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Appraisal of Management Decisions

Management decision making

Decision-making is an essential aspect of modern management. It is a primary function of management. A manager takes hundreds of decisions consciously and subconsciously. A decision may be defined as “a course of action which is consciously chosen from among a set of alternatives to achieve a desired result.” It represents a well-balanced judgment and a commitment to action. Decision-making pervades all managerial actions and a continuous process. Decision-making is an indispensable component of the management process itself.

Management decision-making process steps:

1. Define the problem.
2. Identify limiting factors.
3. Develop potential alternatives.
4. Analyze the alternatives.
5. Select the best alternative.
6. Implement the decision.
7. Establish a control and evaluation system

Objectives of appraisal of management decisions 

The main objective of appraisal of management decision is to see how decisions are taken, whether decisions taken are meeting the organisation objectives. Whether documentation is made to substantiate the decision making process.

Management decision making appraisal process

1. In appraisal of management decision, one of the most important things is to see whether the objectives are well defined. Objectives and outputs should be set out clearly and relate explicitly to policy or strategy. They should be defined so that it can be established by evaluation after the event whether and to what extent objectives have been met. It is important that objectives are not described in such a way as to exclude options. Ideally objectives should be SMART i.e. specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-dependent

2. Check while taking the decision how many options have been considered. These must include a “do nothing” or “do minimum” option which provide a benchmark against which other options can be judged. Factors below could influence the choice of alternatives:

• Risk;
• Timing;
• Scale and location;
• Scope for shared service arrangements with other public bodies;
• Degree of private sector involvement;
• Capacity of the market to deliver the required output;
• Alternative asset uses;
• Use of new or established technology; and
• Environmental equality.

3. For Major Investment Projects as wide a range of options as possible should be considered before preparing a short list for full appraisal. Time pressures frequently cause a manager to move forward after considering only the first or most obvious answers. However, successful problem solving requires thorough examination of the challenge, and a quick answer may not result in a permanent solution. Thus, a manager should think through and investigate several alternative solutions to a single problem before making a quick decision. Techniques like brainstorming, Delphi technique, nominal group technique may be used to develop alternative solution. Where some options are dismissed before a full appraisal the reasons should be explained.

4. Whether potential options are analyzed reviewed in terms of value costs, benefits, risk and uncertainties of options

While evaluating various options, it is necessary to decide the relative merits of each idea. Managers must identify the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative solution before making a final decision.

Evaluating the alternatives can be done in numerous ways.

• Determine the pros and cons of each alternative.
• Perform a cost-benefit analysis for each alternative.
• Weight each factor important in the decision, ranking each alternative relative to its ability to meet each factor, and then multiply by a probability factor to provide a final value for each alternative.

Regardless of the method used, a manager needs to evaluate each alternative in terms of its

• Feasibility — can it be done?
• Effectiveness — How well does it resolve the problem situation?
• Consequences — what will be its costs (financial and nonfinancial) to the organization?

5. Whether the options are selected after due analysis and a consensus decision is taken

After a manager has analyzed all the alternatives, it is necessary that the best one should be selected. While reviewing the management decision making, it is necessary to see which option have been selected. If an option other than the best option have been selected, it is necessary that justification need to be given. While reviewing whether the selected decision is best of not, justification given may be evaluated. The basic elements of internal control should prevail in decision making process

Sometimes, though, the best alternative may not be obvious. That’s when a manager must decide which alternative is the most feasible and effective, coupled with which carries the lowest costs to the organization. Probability estimates, where analysis of each alternative’s chances of success takes place, often come into play at this point in the decision-making process. In those cases, a manager simply selects the alternative with the highest probability of success. All such cases should be reviewed with utmost care

6. Whether the selected alternative implemented efficiently

Managers are paid to make decisions, but they are also paid to get results from these decisions. Positive results must follow decisions. Everyone involved with the decision must know his or her role in ensuring a successful outcome. To make certain that employees understand their roles, managers must thoughtfully devise programs, procedures, rules, or policies to help them in the problem-solving process. While reviewing the implementation phase, it should be seen whether the proper policies and program have been designed to implement the selected proposition. Whether the selected alternative has been implemented as decided.

7. Review of management decision control and evaluation system

Ongoing actions need to be monitored. An evaluation system should provide feedback on how well the decision is being implemented, what the results are, and what adjustments are necessary to get the results that were intended when the solution was chosen.

In order for a manager to evaluate his decision, he needs to gather information to determine its effectiveness. Was the original problem resolved? If not, is he closer to the desired situation than he was at the beginning of the decision-making process?

If a manager’s plan hasn’t resolved the problem, he needs to figure out what went wrong. A manager may accomplish this by asking the following questions:

• Was the wrong alternative selected? If so, one of the other alternatives generated in the decisionmaking process may be a wiser choice.
• Was the correct alternative selected, but implemented improperly? If so, a manager should focus attention solely on the implementation step to ensure that the chosen alternative is implemented successfully