Essay on Decision Making and Barriers

Decision-making is the action of making the decision, especially the most important decision in the daily living in the population. There are various definitions attached to the meaning, and there are other meanings that posit that it is the process of making the decision about something, which is important, especially about something that deals with a group of people or in an organization (Jackson & Parry 2012). Despite the various benefits to decision-making, there is the need for the population to acknowledge that there are multiple barriers and take steps that can help in the prevention of the same and improve the quality of decision-making and ascertain that they are of benefit to the population. One of the barriers to decision-making is not a good idea, and this is one of the reasons that make people reluctant about making decisions. When people feel that the decision to be made revolves a bad idea, they tend to decline to participate in the decision-making process. According to Mendenhall (2012), the other barrier to decision-making is when the decision to be made should be made too fast and this not allow ample time for people to think about the judgments in the right manner. In such cases, people tend to decline to give their thoughts. Finally, there is the problem of lack of enough information that affects the ability of individuals to make decisions to help in the decision-making process (Chhokar & Brodbeck 2013). There is the fear that lack of sufficient information might lead to poor decisions.

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Power

Power is the ability to carry out an activity in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality. However, various definitions can be attached to the meaning of power that helps in enlightening the population and aid in defining the true meaning of authority to help I understand the effects of the same in the modern society. Power can denote to the ability to cause or prevent an action and make things happen (Mendenhall 2012). In this case, power is used to refer to a discretion to act or not and is the opposite of disability. In this case, it differs from a right that a person has in exercising their duties and privileges in the population. There is a need for the society to acknowledge that the meaning of power can be attached to different things and situations.

Legitimate power is whereby other members of the group are granted the opportunity to have influence. In this case, an individual has the influence to make decisions, changes, or bring up issues at their respective personal level (Carmichael et al., 2011).

In Expert Power, authority is based on one's knowledge, abilities, and skills in which the team needs exceptional abilities to lead (Gold 2012). Often, members of the group accept the leader's decisions without much argument or antagonism.

Reward Power plays out whereby the members of the group look forward to receiving a reward from the manager in line with the leader's decisions and or instructions (Meredith 2011).

Coercive Power takes the form of punishment or fines. It thus means that if a member fails to follow what the leaders directs the group to undertake, sanctions or punishment will be meted.

Referent Power often is not related to the position and only takes shape form an individual's personal abilities of the perceived leader. According to Carmichael et al., (2011), a referent leader only emerges when members of the group identify, admires, and respects the would be the head in question.

On the other hand, Information leader takes shape when an individual proves to be knowledgeable in a given specialty related with the groups ideologies (Nahavandi 2016).

Groupthink refers to a situation in which a group puts their individual differences aside to concentrate on a single objective as specified by the panel. In making decisions, many factors come into play including the ability to communicate, lack of interest from the group members, and the inability to achieve the set objectives. As at the time of the formation of the group team, all members acknowledged the need to respect and uphold all decisions arrived at by the entire team. The leader put in the effort to accommodate different opinions and ideas, which formed a critical moment for the team. Although at some moment it led to disagreements, members combined ideas to come to a single unifying goal.

During the entire process, all members tried to fit with the general objectives of the group. A close observation at what transpired in the group can liken to the re-think theory, which refers to the process whereby all members put their ideological differences aside to reduce conflict and offer an amicable opportunity to make rational decisions. The resulting effect saw key ideas ignored which led to significant disappointment from the members. However, listening to the team's dissatisfaction resulted into valuable ideologies put into action. It is worth noting that disagreements within the group led to the inefficient utilization of the team's ability. As a team, we came to the realization that members of a group need to respect and understand one another.

Performance management and measurement

Performance management is the situation when an organization uses its measures of performance and the relevant standards to achieve the desired results. In this manner, a continuous process is checked on a regular basis and determines the future of organizations. Management of performance can be implemented at various stages in an organization, and the same leads to the effectual of the goals and strategies of an organization some of them are such as at the program, community and the state levels (Carmichael et al., 2011). It is in this case that proves the need for the population to help in an understanding of the effects of the same and their role in affecting developmental stages of an organization. Reasons why performance is measured in organizations to improve the quality of performance ensure transparency in organizational systems, and for accreditation (Mendenhall 2012).

Ethics

Ethics are the moral guidelines that govern the behavior of a person in the process of conducting an activity (Jeston & Nelis 2014). It can otherwise be used to mean a branch of knowledge dealing with morals and principles. In this case, the ethics are the guidelines the help in ensuring that people live by the set morals and standards and that they maintain the moral and ethical way of life (Chhokar & Brodbeck 2013). There is a need to acknowledge the importance of the same in improving ethics in the society and help in the advancement of morality in the society.

Conclusion

The skills acquired in the module would play a critical role in my future professional endeavors and career in addition to facing the world. It is important to note that the group and the experience that came with working with diverse personalities enabled me to acquire in-depth knowledge on leadership, management, and decision-making. It is important to note that, despite the occasion setbacks experience in the group activities, several theories outlined in my course work proved worthy and genuine. We used the various approaches described in our course outline such as management principles to navigate through some challenging concepts of group work, especially on decision-making and conflict resolution. While it was important to finish the module on time and as recommended, I must state that it was a significant experience in the entire course module.

Leadership and Management in Professional Context

Introduction

This insightful report entails what I learned as regards to leadership, management styles, power, decision-making, ethical values, and performance during my group work and case study. The account gives reflective ideas, knowledge, and explanation as to what and how the team faired on and completed the case study. With a combination of various leadership, management, and decision-making theories, the group successfully concluded the case study with outstanding success in addition to insightful experiences throughout the period of interaction and education.

In the professional context, leadership and management prepares leaders and persons in management to take the initiative, understand their environment, decide, act, and direct with honor and care to bring changes to a group of individuals, sectors, and institutions. The technical approach of leadership and management helps and equips leaders within a particular cluster to lead without fear or favor. The underlying elements of direction and management help leaders understand group values, goals, characters, and foundations of offering leadership and management skills. Additionally, it enables the managers to understand the frameworks of issue judgment, skills needed, transformation within a given group or institution, in addition to offering the roadmap to growth, change, and transformation (Thorpe 2016). While integrating rational decision-making, self-awareness, and a wide range of management styles, a leader can bring forth change and guide a group or organization to the right direction.

In the process of addressing the leadership and management in professional context, various issues play out in the professional setting and affect the right situations on the ground (Sohmen 2012). Among the factors that prove to be of great importance are such as management theory, management, leadership and change and decision-making processes. It is in this regard that shows the need for the population to examine such issues and help in improving the understanding of the same in the modern society. In this respect, this paper aims at examining factors that relevant to the three most important issues outlined above with the view of improving understanding of the population on the same.

Part One

History and Management Theory

There are various accounts and management theory in the modern society and examination of the same helps in the improvement of the understanding of the same and the effects they have in the population, and the success in the industry. The first theory is scientific management theory, which helped in following the keen specification and the measurement of every organizational task in the production sectors. The theory posits that the introduction of technology led to the standardization of all of thereby leading to rewarding and punishing of the workers (Yang 2011, p. 260). The second argument proves worthy of examination of the bureaucratic management theory that posits that put a great thought on the division of organizations into hierarchies which were thought to be leading to effective leadership and control in the organizations. In this way, the theory posited that there is a need for organizations to develop a strong sense of routine for all tasks. The third approach that needs to be examined is the theory of human relations movement, and this is the theory that led to the change of focus of organizations and unions to help in changing dehumanizing effects of such methods. In this way, the theory was because an emphasis on the welfare of the society led to the improved efficiency at the workplace.

What is Leadership?

Different authors attach different meanings to the sense of direction in the modern society, and there is no clear-cut meaning to the same. According to Sohmen (2013), leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization; it is also used to refer to the state or position of being a leader. On the definition of leadership is that it is the action or the process that leaders use the influence and authority they have above others to affe...