Leadership Decision-Making Errors: Analysis and Prevention Strategies

This report provides an in-depth analysis of leadership decision-making errors, focusing on prevention strategies and the role of data analytics. It examines decision-making processes in organizations, using British Airways and Wizz Air UK as case studies to highlight common pitfalls and their impact on performance. The report identifies various types of problems that leaders face, such as programmed, well-structured, and ill-structured issues, and emphasizes the importance of using research methods like qualitative and quantitative analysis to determine the root causes. It also discusses the Cynefin Framework as a tool for leaders to navigate complex situations and make informed decisions. Furthermore, the report underscores the significance of effective communication, bias reduction, and the implementation of decision-making frameworks to enhance organizational performance and achieve strategic goals. The analysis includes recommendations for improving leadership practices through training, development, and the adoption of participative leadership styles to foster employee motivation and job satisfaction.

Leadership in Decision-
Making

Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References ......................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Leadership is defined as the ability of an person to lead or influence others towards
performing better and achieving desired goals and objectives of the organisation. Leaders plays
an essentials role in enhancing overall performance of the organisation and leading business
towards continuous growth and success (Bhaduri, 2019). Successful leaders understand how to
balance emotions with reasonability and take right and correct decisions. Leadership in decision-
making in the process of taking right decision as well as properly evaluating information and
using it to take right decision. This report highlights the detailed analysis of the leadership
decision error made as well as the precaution that can be taken to prevent those error. In addition
to this, the use of data analytics tool in effective decision making is also highlighted in this
report.
Task 1
Decision making is defined as the process of choosing the right and most effective course
of actions from available alternatives with the main aim of accomplishing desired goals and
objectives. It is also defined as the series to actions taken into consideration by the person in
order to chose the best option to meet their requirements (Zsombok, 2019). Taking the right
decision by the leaders plays an essential role in the growth and success of the organization.
Right decision allows the business organization to accomplish desired results and gain
competitive advantage in the marketplace. Leaders have the ability to take right decision and lead
the business towards enhancing overall performance and profitability (Fischer, Horakand Kelly,
2018). There are various problem that can be faced by the leaders in the effective decision
making process which can directly impact their effectiveness. In order to determine and evaluate
the leadership decision-making errors done by the organisation, British Airways and Wizz Air
UK is taken into consideration. British Airways is the flag carrier airline, it is considered to be
the second largest UK based airline. It was founded in 1919, considered to be third largest airline
group in context to annual revenues and second largest in across Europe. The company is
headquartered in London, England. Whereas Wizz Air UK Ltd is also famous British airline as
well as subsidiary of low cost airline (McManus, 2018). The company was founded in 2017,
holding a UK civil Aviation Authority. It is developed as a low cost airline operating flights from
around four bases in the UK. In case of both the company there were some of the poor leadership
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decisions making were seen which lead to directly impacting their performance and growth in
the marketplace. In case of British Airways, one of the major poor leadership decision seen was
the replacement of the company's boss amid the company's worst crisis. It lead to cutting around
10,000 staff, leading company to follow fire and rehire policy (Gallagher-Fordand Connor,
2020). The airline was taken over by the new chief executive leading to many changes in the
policy and procedure. Whereas in case of Wizz Air, which is low cost airline company, relying
too much on the past experience is one of the biggest poor decision of leaders of the company,
with changing trends and environment it is essentials for the organisation to consider new
changes and implement new strategy. As well as the leaders of Wizz Air is also planning to
expand into new European market leaving its London Gatwick base permanently (Lee,
Daughertyand Hamelin, 2019).
There are different types of problem such as programmed, well-structured and Ill
structured. The programmed programme can be handled considering repetitive decision, whereas
well-structured is a kind of problem which is straightforward, familiar to the decision maker. In
case of Ill structured, the problem is new and solution or solution regarding the problem is
difficult to find as well as incomplete (Smithand Green, 2018). It is essential for the management
to determine the problem using application of research methods like qualitative, quantitative or
both. Also the most suitable research technique can be considered while determining the problem
where there are various interpretations of situations is positivism and interpretivist. A
problematic situation is any kind of situation which includes a gap among what is and what
needs to be or it is any situation in which an desired level of performance is not being
accomplished. There are various factors that make a problematic situation such as strength,
weakness, opportunity and threat. Also any kind of unexpected and unexplained variance in
performance. In case of British Airway, the boss leaving the organisation amid the crisis is
constitute to be poor leadership decision making as it lead to directly impacting the performance
and profitability of the company. It also lead to impacting the operations and brand image of the
company. In addition to this the decision making process of the organisation was largely
impacted (Lumbers, 2018). Due to this change there was dropped of 95% in their passenger
traffic leading to around operating loss of around 4.04 billion. There was also around 12000 job
cuts due to this change (Torres, 2018) (McNeishand Tran, 2020). In addition to this, in case of
British airways, leaving of their boss lead the management to perform poorly and created need of
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implementing new strategies. Whereas in case of Wizz Air, the relying too much on the past
experience lead the company not able to keep up with the change and leading to incur huge cost
(López-Rocaand Traver-Martí, 2020).
In order to determine the gap among where we are and where we want to go, the chosen
company will use performance matrix and SWOT analysis. The performance matrix will help
company to determine their overall performance at present and how it can be improved in the
future. As well as the SWOT analysis will help company to determine their strength and how it
can be used to overcome their weakness. Also various opportunities available to them can also be
determined using this framework, additionally how these opportunities can be used to overcome
various threats. There are various reasons that can be taken into consideration for the error
happens in decision making (Luo, Zhengand Liang, 2018). One of the major reason of the error
is due to the personality of the leader. It can also be due to the kind of leadership style used by
the leader to lead their. If the leadership used by the leader is not suitable for the management
than it can directly lead to directly impacting the performance and profitability of the
organisation. Another reason that can lead to impacting the decision-making of the leader can be
their overconfidence. If the decision-making is done without analysing the facts and figure of the
situation or analysing various alternative available then it can directly lead to impacting the
decision taken by the leader (Feliti, 2018). In case of British airway, decision taken by the CEO
is considered to be poor as it is analysed that the decision was taken due to the mental stress
created by the outbreak of the pandemic leading to impact their financial stability of the company
in the marketplace. In order to deal with the situation and potential reasons for these errors The
Cynefin Framework can be taken into consideration. The Cynefin Framework will allow the
leaders to determine and analyse the prevailing operative aspects so as to make the relevant
choices (Martínez‐Córcoles, 2018). This allows leaders to understand that the problem solving
can not be considered to be one size fits all practices. Leaders actions are based on the situation,
and better decision can be taken on adapting to changing situation effectively. This frameworks
allows the leaders to put the situation in mainly five domains such as disorder, obvious,
complicated, complex and chaotic. Each domain includes kind of practices and advice on to
respond to a particular situation. The simple and complicated domain will enable the leaders to
understand that where cause and effect relationship are perceptible, and rights answers can be
based on the facts (Lyndon and Pandey, 2019). The complex and chaotic domain are unordered,
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it includes no direct relationship among cause and effect and the forward is considered is on the
basis of emerging patterns. The last one is the disorder, it includes various perspectives making
for prominence. It allows leaders to compare all the situation and take the right answer. This
frameworks will allow the chosen organisations to handle the situation effectively and take the
right decision leading to enhance their overall performance (Mitchell, 2019).
The impact of good leader in British Airways could have led to attaining more positive
outcomes if the leadership are followed proper guidelines and the employees driven to develop
more business opportunities. In situation of British airways company, the good decision of leader
can bring more coordination level in workplace and employees would feel comfortable to gain
more productive level of performances. Through effective training and development along with
proper seminar conducts the employees can make more to attain better work proficiency. This
also help to British airways staffs to motivate for their goals and objectives in effective manner.
Training and development is also important role on which leader provide training to enhance
skills and knowledge power to attain positive outcomes (Cogenand Vaidyanathan, 2019).
Through involving the process the employees within process through which increase the
motivation and effective job satisfaction Great leaders with particular leadership styles is
providing directions, implementation plan and motivating people. In perspective of British
Airways, the organisation also undertakes which helps to smooth the company. Some other
undertaking examples of participative leadership is generated democratic theory By more using
of Participative leadership nature British airways leader can gain more trust of their employees as
well as can share healthy relationship with them for longer period of time. Some leaders may
dominate co-employees on regular basis which might create a negative impact in organisation
(Chukowry, 2018). On the basis of Change Management leader also focuses on implementing
strategies for control , effectiveness and helping people to adapt change it uses resources , budget
allocations and other modes to implement change to deal with the transformation of goals ,
process and technologies. In order to implement the decision effectively the organisation should
ensure that there is proper flow of communication in the organisation. It will help the leader to
ensure there is clarity of roles and responsibility among employees (Okpala, 2021). The
Communicating idea and viewpoints to others is an important task in an organisation and is
needed to be done with utmost care in order to avoid misunderstandings. Proper flow of
communication will help in taking proper and achieving desired goals and objectives of the
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leading as well as leading them towards continuous growth and success effectively and
efficiently. Also allowing them to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace as well. In case
of chosen company, proper use of communication will allow them to smoothly carry out their
work effectively and efficiently. In addition to this it will also allow the company to take proper
decision and manage their work effectively. The leaders of the company can use decision making
frameworks in order to take the right decision and achieve desired goals and objectives (Owusu-
Agyeman, 2021). In addition to this, this frameworks can also be used in order to determine the
various alternative available and then choosing the right alternative to take the correct decision.
In addition to this, in case of chosen company the manager should ensure that any kind of bias
are reduced in decision-making. Such as manager should ensure that the clear and unbiased
language is used in the organisation. The organisation decisions are mainly on the basis of
qualitative data from the sources such as performance reviews and employee survey, what is
needed to be said by the leader should be evaluated effectively and ask for any kind of
unintentional bias. The leaders should ensure that they clearly define or communicate their
expectations and guide them on unbiased language. Another step that can be taken into
consideration by the leaders can be bring various individuals together, effective leadership
diversity helps in reducing actual and perceived bias, leading to enhance employees engagement
and innovation (Mumfordand Higgs, 2019). This leaders can use sponsorship in order to enhance
the diversity. Leaders of the organisation can sponsors or mentor the individuals from various
backgrounds through evaluating and determining the challenges and aspirations in common. In
addition to this, leaders of the chosen company can use education and training programme in
order to reduce any kind of bias. The company can use unconscious bias education and training
in order to enhance the performance of the employees and making them understand bias is a
shared responsibility, it is not only for the managers but for the employees and others groups to
understand and address it effectively. Furthermore, the leaders of the organisation should also
focus on managing the perception of bias. Any kind of impartial decision can directly lead to
impacting the business if it is unfair. If the employees realise the process considered by the
organisation or the leader is fair and honest than they are more likely to accept the process and
outcomes. A leader should be honest and transparent related to each and every process whether it
is related to decision such as hiring, promoting or planning (Rodd,2020). It will allow them to
enhance their overall performance and achieve desired goals and objectives.
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Task 2
Data driven decision making is the process of effectively utilising the data in order to
inform decision-making process and formalize a course of actions before committing to it. Big
data is one of the growing and game changer in the businesses around the globe, allowing them
to enhance their performance in the era of digital transformation. Data analysis decision making
has become a essential strategy for the growth and development of the business organisation.
Large number of business organisation are moving towards the use of data analyses for taking
right and relevant decisions (Thakkar, 2018). The data analysis is offering large number of
opportunities to the small and even large organisation to be more competitive through the
utilisation of analytics. Data analysis enable the organisation around the globe to make smarter
decisions that leads them to offer higher productivity and more effective operations, also
allowing them to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. In the business organisation it is
seen to be in many different forms such as an organisation may collect survey response in order
to determine and and analyse the product, services and features their target customers would
prefer (Coffey, 2018). It can be in the form of conduct user testing in order to determine the how
the target consumers are inclined to utilise their product and services and to determine potential
issues that can be taken into consideration effectively and efficiently. Also launching the any
new product and services in the market to determine how the product would perform in the
chosen marketplace. The collection and analysis of the data have played an effective role in
business corporations (Virtanenand Tammeaid, 2020). Determining the right audience is one of
the essentials steps in order to make right decision by the business organisation. The business
analytics collects the data from the various platforms like Facebook and Instagram and then these
data is taken into consideration in order to create a demographics of a brand's ideal customers. It
also help in analysing what kind of features organisation's target customers requires from the
particular product and services. It is considered to be one of the essential tool used in order to
enhance their their current product and services and take the right decision effectively. The key
performance indicator and measurable goals are the considered to be the major factors in the
effective data driven decision making for the business organisation (Welton, A.D. and Freelon
2018). The facts and the information gathered from these insights are determined and then
analysed to create activities and strategies designed to be effective and beneficial for the business
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organisation. The data driven decision making enables the business management to leverage
verified and analysed data while working towards main goals and objectives (Wang, 2018) .
In order to effectively understand how the large number of business organisation can
effectively incorporate data analytics into proper decision making process, the example of
leadership development at google can be taken into consideration. Google effectively focus on
the people analytic. As the part of their one of the biggest people analytics initiative, project
oxygen, company was able to get the data of more than 10,000 performance review and then
compared the data with workers retention rates. The company has effectively utilised the
collected information to determine the common behaviours of high performing team or manager
leading to develop proper training program to enhance these competencies. Another example of
can be taken as the driving sale at Amazon, the company uses data in order to decide which
product should be recommended to their customers on the basis of their previous purchase and
on the basis of their buying patterns effectively. Instead of suggesting random options to their
customers, the company focus on using data analytics and machine learning to lead its
recommendation engine effectively leading to satisfy their target customers and enhancing their
satisfaction level (Zsombok, 2019).
The use of data driven decision making allows the business organisation to enhance their
overall performance and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace effectively leading them
to enhance their brand image in the marketplace. There are some benefits involved in use of data
driven decision making process such as it helps the business organisation to make more
confident decisions. If the data collection process is flawed, then any decision based on the data
would be inaccurate, so it is essential impact of every business decisions to be measured
regularly and effectively. It will also help the business organisation to be more proactive, the
collection of data enables the organisation to react on it and take corrective actions. In addition to
this this, the use of effective data driven will also help the organisation to be realise their cost and
save it effectively and efficiently (Bertrandand Rodela, 2018). It helps the organisation to
enhance their operational efficiency and take decision on very latest and accurate information.
But it is analysed that use of data analytics also includes some of disadvantage for the business
organisation. Such as the use of data analytics leads to breach privacy of the customers collecting
their personal data can be impactful. The companies use the personal information for various
reasons such as purchase, online transactions, also exchange it for their own mutual benefits. It is
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used to manipulate the customers records breaking the principles of privacy(Nuechterlein, 2019).
The use of personal data of the customers can lead to losing their trust as well as losing them,
this can directly impact the profitability and productivity of the organisation. In order to grow
and enhance their overall performance as well as gain competitive advantage in the marketplace
it is essential for the organisation to have large loyal customers base and retain them for long
period of time. Corrective measures should be taken by the organisation when using the data of
others. In order to use this tool effectively, above weakness needs to be taken into consideration
by the business organisation (Galli, 2018).
Conclusion
From the above essay, it has been concluded that the effective and proper decision helps
the business organisation to enhance their overall performance and gain competitive advantage in
the marketplace. It is analysed that it is responsibility of the leaders to determine all the
alternative available and accordingly take the right decision. This essay helps in determining the
leadership frameworks that can be taken into consideration in order to take the right decision
making. Also the data driven tools that can be taken into consideration by organisation to take
the right decision and enhance their performance.
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