Business Decision Making and Analysis

This article discusses the importance of team meetings in an organization and the identification of operational and strategic issues. The problems are analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods and the rational problem-solving model. Suggestions are made for involving employees in decision-making and maintaining confidentiality.

Running head: DECISION MAKING
Business Decision Making and Analysis
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Team meetings are one of the most important aspects of a successful organization. This is
because employees are the ones who contribute towards the overall production of the
organization. The managers of the organization have to make sure that they are taking proper
care of the interests of all their employees. They have to make sure that they are rendering their
employees not only with the professional but the moral support as well. It is very important to
conduct the team meetings on a regular basis for knowing about the opinions and the feedbacks
of the employees (Davies 2016). It is during these meetings that the managers can discuss the
different issue going on within the organization. The operational and the strategic issues are also
discussed during these meetings. The company needs to discuss, review and implement many
new tactics as per the current situation both at the operational and the strategic levels (Pettigrew
2014).
A meeting was arranged for taking a look and discussing the strategic and the operational
issues. Prior to the commencement of the meeting the managers made sure that all the employees
are well informed about the meeting. All the employees were informed about the meeting
through emails (Cascetta et al. 2015). This meeting was mainly about the discussion of the issues
at the strategic and the operational levels of the organization (Wheelen et al. 2017). There were
some of the other issues identified both at the operational and the strategic level as well. Some of
the issues that were seen at the operational levels are as follows
Managing the overheads
This is one of the major problems for the organization. As it is a newly formed start-up
organization the overheads must be checked and maintained properly. This was, however, a
tamed problem because proper discussions and methods would be successful in checking the

3BUSINESS DECISION MAKING
problem and find out some solutions to it. For instance, the electricity bill is one of the overheads
of the organization. If the employees keep on using the electricity for a longer time then the
company will have to bear a huge amount of money.
This will create extra pressure over the company funds. This can lead to a huge problem.
If the company gets to know that the electricity usage is exceeding about 5 hours beyond the
official timing then they might take the necessary steps like installing some alternate energy
sources. Apart from this, they might also ask their employees to reduce the extent and the undue
usage of the electricity. So, the probable solution is known to the organization. This is a tamed
problem because they know that taking some of the other kinds of steps will help them to deal
with this issue (Thompson 2017).
The next issue that was identified at the operational level is the complaints of the
employees regarding the incentive system. Some of the employees were not happy with the
rewards and the incentive system. They did not feel the promotion list to be correct and justified.
They wanted some changes. The employees were of this opinion that the managers must have
been biased while taking the decision for the promotions and the monetary rewards. This was
also a tamed problem because the managers knew the possible solution to this problem. They
decided to set some new performance indicators and make sure that they are being able to review
the overall working of the teams. This would perhaps help them to make some changes in the old
promotion list that they issued.
The other kinds of problems that were discussed at this meeting were the strategic issues.
The most important is to take some new strategies for customer satisfaction. In the last few
months, there have been many complaints from the customers. The customers need some extra

4BUSINESS DECISION MAKING
additional services. In other words, they are looking for some additional benefits like free gifts
and discounts. They are also looking for some customer forums online, where they can register
their complaints. So, the organization can take some steps like improving their online presence or
conducting some or the other kinds of customer campaigns etc. However, they do not have the
exact information on whether they will be able to make some changes and meet the level of
customer satisfaction. So, this is a wicked problem since the exact solution or the exact result of
these solutions is not properly known to the company.
The next issue that was identified is the lack of enough digital tools and digitalized
methods within the organization. The company has to create a blend between the hybrid and
the digital tools. The pace of work is becoming much slower and there is the urgent need for
introducing some digitalized applications within the system of the organization (Vaughn 2015).
The information regarding the problems identified has been obtained by using the
qualitative methods. The first issue identified was the problem of overheads. This was mainly
analyzed by using the qualitative approach. The managers made sure that they are observing the
number of maintenance charges for over a certain period of time. They also arranged for many
group discussion sessions with the employees and the accounts department officials so that they
can get to know the actual idea regarding the causes of the excessive overheads. The next
problem that was identified was complaints of the employees regarding the incentive system.
This was also done by arranging the group discussion sessions and the individual interviews as
well. This was helpful for knowing the complaints from the employees regarding their opinions
on the salary and incentive structure (Shepherd and Rudd 2014).

5BUSINESS DECISION MAKING
hey also called the employees for one to one or the personal interviews in order to know
about their grievances (Dror 2017). The next issue was the customer satisfaction problem. This
was done by using the quantitative approach. This was done by using the methods like mobile
surveys, online surveys, and others. The customers were asked to fill up some online survey
forms or any online forms attached to the emails. Some of the employees were reached out by
using the telephonic interview method (Forsgren 2015). The last problem was the lack of
digitalized system within the operations of the company. This problem was identified by using
the qualitative method. The managers arranged for board meetings and also regular team
meetings for the purpose of taking the opinions and the views of the employees regarding the
problems that they are facing in their work and the changes that they are expecting within the
system. They have taken the opinion from the employees regarding the usage of the computers
and the other digitalized system that will help them to work in an easy and accurate manner (Hill
2017).
The problems that were diagnosed within the system of the company have been seen
through the usage of the rational problem-solving model suggested by Williams (2002). The first
was the problem of overheads in the company. The first step is that of problem identification. It
was seen that the company is paying a huge amount of money for the overheads like electricity
usage. In the criteria definition part, the decision makers had to realize that there can be many
aspects like employee protests, price, and other such issues while trying to resolve this problem.
The next step is alternative generation and evaluation where the rational decision makers have
to sort out and form a list of methods that might be used for solving the problem (Domhoff
2017).

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One solution was to talk to the employees and ask them to reduce the usage of the
electricity for a longer time, not to keep the fans, lights, and internet switched on for long. This
step was really tough. The decision makers had to list all the possible consequences of the
solutions that they are selecting. If they do not take the safety measures to meet with the
consequences of the measure then there might be some huge problem. So if this stage is not
carried on properly, it gets in the way of solving the problem. The final step is an implementation
where the decision makers will finally use the best and the optimal option for solving the issue.
I would suggest that the decision makers must involve the employees in their decision-
making process. They must consider taking the views and the opinions of the employees before
reaching any concrete solution to the problem. However, they must also analyze the issue
properly. They will have to be very wise while making the decisions so that it serves the two-fold
purpose. The solution has been to such that it solves the problem on one hand and does not hurt
the emotion of the employees. The decision makers will also have to maintain a top secrecy so
that the information or any other kinds of private data are not being leaked out. They will have to
keep a very strong check on the activities of the employees so that they do not leak out or tamper
with the important data needed for finding out the solution for the issue.

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