Decision making skills are the most essential one in carrier success and effective leadership. Well timed and well considered decisions often lead to spectacular and well deserved success. There are many techniques to implement best decisions with the information the information available to us. The depth of decision usually depends upon the knowledge and way we approach in making a decision. The techniques help to identify the consequences and effects of the decision with its importance and individual effects and to take the best way to take an action.

Factors affecting decision making[1]

Decision making is affected by many factors. This depends upon the complexity of the decision. Some decisions are straight forward and others are very complex. So we need to consider the situation and way to approach to a decision. Some of the factors that affect the decision making are

Uncertainty:- this is when the decision is done under very less certain about the consequences.

Complexity: – the rigidity and the factors affect the decision is very important. There will be a lot of things that have to be considered in taking a decision

High risk impacts:- positive or negative risk upon that decision.

Alternative paths: – taking a group of choices from where we can choose a best one, each has its own set of uncertainties and consequences.

Interpersonal issues: – it is difficult to predict how other people accept the decision.

Considering all the about issues we should do the decision in a very efficient way. A well transparent decision gives high quality and consistent results.

Approach to decision making

If we consider a decision making in a logical and systematic way and is done in a well organized approach, we will be very less proximity to miss any critical factors and by continuous understanding of the factors more clearly we can build the quality of the decision making much better.

There are different steps for making effective decisions

initialize a constructive environment, for decision initiative

For creating a constructive environment we should first understand what all things to do to trigger it. We should take care of the following things in mind while initiating this.

We should define what we want to achieve.

Create an idea how the decision is to be done. It can be a group decision or an individual one.

Right people at the right group give effective decision. So be aware of consulting the stakeholders properly even we are taking an individual decision. This decrease the impact from them. If a group decision is to be made, we should create the group which represents the stakeholders.

We should listen to the opinions through the discussions of the decision

We should be very much sure about the questions we are asking.

Always be creative from the initial stage till the final of the decision making.

Identify good alternatives (creativity):-implementing the decision in a better and different methods

This is one of the most critical step in decision making. The more we go deep into the core of the decision, the more alternative we can raise by viewing the problem in different angles. If there are more alternatives, then we can find more effective decision. Some of the ways of generating alternatives are

Brain storming, for generating ideas in a group

Reverse brain storming, accepting negative way discussion for the decision and do things in the opposite way

Asking every stakeholder ideas.

Gathering information using the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion).

If the people involved are too close to the problem and we couldn’t able to find a better alternative, take a step back to view things in another perspective

Organizing ideas, if we have a number of ideas and margining one or more ideas together.

Learn the alternatives:- we have to study how the alternative affect when implementing the decision

Once we are able to choose some of the possible alternative, we should able to understand the feasibility, risks and implications of each choice. [1]

Feasibility: – this is to check whether the alternative has adequate resources and matches our objective and works long term.

Risk: – there will be always some level of uncertainty in every decision. This is a cause of risk and this should be checked and has to identify if it is manageable or not.

Implication :- here we can find the potential risk on each alternative we adopted

Adopt the best alternative to take the most efficient and effective choice

In this we choose the best of the chosen alternative with all the factors that is compactable for our objective of the decision.

Examine our decision to make sure whether our choice is best to the situation

In this we have to check that our decision is the best choice or not. One of the very common techniques used in decision making is decision tree

e.g.:- Decision tree

Product launch postponed

Do I launch a new product?

Customer demand

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

Production initiated

Communicate about our decision and to take action accordingly in order to drop discussions about the chosen decision and take appropriate initiatives to implement it.

Once the decision is made, we need to talk with the stakeholders who are affected and those who are a part of implementing it. If the decision is transparent and the need for the decision is clear with the benefits and risk on it, people will more easily accept it.

Stress management

Stress can be defined as nonspecific response of a body whether it is caused by or results in a pleasant or unpleasant condition.

Types of stress

There are two variants of stress

Negative stress path:-it is a contributory factor in minor conditions, such as headaches, digestive problems

Positive stress path:- stress can also have a positive effect, spurring motivation and awareness, providing the stimulation to cope with challenging situations.

Reactions of Stress

Tiredness :- can caused by over exertion

Worry :- disturbances regarding something

Frightened:- fear about something

Depressed :- not happy with

Anxious :- regarding some outcome

Angry :- aggressive on some matters

Types of stressors

Stress can be internal or external.

Internal Stress

Life styles :-use of addictives, lack of sleep, excessive schedules

Negative self-assessment::- pessimistic thinking, self-criticism, over analyzing

Mind traps :- having expectations that are not realistic, taking things personally, always thinking, no thoughts, rigidity in thoughts, exaggeration on matters,

Personality traits: – trying to be more perfectionists and workaholic.

External stress

Physical environment: – noise pollution, irritating lightings in workplace, temperature, little space or much more space.

Social interaction:- rudeness in work place or personal life, bossiness of colleagues or juniors, aggressiveness by others, bullying

Organizational:- uncomfortable policies, rules and regulations, approach of deadlines, difficult targets etc

Acute life events:- birth, death, job loss, promotion, change of marital status etc

Daily hassles :- this include misplaced keys, mechanical breakdowns, forgetting identity cards etc

Factors influencing stress

Drive of success:- creates anxiety about the position

Changing work pattern:- change in the work environment

Uncertainty :- can be about job or some promotion

Conflict :- mismatching conduct or disagreement

Responsibility :- taking care of more roles

Working conditions :- current working environment

Over work :- this gives over strain

Under work: – idle state is as stressful as overwork

4.5 Managing stress

Changing the way we think

Changing the way we behave

Changing the way of our lifestyle

Conflict management

Conflict can be defined as the disagreement of the people in a particular matter. This can be beneficial in some context for an organization.

Sources of conflict

Limited resources:- shortage of resources give extra effort for the organization which can lead to a conflict.

Different goals:- if the individuals have different goals in an organization are working together it will lead to conflict

Role ambiguity:- what should be done by whom must be specific to avoid this

Work relationships:- if the relationship with in the organization is not good then

Individual differences

Organizational problems :- problems in organizational function

Communication problems:- communication misconception

Cost of conflict

Derails organizational performance

Destroys team work

Create barriers to professional relationship

Initiates hidden agendas

Stressful work place

Wastage of money, time and resources

Affects competitiveness

Benefits of conflicts

Can increase strength and cohesion

Provide a safety valve function

Clarifies goals and issues

Improve relationship

Can be a major cause of organizational change

Can be creative and competitive

Key to resolution

Be flexible

Don’t jump into the matter. Observe and react after a thought

Be polite and respect on yourself and others

Focus on solving the problem, not in blaming

Conclusion

Decision making is an inevitable one for everyone. It can be on work or on personal life. Taking a decision gives the result upon the effectiveness of the decision made. So risk and stress will be a part of it according to the complexity of the decision.

Task 2

Introduction

Personal development has a very important role in business organization. The most common technique used to analyse personality is SWAT analysis. In this technique evaluate the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats.

Strength: – this is the positive attribute of a person to contribute himself.

Weakness:- this is the negative attribute of a person that can be harmful

Evaluation of Strength and Weakness

My strength

Good communication skill

First one who ask question whether it is right or wrong

Friendly nature

Good leadership

My weakness

Unorganized :- does not do things in a systematic way

Unpunctual :- not good in maintaining time constraints

Easily lose confidence :-give up very easily

Areas of development

In the above I want to develop myself to increase my efficiency by changing my weakness into strength. This is done with a time target.

Initially I have to first take a control of time constraints and practice to be more time oriented to change my other weaknesses. This can be done by initializing small simple tasks which is not time constraint. But keep it as a time constrained one and to finish it off. So I get used to do things in time.

Secondly when the time is well used to it I can start concentrating to work on more systematic way with in the time constraint. If I start doing a work I will break down it into small parts or modules and set time constraints in order to make it easier and can be surer about the time I get finished. I prefer to do this by setting the target time to an earlier time than the actual deadline. This helps me to get more time to do if there is any time over lap came in between each module. i.e. if one of the part is not get finished with in the targeted time I can shift the whole project to postpone to some other time with in the actual deadline.

A well organized timely work always increases confidence in working with the task. Lose of confidence comes under time constrain and negative self assessments. If I am more prepared in this I can work very efficiently and can do things at its most with high quality of output.

Skills of reflective practice

Reflective practice can be defined as the influence to an individual from his education, circumstances, work environment, personal life etc.

e.g.:- The interest of individual to implement something in their work or some other activities which might be their part in their personal life.

Conclusion

Personal development is an essential thing to do in working with others. The outcomes and attitudes of oneself and people around us change according to our approach to them. So taking care of the weakness of ourselves and others can improve the efficiency on a person.

Task 3

Introduction

Perception and communication are interaction of an individual with their ways of approaches to himself and others around. It is an inevitable factor of life. We always do perception on some way. But the way of perception depends individuals and the factors influencing on them.

Perception

Perception cane be defined as a process of selecting, organizing and interpreting stimuli of an individual into a meaningful one in the real world. These process is done according to a number of factors like filters of perception, elements of perception and the influence of the perception on the individual.

Filters of perception

The information or stimuli we have with our experience and the environment we belong are factors of filtering a perception.

Knowledge:- this is how individuals assess others with the knowledge they have

Assumptions: – individuals always create assumptions with or without any supporting evidence.

Beliefs: – this is concerned about the culture and tradition and other routine factors that influences the individual.

Elements of perception

Sensory receptors:- The human organs that receive sensory inputs like eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin

Absolute threshold:- this is the lowest level at which an individual can sense perception

Differential threshold:- the minimal difference that can be detected between two stimuli which is also known as just noticeable difference.

Subliminal perception:- this is a weak stimuli or a rapid one which is received below the level of conscious awareness.

Influences on perception

There are a lot of factors influences perceptions

Physiological:- difference in the abilities of the senses.

Age :- age changes the attitudes, more experienced on something gives more effective in using the perception in different ways

Culture: – Different beliefs and customs.

Social roles: – our role in the life. Like brother, sister, friends

Cognitive abilities :- this is if an individual thinks multidimensional

Shortcut in judging others(Negative effects)

This is how individuals think about others without proper information

Stereotyping:- tell about others without knowing the actual facts

Projection: – boosting something or someone more than it deserve.

Halo effect: – this is when people keep the individual in its past status even the current status is different.

Applications in organization(positive or negative effect)

Employment interview:- if the interviewer is more interested in a specific area, he can select the candidate according to that interest.

Performance expectation:- this is when an interview is taken according to the performance of a candidate.

Employee effort:- the individual who is observing another one’s effort affected by the filters of perceptions

Effective and ineffective situations

An effective situation can be explained as task or role can be done very efficiently to that situation.

An in effective situation is that situation when a task has not done effect on the situation

Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills can be defined as the ability of an individual to execute certain effects or results through communication and knowledge. [1]. The interpersonal skills are often used in business in order to assess the ability of a person with in a business. This is mainly concentrating on communication skills, the tone of talk and the way ideas are expressed. There are different types of interpersonal skills

Social skills: – this is about social skills for the individuals to perform the tasks without any social punishments.

e.g.: – social behavior: How social we are.

Soft skills: – this is concerned with emotional intelligence to interact with people.

e.g.:- participating in a team, teaching others etc.

Basic interpersonal communication skills: – these are the personal skills to communicate in a language.

Conclusion

From the above we can understand what all thing we need to take care of while in an organization and how well we can make decisions. How we can do thing right and what all ways we should not think to conclude on something. The importance of interpersonal skills, decision making ,stress management and conflict management. The taste of success comes along with the way we are able to co ordinate all these factors in a stable manner. Any mismanagement of these can lead to failure of business or negative influence to the organization.