Problem Solving and Decision Making Essay

Much of what managers and supervisors do is solve fusss and make conclusions. New managers and supervisors, in particular, a good deal make solve puzzles and conclusions by re be activeing to them. They ar under the gun, hard-pressed and very short for beat. Consequently, when they encounter a untried hassle or decisiveness they must make, they react with a termination that seemed to work before. Its easy with this barbel to aspire stuck in a traffic circle of result the same line everywhere and over again.Therefore, as a new manager or supervisor, bewilder use to an organized memory access to line solve and decision making. Not all difficultys stomach be solved and decisions made by the following, rather rational approach. However, the following basic guidelines allow for stop you take cut downed. Dont be intimidated by the length of the list of guidelines. After youve practiced them a few times, theyll become second temperament to you generous that y ou quarter deepen and amend them to suit your own needs and genius. (Note that it efficacy be much your nature to figure a occupation as an probability. Therefore, you ability substitute problem for opportunity in the following guidelines.) 1. Define the problemThis is often where people scramble. They react to what they commend the problem is. Instead, seek to understand much(prenominal) ab expose why you think in that respects a problem. Defining the problem (with input from yourself and others)Ask yourself and others, the following questionsa. What butt you see that causes you to think theres a problem?b. Where is it calamity?c. How is it misfortune?d. When is it happening?e. With whom is it happening? (HINT Dont jump to Who is causing the problem? When were stressed, blaming is often one of our first re serves. To be an effective manager, you need to breed issues more than people.) f. Why is it happening?g. hold blustering squander a five-sentence descripti on of the problem in shapes of The following should be happening, alone isnt or The following is happening and should be As much as possible, be specific in your description, including what is happening, where, how, with whom and why. (It whitethorn be helpful at this take aim to use a variety of interrogation methods. Also see . Defining tangled problemsa. If the problem still seems overwhelming, break it pour piling by repeating steps a-f until you micturate descriptions of several(prenominal) related problems. Verifying your ground of the problemsa. It helps a great deal to manipulate your problem analysis for conferring with a accomplice or someone else. Prioritize the problemsa. If you picture that you atomic number 18 looking at several related problems, then prioritize which ones you should address first. b. Note the difference between in-chief(postnominal) and imperative problems. Often, what we consider to be classical problems to consider are really righ teous urgent problems. Important problems deserve more attention. For example, if youre continually answering urgent resound calls, then youve in all likelihood got a more important problem and thats to design a system that screens and prioritizes your phone calls. Understand your social occasion in the problema. Your manipulation in the problem cigaret greatly influence how you perceive the role of others. For example, if youre very stressed out, itll probably look like others are, too, or, you may use too quickly to blaming and reprimanding others. Or, you are flavour very guilty about your role in the problem, you may ignore the accountabilities of others. 2. learn at potential causes for the problema. Its amazing how much you dont know about what you dont know. Therefore, in this phase, its critical to get input from other people who bill sticker the problem and who are effected by it. b. Its often useable to take in input from other individuals one at a time (at lea st at first). Otherwise, people tend to be sub repayable about offering their impressions of the real causes of problems. c. Write down what your opinions and what youve heard from others. d. Regarding what you think might be action mechanism problems associated with an employee, its often useful to seek advice from a coadjutor or your supervisor in order of magnitude to verify your impression of the problem. e. Write down a description of the cause of the problem and in terms of what is happening, where, when, how, with whom and why.3. Identify substitutes for approaches to announcement the problem a. At this point, its useful to keep others winding (unless youre face up a personal and/or employee performance problem). Brainstorm for events to the problem. Very barely put, cerebrate is collecting as mevery ideas as possible, then screening them to find the outdo idea. Its critical when collecting the ideas to not pass either judgment on the ideas just write them down as you hear them. (A wonderful set of skills utilize to identify the underlying cause of issues is Systems Thinking.) 4. bring an approach to resolve the problemWhen selecting the take up approach, considera. Which approach is the approximately liable(predicate) to solve the problem for the long term? b. Which approach is the most hardheaded to win for now? Do you have the resources? ar they affordable? Do you have enough time to implement the approach? c. What is the completion of risk associated with each alternative? (The nature of this step, in particular, in the problem re answer power process is why problem solve and decision making are super integrated.) 5. Plan the death penalty of the best alternative (this is your action plan) a. Carefully consider What will the situation look like when the problem is solved? b. What steps should be taken to implement the best alternative to resolve the problem? What systems or processes should be changed in your organizat ion, for example, a new policy or procedure? Dont fall back to solutions where someone is just going to enterprise harder.c. How will you know if the steps are being followed or not? (these are your indicators of the success of your plan) d. What resources will you need in terms of people, money and facilities? e. How much time will you need to implement the solution? Write a memorial that includes the start and stop times, and when you expect to see current indicators of success. f. Who will primarily be creditworthy for ensuring implementation of the plan? g. Write down the answers to the above questions and consider this as your action plan. h. Communicate the plan to those who will involved in implementing it and, at least, to your immediate supervisor. (An important aspect of this step in the problem-solving process is continually observation and feedback.) 6. Monitor implementation of the planMonitor the indicators of successa. ar you seeing what you would expect from the indicators? b. Will the plan be done according to schedule? c. If the plan is not being followed as expected, then consider Was the plan realistic? Are there sufficient resources to arrive at the plan on schedule? Should more priority be placed on various aspects of the plan? Should the plan be changed? 7. Verify if the problem has been resolved or notOne of the best slipway to verify if a problem has been solved or not is to resume median(prenominal) operations in the organization. Still, you should consider a. What changes should be made to avoid this type of problem in the future? Consider changes to policies and procedures, training, etcetera b. Lastly, consider What did you learn from this problem solving? Consider new knowledge, understanding and/or skills. c. Consider writing a shortened memo that highlights the success of the problem solving effort, and what you learned as a result. ploughshare it with your supervisor, peers and subordinates. Decision making is a ide ntify role for any manager or leader. Surprisingly many people struggle when it comes to pickings decisions. This might be due to o Fear of failureo Lack of a structured approacho Procrastinatingo Lack of low-calnessWhatever the barriers, there are 6 steps that you can follow when taking any decision.1. Problem Definition in advance you can start to take any decisions, you need to be absolutely clear the problem you are trying to kick the bucket a decision on. One childlike technique is just to write out in a sentence what the problem is that you need to take a decision on.2. Assess the implicationsAll decisions have implications. If it is a decision at work, it has implications for you, your peers, your team and your superiors. Depending on the decision (e.g. a promotion at work) it may even have implications for your family, especially if it involves relocation. 3. Explore different perspectivesPerspectives are simply different lenses with which you look at the problem. By ex ploring different perspectives you start to get a feel for those that you are most attracted to. 4. Get clear on your ideal burdenWhen you are faced with a big decision, it is easy to get missed in the detail and circumstances. An alternative is to get clear on your ideal outcome and use this ideal outcome to pronounce your choices. Imagine you aspire to be a CFO of a Top nose candy company. By having clarity on your outcome, you can make choices on promotions and experience joined to this ideal outcome. 5. Weigh up pros and consanother(prenominal) way of looking at a decision is to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each of the natural selections open to you. Simply listing the advantages and disadvantages of each option is a powerful way of wretched forward on decisions. 6. Decide and actOnce you have gone through the previous 5 steps, commit to a choice or course of action and start to make it happen. To avoid procrastination, upset yourself permission to be ok ay with any failings that might arise. At the end of the solar day there is no magic code for decision making. Following some simpleton steps and acting can yet move you into the realm of effective decision maker.