Question

1. Provide your personal definition of effective decision making and problem solving.
2. Describe the most important steps involved with the decision making process and the process of problem solving. Include the following elements in your description:
   • What is the focus of these processes as defined by your readings?
   • When should you use problem solving and/or decision making?
   • What strengths and benefits do each of these processes offer business leaders?

Answer 1

Effective decision making is the process of choosing and selecting the best alternative from the available options or decisions and implementing them for the optimum utilisation of business resources and achieving further business objectives. The act of solving the best suitable way for solving a problem or the steps taken to deal with a problem to assure the best outcome is called problem solving. Both decision making and problem solving play a key role in the effective management of a business .

The most important steps involved in the decision making and problem solving are given below-

1. Identifying the situation - identifying the current situation and then acting accordingly to make decisions is the first step in the decision making and problem solving.

2. Collecting the required information - the required information should be collected in order to analyse the information and making effective decisions.

3. Other possibilities - in this step the other alternatives or possibilities are taken into consideration for the betterment of the decision making process.

4. Implementation- the selected method of making the decision is then implemented as a process

5. Reviewing the decision made - in this step the decisions made for a perticular situation are reviewed by the decision maker for any possible corrections which also help in effective future decision making

in these readings the focus of decision making and problem solving is to bounce to an effective outcome after analysing the given resources, information and situations. decision making and problem solving are the acts responsible for the smooth working of the business and also achieving business objectives.

the process of decision making / or problem solving is used while deciding the further objectives of the business firm, the decision making process is very important for the profit maximization of a particular business firm. inventory management also requires the decison making process in order to keep the inventory full so that the supply of the raw material can be free flowing to the company. Also, if a company delivers finished products or make consumer products then they might face problems regarding the assembly, production, machinery malfunction, then these problems have to be solved using the given steps of collecting information, analysing, implementing, and reviewing respectively.

The benefits of decision making and problem solving are not only in business but also in real life. Both of these help in making better decision for the efficient working of the business. They check the quality assessment which leads to the success of the business. Business leaders are highly benefited from these because they can make the best decisions and maximise their profits. They can know what is done wrong and what has to be corrected in order to maximise the profit of the firm and the satisfaction of the consumer. Identifying and solving problems will lead to the efficient working of the business. Reviewing the decision will help them correct the process.