onal decisions.
Top managers are often responsible for making strategic decisions or decisions that concern the long-term goals of the company. For example, a company might decide to develop new products or focus its efforts on increasing the volume of an existing product. Strategic decisions establish company policy and these decisions are often complicated because the future is uncertain and accurate information is often limited. In these cases, managers must rely on their past experiences as well as their instincts (Janczak, 2005).
There are four techniques available to senior managers. They must be able to generate conflict that needs to be resolved; employees should be encouraged to question existing assumptions; the work environment should be one that encourages learning, and finally, managers need to be able to distinguish between available resources and services and customer needs (Young, 2005).
Once a company's goals and policies are established by senior management, tactical decisions aimed at achieving a company's goals and implementing company policy need to be made. Such decisions are usually made by middle managers and require managers to focus on specific actions that will bring about the company's objectives. For example, a mid-level manager might devise a plan to provide employees with incentives in order to increase production. This requires mangers to have accurate information so that their decisions are based on facts (Abukari, 2003).
Lastly, decisions regarding the day-to-day functions of a business also need to be made. These decisions are considered operational decisions and they are subordinate to strategic and tactical decisions. While these decisions are the responsibility of low-level managers, good decision making is crucial here since such decisions focus on productivity, quality control and employee performance. Moreover, operational decisions can be broken down into:
- Short term planning needs like ordering supplies, establishing work priorities and enlisting temporary help.
- Medium term planning like hiring and firing personnel, purchasing equipment, training individuals and modifying procedures.
- Long term planning like replacing subcontractors, redesigning production facilities and modifying capacity (Copeland, 1986).
Importance of Debate
Although decision-making and problem solving occurs at different levels of a company, leaders are ultimately responsible for every business decision and this requires a leader to have an understanding of strategic, tactical and operational decisions. Further, decision making rests not only on what decisions are made, but who makes them and how they are made. Business decisions often require an inquiry process, developing and debating a number of ideas in order to find the best course of action. This approach to decision making is a test of strength among competing ideas (Garvin, 2001).
In order to encourage debate and a free exchange of ideas, a leader needs to have a high level of emotional intelligence so that he or she can manage conflict that invariably arises in such an environment. Some leaders have a tendency to make decisions that are not based on sound reasoning while other decision makers can be rigid in their dealings with other people. However, leaders that exercise emotional intelligence can motivate people to be creative and to realize a vision (Batool, 2013). In the end, a decision-making process that relies on debating a number of ideas should strive for a balance and a number of factors.
Successful leaders are flexible and open to the ideas of others, but also adhere to a set of core values — essentially an internal determination regarding what a company's goals and aspirations are and how they plan to achieve them. At the same time, decisions must be made with an awareness of the outside world — leaders and managers must be capable of knowing what the truth is outside of the organization. This means understanding what factors are affecting the market. Understanding these factors will allow for good strategic decisions. Further, deci