Question

There are four decision-making styles described in your textbook: Directive, Analytic, Conceptual, and Behavioral. Think about your best supervisor - what was his/her decision-making style? Why was it effective? Then consider your worst supervisor and his/her style. What is YOUR decision-making style, and why does it work for you?

Answer 1

I worked for two startups and their founders had different styles:

The first startup founder had a behavioral style - people-oriented style where decision makers try to give importance to people.He is very people oriented and constantly involves in interactions with colleagues. He is supportive of them and welcomes suggestions. He gains insights through these suggestions. I have seen him acquiring a lot of practical information about consumers from his salesmen.

This was effective because he was able to convince them of his vision for the company, through his behavioral approach. As this made his employees fell being respected and valued. Especially in startups, where turnover rates are high, this is very important to make employees stick around

My other boss follows an analytical Style. Analytical style decision-makers need data and information to analyze and solve the problems

The second boss had a consulting background. Like those in his style, he required a lot of data and analysis. He loved to see patterns and frequently used to ask us for other possible options during strategy sessions. Sometimes I do feel he is too much into details. He loses the big picture many times, getting lost in details. His decision making is also slow. They are so much into understanding that they lose sight of the execution

My decision-making style is more of conceptual style- people oriented, long-term, creative and future-oriented.I am focused on people and social aspects. I would like to brainstorm with others and that is when I find it easy to generate ideas as well as acquiring different perspectives. It helps me to come out of my shell. I also I believe in intuition and creativity in decision making

It works well for me because my intuition comes through my experience in a domain. It offers me confidence as I have experience with similar issues. Also, I can generate a lot of ideas and possibilities. Creativity helps me in making decisions that are more efficient and effective