Engineering Management: Contextual Factors & Decision-Making Process

This report provides an overview of decision-making in engineering management, highlighting the importance of contextual factors and effective communication. It analyzes five articles discussing various aspects of decision-making, including business process performance, international business decisions, waste management infrastructure, entrepreneurial decision-making, and end-of-life communication in healthcare. The report emphasizes that effective communication among stakeholders is crucial for successful decision-making, leading to innovative ideas and improved organizational outcomes. The analysis of the articles highlights the need to consider public perception, cultural dimensions, and comprehensive planning in the decision-making process. Desklib offers a range of resources, including solved assignments and past papers, to support students in their studies.

Running head: ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction:........................................................................................................................3
Article 1...............................................................................................................................4
Article 2...............................................................................................................................5
Article 3...............................................................................................................................6
Article 4...............................................................................................................................7
Article 5...............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion:..........................................................................................................................9
Reference list:....................................................................................................................10

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
Decision-making is the process of choosing a logical and valid choice from the given or
available options. Decision-making is one of the key areas that the management have to be
accurate as all the process in the management is linked with one another. Decision-making needs
to be perfect and before making any decision the managers have to research the past journals of
the organization, have to research the market and needs to understand the current demand and the
trends in the market. The manager or the executive have to analyse all the options before coming
to any conclusion. Communicating the plan with the employee before making any decision is
important as the employees gets clarity and they can help the management to provide better
solutions and improve the plan.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Article 1
Kronsbein, D., Meiser, D., & Leyer, M. (2014). Conceptualisation of contextual factors for
business process performance. In Proceedings of the International MultiConference of
Engineers and Computer Scientists (Vol. 2, pp. 12-14). DOI: March 12 - 14, 2014.
In regards to business processes, process performance and decision making the
companies must be aware about the contextual factors, this is important to be properly conscious
about the performance standards and effectiveness in decision making processes. The changing
environment of business has led to the rise of new situations which are unprecedented and these
contextual factors are often not considered well. In terms of such business measurement what is
very important is relevant data to be assessed and therefore one of the primary contextual factors
are the assessment of relevant data which may be filled in the Data Envelopment Analysis.
“However, research lacks of frameworks which structure contextual factors according to their
different specifications”. This research has endeavoured in outlining a “conceptualisation of
contextual factors”. The author has proposed a framework in which the companies will be guided
through different categories of framework. This will be helpful for them to have better awareness
of the contextual factors. The functionality of the process has been tested by applying it in a bank
which has given better visualisation of the whole process. The framework which is developed
has been utilised in a practical scenario of a bank, and the process developed is transfer of money
by usage of a money transfer form. The contextual factors to be considered in such situation are
numerous and one example can be stated as, Internal Context Dimension, context types is
Organisation, example is Workload of the process, the impact on the process is high.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Article 2
Drogendijk, R., & Martín, O. M. (2015). Relevant dimensions and contextual
weights of distance in international business decisions: Evidence from Spanish and Chinese
outward FDI. International Business Review, 24(1), 133-147. DOI: 2015 Feb 1;24(1):133-
47.
The authors in this research has emphasized on the different dimension of distance
between various countries as contextual factors and decided on the “outward FDI of firms
according to distinct home country contexts”. Dimensions of distance include “socio-economic
Development distance, cultural and historical distance and physical distance”. The
countries taken in this context are China and Spain. It is found in regards of the weight of the
dimension of distance is the fact that the distant significantly explains the way investments has
been done from Spanish side and “cultural and historical distance significantly explains Chinese
outward FDI”. This research by the authors is effective in explaining the dimensions of distance
and the way investments are done or the nature of the investments. It is stated by the authors that
the distance in terms of socio economic factor has played as a vital role from the Spanish side in
terms of FDI, however this factors is not as valid in terms of Chinese FDI decision making.
Various companies that has been investing in the European countries especially in Eastern and
Central region had faced critical issues because of absence of advanced legal and financial
institutions. In terms of historical and cultural distance both Spain and China are effected
however this contextual factor is more evident on China. The authors have concluded that
distance multidimensionality between countries emerge as important contextual factors in terms
of decision making in FDI.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Article 3
Kirkman, R., & Voulvoulis, N. (2017). The role of public communication in decision
making for waste management infrastructure. Journal of environmental management, 203,
640-647. DOI: 2017 Dec 1;203:640-7.
The modern day waste management seeks to attain challenging goals and strategies while
keeping in mind the community desires and ensures the process is cost-effective, and strictly
follows the statutory obligations. In this article the author explains the role of the communication
in the decision making process. Communication is vital in any organization. Without proper
communication the organizational operation will be not effective. The flow of the
communication between the employee and the management needs to be continuous and should
be effective. Communication gives clarity to the employee and the other stakeholders of the
organization. Before making any decision the organization need to communicate properly to
understand whether the stakeholders are comfortable with the change or not. The social
acceptability of the plan is necessary so that organization does not face any issue. The public
perception of the desired change that the organization is willing to bring needs to be kept in
mind. Literacy and scientific evidence have a major role to play in facilitating the public
engagement in a way that will empower people. This will allow them to handle the challenges
and define those challenges that will have an impact on their lives. Increased ownership and the
problem ownership of the solution that is proposed is selected and successfully implemented are
the benefits of the such approach.
This research helped to understand the role of the public involvement in the decision
making. While making any decision the management needs to consider the public preference and
what can be their reaction.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Article 4
Shepherd, D. A., Williams, T. A., & Patzelt, H. (2015). Thinking about
entrepreneurial decision making: Review and research agenda. Journal of
management, 41(1), 11-46. DOI: July 14, 2014
In this assignment the author explained about the entrepreneurial decision making.
Entrepreneurs are those who bring a new idea and incorporated those ideas to make some
product or service that will benefit the society. The entrepreneurs have to come up with proper
and planning and plotting before releasing their product. There are number of researches that
have been conducted on the organizational behaviour, marketing and psychology, this is the first
research that have been conducted on this topic. The absence of the research on the decision
making of the entrepreneur is missing is quite surprising as the entrepreneur needs to go through
a lot of research. They have to carry out and extensive analysis and research such as high
uncertainty, economic condition of the country, time pressure and so on. Entrepreneurs have to
be accurate with their products and services as they are new in the market and they have to make
a mark in the organization. The entrepreneurs need to consider all the factors for example, how
the consumers are going to perceive their product, revenue forecast, how much demand it will
create in the market. All these are dependent only on one person and he alone have to make all
the decisions.
The article gives detailed information about how the decision-making of the
entrepreneurs is one of the most important aspects. This article helped to understand how the
entrepreneurs have to make decision by considering a lot of different areas in the environment.
The article explained how the entrepreneurs have to go through a vast research in the market
before coming out with their services and products.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Article 5
Sinuff, T., Dodek, P., You, J. J., Barwich, D., Tayler, C., Downar, J., ... & Heyland,
D. K. (2015). Improving end-of-life communication and decision making: the development
of a conceptual framework and quality indicators. Journal of pain and symptom
management, 49(6), 1070-1080. DOI: 2015 Jun 1;49(6):1070-80.
In this journal, the author discussed about improving the end of life communication
which will ultimately improve the decision making process. Improving the communication can
help in the medical unit to take better decision and it will also help to understand what the patient
is wanting from them.
Communication is one of the most important factors in the organization. Without proper
communication the employee and other individuals in the organization will not get clarity about
their responsibilities and what the organization is aiming to achieve. The flow of communication
needs to be accurate and effective so that the misunderstanding between the employees and the
management can be reduced. All the members of the organization needs communicate with the
other individuals so that they can achieve the task effectively.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Conclusion:
The most important contextual factors in decision-making process are the
communication. Communication is one of the most important factors that the organization needs
to give importance. The decision making will be effective if the plan is shared by all the
stakeholders of the company. Without proper communication the organization will be ineffective
and there will be lots of misunderstanding between the stakeholders. The flow of the
communication needs to be effective. All the employee of the organization needs to contribute
on the decision making process and should suggest ideas how the plan can be improved. The
employee should be aware of the decisions that the organization is going to take. The
organization should also consider how the public is going to react on the change.
Communicating with the employees brings more innovative ideas and helps in effective decision
making. Communication helps in understanding what issues the organization might face and
what are the areas that can be improved.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Reference list:
Drogendijk, R., & Martín, O. M. (2015). Relevant dimensions and contextual weights of distance
in international business decisions: Evidence from Spanish and Chinese outward FDI.
International Business Review, 24(1), 133-147. DOI: 2015 Feb 1;24(1):133-47.
Kirkman, R., & Voulvoulis, N. (2017). The role of public communication in decision making for
waste management infrastructure. Journal of environmental management, 203, 640-647.
DOI: 2017 Dec 1;203:640-7.
Kronsbein, D., Meiser, D., & Leyer, M. (2014). Conceptualisation of contextual factors for
business process performance. In Proceedings of the International MultiConference of
Engineers and Computer Scientists (Vol. 2, pp. 12-14). DOI: March 12 - 14, 2014.
Shepherd, D. A., Williams, T. A., & Patzelt, H. (2015). Thinking about entrepreneurial decision
making: Review and research agenda. Journal of management, 41(1), 11-46. DOI: July
14, 2014
Sinuff, T., Dodek, P., You, J. J., Barwich, D., Tayler, C., Downar, J., ... & Heyland, D. K.
(2015). Improving end-of-life communication and decision making: the development of a
conceptual framework and quality indicators. Journal of pain and symptom
management, 49(6), 1070-1080. DOI: 2015 Jun 1;49(6):1070-80.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT