Posts Tagged ‘decision making’

Fred had a difficult decision to make: to continue to grow his consulting business or to accept a permanent position with a local startup company that offered salary, benefits, and shares in the company plus fewer transportation costs. He enjoyed consulting, the freedom it offered, and the chance to travel. But he recognized that steady…

Unlike personal decisions, organizational decisions may be delegated and focus on furthering the interests of the organization—including revenue, customer relationships, productivity, and values—often without considering individual interests at all. These differences mean that upper management can, for example, delegate firing and hiring to lower management and that the reactions of the job applicants and employees…

The nonprofit board had been debating for months over whether to ask for payment from clients for the first time in its history. Finally, the newest member of the board said, “We all want to continue to give free services. I want that, too. But if we continue to lose money, we can’t give any…

Commitment is an important factor in any organizational decision: is the group responsible for seeing the decision through committed to achieving the expected results? Any group action in relation to a decision is more difficult to implement if some of the group are resentful, holding back, or actively undermining the decision. But is full agreement…

We admire the ability of a leader to make quick decisions—we call it “decisiveness”—but we revere more the leader who makes good decisions. Decision debacles most often happen because the decision maker hasn’t taken the time to learn what is and isn’t working currently, hasn’t consulted anyone else, and hasn’t established the criteria for a…

In both business and personal life, we often must follow decisions made by other people—higher up the corporate chain, with authority we do not have (for example, changing an airplane schedule), or with competing priorities (for example, cancelling an interview).    Responding to a Decision Whether communicated face-to-face or in writing, most decisions require acknowledgement…