Qualifi Level 5 Diploma in Business Management: Decision-Making Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of decision-making within a business context, focusing on the identification of relevant issues, particularly concerning stakeholder interests and needs. It explores the importance of stakeholder positioning and management to prioritize decisions effectively. The report evaluates the participative decision-making style, its strengths, such as risk reduction and information gathering, and weaknesses, including potential conflicts and delays. It analyzes the processes of obtaining and disseminating business information, emphasizing the role of a business development manager in providing market insights and facilitating communication. The report concludes with recommendations for improving the decision-making process, advocating for better task delegation, optimized information sources, and the adoption of a new, efficient decision-making approach.

Running head: DECISION-MAKING IN BUSINESS
DECISION-MAKING IN BUSINESS
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
TASK 1: Relevant issues in business decision-making.......................................................2
Relevant issues that are necessary for making business decisions with references to the
interest and needs of the stakeholders.........................................................................................2
Business issues where decision are needed.....................................................................3
TASK 2: Approaches to decision-making process and the ways of improving the
approaches.......................................................................................................................................4
Evaluation of the processes of obtaining information on business information and
identification of strengths and weaknesses in those approaches.................................................4
Making decision based on the information and justification of the decisions and the
way the decisions should be disseminated...................................................................................5
TASK 3: Recommendations for improving the decision-making process of business.......6
Recommendations for improving the decision making process......................................6
Planning for, communicating and seeing the new approaches to decision making.........7
References............................................................................................................................8

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TASK 1: Relevant issues in business decision-making
Relevant issues that are necessary for making business decisions with references to
the interest and needs of the stakeholders
Organizations need to identify their stakeholders and carry out stakeholder positioning in
order to prioritize them in accordance with the level of interest and influence they have in the
organization. Because not all stakeholders have the same interest in the business decision making
process and therefore it is necessary to identify these stakeholders who have the highest level of
influence and interest (Abell and Hammond 1979). Therefore it is necessary to carry out
stakeholder management in order to make business decision with particular references to the
needs and interests of the stakeholders. Some of the most important issues that needs to be
considered while making business decision making includes- the choice of products and services,
the price of the products and services and also includes decision of the promotional techniques
that will be sued. The decision of business related to selection of products and services, price,
promotional techniques, and other similar issues have some major impacts on a variety of
stakeholders such as the customers, the shareholders, the government, the employees and the
community at large. The customers of the company are interested in these decision of the
company because they are the end users of the company’s offerings and they are the ones who
pay for it and therefore they should feel that the product provides some value to them (Bazerman
and Moore 1994). Moreover the shareholders are interested in these decision of the business
because they want to know if the products and service will be profitable once launched in the
market. Moreover the community at large is interested in order to ensure that the business
decision of the company does not have a major impact on the society. The government has an

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interest on the business decision because they will determine the amount of tax that will have to
be charged on the products and services. Therefore being the business development manager I
will make ensure that all the business decision are made keeping in mind all the major issues or
problems if business such that I can attract the leads. Moreover I will ensure that all the
employees are well aware of how their activities will contribute to achievement of the overall
business goals and ensure good relationship between the employees at workplace. Further I will
also help in the decision making process by sharing information of the market conditions and
also the opportunities existing in the market (Clemen 1996). Further I need to make sure that I
have a contingency plan in place in order to effectively manage the people under me to help
them in achieving the organizations goals.
Business issues where decision are needed
Business decision is made in almost every areas of business and on a daily basis many
such decision are taken. However there are some major areas of business where business
decisions making is of great importance. Some of these areas include decision related to product
and service development, pricing decisions, financial decision, investment decisions, risk
management decisions and also the decision related to resource allocation also needs to be made.
It is necessary for the decision makers to understand their responsibility because the decisions
have a major impact on different types of stakeholders (Edwards 1954). Moreover some of the
other major issues that are important for the decision making process includes data collection and
analysis before making any decisions and also includes the analysis of environmental impact of
the products and services of the company. Moreover business decision making is important
because it helps in selection of the best alternative, allocation of resources according to the

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objectives and goals of the business and also helps in keeping the employees satisfied in their
workplace. Moreover a number of stakeholders are dependent upon the same.
TASK 2: Approaches to decision-making process and the ways of improving
the approaches
Evaluation of the processes of obtaining information on business information and
identification of strengths and weaknesses in those approaches
The business issues identified includes- financial issues, investment issues and also issues
related to product development. The decision making approach used in our organization is that
of participative decision making style (Janis and Mann 1977). This is so because participative
decision making style helps in reducing the risk and it is used in case of taking some bigger
decisions. Therefore all those people who will ultimately be affected by the decision of the
business are the ones whose decision is sought after by our organization. Therefore everyone is
given an opportunity to share their views related to a particular decision and then finally a
decision is taken by the top management. Moreover I being the business development manager
can provide necessary information about the business opportunity that is available in the market
and also provide information about the wants and needs of the clients. New market initiatives
will also be provided by me. Therefore before making any big decisions, our company tries to
understand the views of others for the same and then takes the final decision. Moreover I can
also provide information related to characteristics of the target market, the market potential and
other relevant market information. The process that has been used for collection of information
that helped our organization in identification of the issues includes- understanding the perception
of the customers about the brand image of the company (McGrew and Wilson 1982). This is

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done to understand if the customers are well aware of the products and services of the company.
Then the company can take a decision if it needs to invest more in promotion of the company for
increasing customer’s awareness. Moreover the market characteristics of the target market also
needs to be understood such that the customers’ needs and wants can be understood which can
help the company in taking decision related to new product development. Moreover the company
can also get information about the different needs of different regions in order to provide
different offerings for different regions. Moreover it is necessary to identify the market potential
such that the reaction of the customers to the price changes and new products can be understood.
Further it is also necessary to collect information about the market share of the company to have
an idea about the competitors in the market. Some of the major strengths of the participative
decision making approach is that it can help the top management in taking making decision
because it will be getting more information from all the employees (Mine 1979). Moreover risks
can be reduced in case of decision that involves a lot risk due to availability of the information.
Moreover participative decision making is undertaken in case of bigger decision. However some
of the major drawbacks is that the employees may not agree on certain issues and then conflicts
may arise which may delay the process of decision-making.
Making decision based on the information and justification of the decisions and the
way the decisions should be disseminated
With the help of the information on market characteristic, market potential, brand image
and market share, some major decision has been taken by our organization for growth and
development. From the information on market characteristics it has been understood that the
demand for the company’s products and services is more than the offerings of the company and
therefore company needs to increase its production in order to meet the demand for goods and

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services. In this case investment decision can be taken to increase the organizational production.
Therefore this investment decision of the company can help in increasing the production and
thereby the profitability of the company. Further from the information collected on market
potential, it has been understood that the market demand is relatively less elastic in nature that
makes it easier for the company to fix prices that the company feels is feasible. Therefore in this
case the company can take a decision of premium pricing. Further from the market share
analysis, information can be obtained about the competitors. From such information our
company can understand about its positioning among the customers and a decision can be taken
by it for increasing the awareness of the customers through investment in the promotional
activities. In order to disseminate the information to different stakeholders, different methods can
be used. For instance for disseminating information to the employees, I being the business
development manager should try to disseminate information by having open communication
with the employees. For this purpose policies may also be established within the organization
such that the employees can go through the same. Moreover in order disseminate information to
the stakeholders a meeting can be held with them. Further for disseminating any information to
the customers, different programs and conferences can be held where the top management can
have a direct face to face talk with the employees.
TASK 3: Recommendations for improving the decision-making process of
business
Recommendations for improving the decision making process
Some of the major drawbacks of the participative approach of decision making includes-
the fact that there may be certain issues over which the employees do not agree and then there

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can be conflict between them. Further another major drawback of the participative approach of
decision making includes the inability of the top management to take a decision on time. This is
so because when many people are engaged in taking a particular decision then it may take too
much time to reach an agreement (Ho, Xu and Dey 2010). Hence whenever a decision will have
to be taken within a particular deadline it will not be possible to do the same in case of
participative style of decision making. Moreover opportunities can be missed due to the inability
to take decision on time under this approach. Some of the major improvements that can be made
in this situation include- proper delegations of tasks with proper specification of roles and
responsibilities. That is the job roles needs to be defined in a better way. This will help in
overcoming the problem of delay in decision making. This is so because when people know what
is expected from them and there is proper definition of role and responsibilities, then the chances
of conflicts can be reduced which would have otherwise caused a delay in the decision making
process (Klein 1993). The decision making process can be improved by changing the sources of
information used previously by the organization because if too many people are consulted for
collecting information then the company may be flooded with information and it will become
even more difficult for the company to reach a particular decision. Therefore decisions should be
taken from a few sources such as business development managers and some other selective
sources.
Planning for, communicating and seeing the new approaches to decision making
Therefore from the above discussion, it becomes necessary to improve the decision
making approach. And hence a new decision making approach is to be used and this approach
will be a mixed approach. In order to improve the decision making process, the company can
adopt a mixed approach comprising of both participative decision making and autocratic decision

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making. That is in case of urgent and important decision that requires the top management to
take decision within certain period of time, the autocratic decision making approach can be used
(Kirkwood 1997). On the other hand, when more time is available, decision can be taken after
consulting all the employees and therefore a participative approach of decision making can be
used. The same decision of the company needs to be informed to different stakeholders within
the company such as the employees, the shareholders and the managerial people. The same
information can be disseminated or communicated to them through meetings and conferences
and further the business development manager can help in reinforcing the same. Moreover open
communication in this case will also help the employers of the company in maintaining good
relationship with the employees. Furthermore policies can also be prepared such that the
employees can see the same and understand. However this change in the decision making
approach needs to be communicated to the employees in a proper way such that they do not
resist to the same. Moreover the employers also need to communicate the main reason behind the
decision to change approach of decision making. One of the major reasons is that this will help
the employees in understanding that this decision has not been taken to reduce the employees
power but to help the organization in taking decisions on time and therefore take advantage of
the opportunities.

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References
Abell, D.F. and Hammond, J.S., 1979. Strategic market planning: problems and analytical
approaches (p. XII). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bazerman, M.H. and Moore, D.A., 1994. Judgment in managerial decision making (p. 226).
New York: Wiley.
Clemen, R.T., 1996. Making hard decisions: an introduction to decision analysis. Brooks/Cole
Publishing Company.
Edwards, W., 1954. The theory of decision making. Psychological bulletin, 51(4), p.380.
Ho, W., Xu, X. and Dey, P.K., 2010. Multi-criteria decision making approaches for supplier
evaluation and selection: A literature review. European Journal of operational research, 202(1),
pp.16-24.
Janis, I.L. and Mann, L., 1977. Decision making: A psychological analysis of conflict, choice,
and commitment. Free press.
Kirkwood, C.W., 1997. Strategic decision making. Duxbury Press, 149.
Klein, G.A. ed., 1993. Decision making in action: Models and methods (pp. 138-47). Norwood,
NJ: Ablex.
McGrew, A.G. and Wilson, M.J. eds., 1982. Decision making: approaches and analysis: a
reader. Manchester University Press.
Miner Jr, F.C., 1979. A comparative analysis of three diverse group decision making
approaches. Academy of Management Journal, 22(1), pp.81-93.