Reflective Essay On Importance Of Decision Making Process
Question
Task:
To successfully complete this assessment task, students should answer the following reflective essay questions:
Which concepts/theories from which week’s learning activities are significant or important to you?
Why are these concepts/theories you have identified important or significant to you? (Theoretical review)
How are the concepts/theories you have learned influencing/impacting your decision-making in relation to your current interpersonal relationships, professional workplaces and/or personal life? (Practical Application)
What have you learned about yourself through the unit activities? What skills do you possess and what skills are you lacking? How are you going to improve your decision-making in the future? (Self-knowledge and self-development)
You should tie all your arguments/insights together at the end of your paper, highlighting how you think you will be able to use your learning in your future career and in life generally.
Answer
Introduction to Reflective Essay
Decision-making is the most important component of the manager activity. This decision-making process plays a crucial role in the planning process. In carrying out the manager's plan, it is their responsibility to decide on the matters in the achievement of goals that are needed by the organization, the resources to be used by them, and the performance of the task (Hertati et al., 2020). Being a manager of Subway, I need to take some critical decisions with the help of improved planning. This study will highlight the concepts from the four weeks as well as their importance in the weekly learning activities. Moreover, the concepts or the theories learned affecting the decision-making process along with the critical analysis of the two diagnostic tools will be discussed in the study. The effective utilization of this learning in my future career and life will also be analyzed accordingly.
Concepts/theories from the week’s learning activities significant to me
The concepts from weeks 2, 3, 5, and 6 can be considered to play a significant role in my career. From week 2, the concept of managerial decision-making is sure to help me in the enhancement of my career as a Subway manager. The steps that are taken by the manager in the decision-making process along with its relationship with critical thinking are discussed in the study. In week 3, the concept of self-awareness is likely to assist me in my role as a manager at Subway. With the help of this self-awareness, I as a manager can understand the strength and weaknesses of other team members working under me. Further, in week 5, the concept of a systematic approach to problem-solving can be considered to be effective for me. This systematic decision-making approach will assist me in the creation of an improved environment in Subway. In week 6, the concept of a rational decision-making process is likely to play an effective role in my position as a manager. With the help of this rational thinking process, it will be easier be me to make the best choices among the other alternative options motivating the staff to carry out the task.
Importance of the concepts/theories from weeks’ learning activities
The managerial decision-making style will help me to manage the other employees in the organization through rational decisions and concentrated efforts (Tyagi & Mallya, 2019). As a manager in the Subway, I had to overcome different challenging situations thereby identifying them and distinguishing between the effect and the cause. Moreover, with the help of this managerial decision-making process, I can develop conceptual and intellectual skills smoothly along with the help of the support network.
With the help of self-awareness, I can find it easier to work with authenticity and conviction along with resonance. It will also become easier for me to manage myself through carrying out reflective thinking (Trojanowska et al., 2017). On the other hand, it can be said that the increased self-awareness will help me to manage the personal disclosure and self-analysis in an analytical process.
The systematic approach to problem-solving is beneficial only it is followed in a sequence thereby assisting to take a good decision. In the initial stage, there should be effective steps taken for the development of a constructive environment along with the investigation of the situation and the generation of improved alternatives (de Lima et al., 2018). Further, it will allow me to evaluate the problem-solving planning process as well as take the correct action in the management of the plan at Subway.
The rational decision-making process will assist me in making the choices rationally by making the knowledge associated with the open and the specific choices. This rational decision-making process will benefit me to utilize the tools, processes, and knowledge in making the correct decision for the effective and smooth functioning of Subway (Julmi, 2019). Further, with the help of this rational decision-making process, the preferences among the varied options can be chosen by finding out the alternative that maximizes the utility value. However, unrealistic, cognitive, and psychological assumptions cannot be taken with the help of the rational decision-making process.
Concepts/theories learned influencing/affecting decision-making in the interpersonal relationship/workplace and personal life
The managerial decision-making skill can be considered to play an effective role in my job position as a manager at Subway. With the help of this decision-making skill, I can guide other employees thereby acting as a point of reference for them on ethical and professional grounds (Omarli, 2017). However, my strengths including the uniformity and fairness among the employees get enhanced with the managerial decision-making process. My weakness of being flexible needs to be corrected with the help of this managerial decision-making process as in some cases, I need to make critical decisions.
The concept of self-awareness can also be considered to be important to me as it helps me to decide how to improve my managerial skills. Being engaged as a manager in one of the most reputed restaurant chains, Subway, I must try to work on my skill gaps thereby finding out my strength and weakness. One of my vital strengths in developing this self-awareness includes my capacity to be connected to other members of my team thereby leading a quantitative lifestyle. However, the weaknesses that I need to overcome include over-analyzing and over-thinking on a particular issue leading to conflict among the team members.
With the help of the systematic approach to problem-solving, I was a manager of Subway can find it easier to recognize the existence of the problem. This is possible through gathering adequate information as well as evaluating all other solutions that are associated with the problem-solving process (Funke eta l., 2017). My strength in carrying out the systematic approach to problem-solving includes analysis of the problem through careful means by focusing on the problem. On the other hand, my weakness in tackling the systematic approach to problem-solving including finding out the root cause of the problem quickly at the initial stage because as a manager this weakness can delay the entire process of solving out the problem.
The rational decision-making process in my position as a manager can be considered as the multiple-step process in finding out the choices of alternatives. This process favors objectivity, the analysis, and thus it will be easier for me to get an insight into the problem (Hihn et al., 2018). The strength of mine that can be enhanced through this rational decision-making process includes the subjectivity and the chances of reducing the error which is crucial for me as a manager to lead the team members. However, my weaknesses in this rational decision-making process include my guesswork and assumptions that I often make while carrying out the teamwork.
Critical analysis of the two diagnostic tools
With the help of the decision-making questionnaire, I can carry out the rating of each statement according to my own choice. The results after completing this questionnaire categorize me as a systematic decision-maker. With the help of this decision-making process, I can carry out all the tasks in an organized way and thus build on the approach to carry out the decisions in a better way (Gärtner et al., 2018). Moreover, it also becomes easier for me to address all the critical aspects as a leader in the decision-making process. However, there are certain areas that I need to work on being the manager i.e. taking quick decisions and managing the different logical consequences within a short time frame.
The VAC Perception Quiz also made it easier for me to find out the appropriate options in the determination of my learning style. As per the result of this quiz, I possess a visual learning style that categorizes me as a reader and vivid observer. As a manager, I must try to scan the situation before handling it as my team members depend on me to take the decision (Oudat & Ali, 2021). However, I need to work on my weakness in handling the visual learning style such as learning to manage the distractions while carrying out the meeting as it requires intense focus on critical tasks. Often, there might be different types of distractions during the meeting and it is my responsibility to entice them visually.
The utilization of the learning in the future career and life
Being the manager of Subway, I think that the learning insights and concepts gained me during the four weeks will help me to move to a higher position with experience and time. With the help of systematic decision-making and visual learning style, I can find it easier to communicate and collaborate with the other team members (Dörner & Funke, 2017). On the other hand, I can say that my learning can be enhanced only if I take time in evaluating all other options as well as carrying out the task based on the priorities. I must also learn to anticipate the outcome before carrying out the task to some extent.
Conclusion
Therefore, I can say that with the help of an improved decision-making process, I can ascertain the problems and arrive at a valid solution for the growth and development of the company. I can also handle the different challenges that come in a way with the help of my decision-making process by being honest with my decisions. Thus, I can say that decision-making will assist me to learn from my experiences as a manager of Subway.
References
de Lima, A. W. B., de Lima, L. A., Abe, J. M., Gonçalves, R. F., Alves, D., & Nakamatsu, K. (2018, September). Paraconsistent annotated logic artificial intelligence study in support of manager decision-making. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business and Information Management (pp. 154-157).
Dörner, D., & Funke, J. (2017). Complex problem solving: what it is and what it is not. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1153.
Funke, J., Fischer, A., & Holt, D. V. (2018). Competencies for complexity: problem solving in the twenty-first century. In Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (pp. 41-53). Springer, Cham.
Gärtner, F. R., Bomhof-Roordink, H., Smith, I. P., Scholl, I., Stiggelbout, A. M., & Pieterse, A. H. (2018). The quality of instruments to assess the process of shared decision making: a systematic review. PloS one, 13(2), e0191747.
Hertati, L., Safkaur, O., & Simanjuntak, A. M. (2020). How to Align Management Commitments to the Successful Implementation of Management Accounting Information Systems in Manager Decision Making. Ilomata International Journal of Tax and Accounting, 1(2), 89-102.
Hihn, H., Gottwald, S., & Braun, D. A. (2018, September). Bounded rational decision-making with adaptive neural network priors. In IAPR Workshop on Artificial Neural Networks in Pattern Recognition (pp. 213-225). Springer, Cham.
Julmi, C. (2019). When rational decision-making becomes irrational: a critical assessment and re-conceptualization of intuition effectiveness. Business Research, 12(1), 291-314.
Omarli, S. (2017). Which factors have an impact on managerial decision-making process? An integrated framework. Essays in economics and business studies, 83-93.
Oudat, M. S., & Ali, B. J. (2021). The Effectiveness of Implementing Reading Guide to Increase Students’ performance in Financial Management Course. Ilkogretim Online, 20(5).
Trojanowska, J., Varela, M. L. R., & Machado, J. (2017, April). The tool supporting decision making process in area of job-shop scheduling. In World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (pp. 490-498). Springer, Cham.
Tyagi, K., & Mallya, P. D. (2019). Managerial decision-making process in CSR: Employee volunteering. Journal of Strategic Human Resource Management, 8(2), 1.
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