leadership model should always involve making independent decisions, collaborating with followers, facilitation or delegation depending on the circumstances. By answering a series of questions, you reach one of the possible endpoints. When using the Vroom model to make decisions, each endpoint will advise you which of the five decision styles that would best suit your situation. Some say that the Vroom process is a bit complicated. However, the model has been has been especially successful when major decisions need to be made. Using the Vroom model ensure that you do not forget to consider the situational...
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...A critique of Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally’s Approach to Decision Making. By Ally M Mukasa Executive Summary Ford Motor Company is a public company founded on June 16 th 1903 by Henry Ford. It is headquartered at Dearborn, Michigan in the United States of America. Its products are mainly automobiles but it also offers automotive finance, vehicle leasing and vehicle servicing. Ford has three divisions which include; Ford, Lincoln and Motocraft. Ford has subsidiaries all over the world. Mr Alan R. Mulally is its president and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr Mulally worked at Boeing. His journey from aerospace to automaker industry was a new challenge but an opportunity for him to prove to the sceptics that an aerospace person can run an automaker. Among the challenges he faced were; the economy in recession, soaring prices of gas, a calcified corporate culture, a general lack of transparency in decision making, fractious divisions, the penchant cycling of executives into new jobs every few years, the problem of pre-meetings that was antiethical to decision-making, and hiding problems. Mulally had to make decisions to address the challenges mentioned. His decision making style is much of directive with low tolerance for ambiguity than behavioural or people-centred. He did not involve Ford staffers below top echelon in decision-making. He downsized the company, closed down underperforming factories, stopped the cycling of executives into...
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