Decision Making

Decision making is now one of the important aspects of modern management. Therefore, it has become a primary function of management. A job of a manager is to make rational decision in an organization. Decision is a key part of manager’s activities. Decisions are important as they determine both the managerial and organizational action. Decision making can be defined as a course of action that are carried out and consciously chosen from various alternatives to gain a desired goal or objectives.

It required a well-balanced judgement and experience to make a decision. The manager must have the decision making skills. Anytime a situation may arrive and a decision has to be made in that situation, person with risk taking ability and confident about his decision making can face the situation skilfully.

Decision making is present in all the managerial actions. Decision making is an indispensable component of the management process. Decision making is a process from which a decision is taken. Decision is taken to achieve certain goals of an organization and a suitable follow-up action is to be carried out on that situation. 

According to Peter Drucker, “whatever a manager does, he does through decision making”. A manager takes decision without making a prior plan for it. It can never be predicted when a situation may arise and a decision has to be make. The ability of the manager is often judged on the quality of the decision he takes.

The decision making process is also necessary in planning, organizing, controlling and staffing. In planning various alternative plans are drawn and during the process the best plan is selected and further it is implemented. The planner has to make correct decisions in term of making plans so that it should not fail in the future. Likewise it is also of key importance in terms of organizing, controlling and staffing.

It is the manager’s skill whose decision making power and ability makes the decision making process important in the management.