Decision Making

Engineering managers are always tasked with providing leadership for which it essentially helps in realizing the organization's objectives. Therefore, the intricacies of decision-making must be learned as it is inevitable for every engineers to encounter situations wherein they will have to choose one from the various options given. With that, engineer manager's decision making skills are said to be crucial in his/her success as a professional.

Decision making is always the responsibility of the engineer manager. Consequently, they will be held accountable whatever the outcome their decisions bring. Thus, the higher the management level is, the bigger and more complicated decision-making becomes. For that reason, it is important for them to make a choice that is based on sound arguments for they will be held responsible, especially if they've made the wrong choice.

What is decision making?

Decision making is defined as the process of identifying and choosing alternative courses of action in a manner that is appropriate to the demands of the situation.
Decisions can be made at various management levels and management functions.
Decision making is also referred to as " the heart of all management functions" (Nickels, et. al)

As an engineer manager, it is important to consider the following steps in rational decision making, which are as follows:

Diagnose problem

In order to come up with intelligent decisions, every engineer manager should identify the problem first. It is said that identifying problem is equivalent to having the problem half-solved.

2. Analyze the environment

The environment that surrounds the organization is merely important for their success or failure. Identification of constraints which can either be external or internal limitations should be considered when taking an environmental analysis.

3. develop viable alternatives

Engineer managers therefore should prepare a list of alternative solutions and analyze which of them is the most viable.

4. evaluate alternatives

Evaluating the remaining alternatives is necessary in order to strike out which of them offers the least benefits. This will enable engineer managers to decide on choosing the best decision that will yield out results that will potentially solve the problem. Alternatives are evaluated based on its value, cost, and risk characteristics.

5. make a choice

Choice making is defined as the process of selecting among alternatives representing potential solutions to a problem. To make selection process easier, it is recommended that the alternatives should be ranked from best to worst with the basis of factors used in evaluating them.

6. Implement decision

Implementation refers to carrying out the decision so that the objectives sought will be achieved. Therefore, a plan must be devised properly and resources must be made available for the decision to be effectively implemented.

7. Evaluate and adapt decision results

The use of control and feedback mechanisms is highly significant to ensure results and to provide information for future decisions as well. This will help the engineer manager to determine whether or not the desired result is achieved.

approaches in solving problems

QUALITATIVE EVALUATION

Qualitative Evaluation refers to evaluation of alternatives using intuition and subjective judgment. Managers tend to use qualitative approach when: (1) the problem is fairly simple, (2) the problem is familiar, (3) low cost expenditures in order to solve the problem and (4) Immediate decisions are needed.

2. QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION

Quantitative evaluation is used when the listed alternatives needs to be evaluated rationally and analytically. The following are the commonly used quantitative techniques which are useful in effective decision making:

Inventory Models

Queuing Theory

Network Models

Forecasting

Regression Analysis

Simulation

Linear Programming

Sampling Theory

Statistical Decision Theory

reflection:

As an engineering student, I strongly believe that decision-making is considered a core part of every organization team. It is a very important function that every engineer manager should take into account as the outcome of their decisions firmly affects the overall performance of the organization. It would be beneficial for us to familiarize and understand the decision-making process especially if solving problems needs to be solved and assessed quantitatively. Also, I have learned that including other members and subordinates in making decisions could be helpful in increasing the likelihood of having successful results. Decision--making is indeed a dynamic activity for every engineering organization. With this in mind, the steps in decision-making process must be followed properly to easily obtain the objectives and goals of the organization.

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