Key Management Decisions

Tools and Techniques of the Executive Decision-Maker

Des Dearlove

Publisher: Pitman Publishing, 1998 , 242 pages

ISBN: 0-273-63009-1

Synopsis:

Toggle Synopsis

Key Management Decisions is a practical guide to management decision-making, with lessons drawn from the most up-to-date research and a wealth of company case studies and real life examples.

Table of Contents:

Toggle Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Key for icons
• Introduction

1. Decisions, decisions, decisions
   • What are decisions?
   • The point of no return
   • Different types of decisions
   • How decisions are made (in theory)
   • The human factor
   • How are decisions really made?
   • An art, not a science
   • Why decisions are not made
   • Lucky generals
2. The garbage can and other models
   • The garbage can model
   • The rational deductive model
   • Disjointed incrementalism
   • Reductionism
   • Scientific management: Taylorism
   • Universal predicatbility
   • Total quality management (TQM)
   • Chaos theory
   • Game theory
3. The decision-makers' tool-box
   • Decision trees
   • Fishbone diagrams (the Ishikawa method)
   • Flow charts
   • Brown papering (process mapping)
   • Mind maps
   • Prioritizing tools
   • Analysis tools
   • Scenario planning
   • Flipping a coin
4. The hare and the tortoise
   • The different ways managers approach decisions
   • Fast impressions
   • Pigeon-holing decisions
   • Evaluating time-scales
   • Time management
   • The 80/20 principle
   • Crisis? What crisis?
   • Faster, harder
   • The nimble organization
   • Just-in-time decisions
5. Data, data everywhere
   • Information vs knowledge
   • Do you have the right information to make a decision?
   • How reliable is the information?
   • Chinese whispers
   • Testing for bias
   • Cassandra information
   • Information flow
   • Benchmarking
   • Coping with information overload
   • Developing good information habits
   • Desktop democratization
   • Paralysis by analysis
6. Desision-making structures
   • The military model
   • Functional chimneys
   • The multi-divisional structure
   • Matrix management
   • The Shamrock organization
   • Membership communities
   • The star
   • The boundaryless organization
   • The amoeba organization
   • The chemical soup organization
   • The virtual organization
   • Flatter management structures
   • Downsizing
   • Business process re-engineering (BPR)
   • Longer reporting spans
   • The changing art of delegation
   • Accountability
7. Decison-making cultures
   1. Internal cultures
      • Ed Schein's three levels of culture
      • Empowerment
      • Managers as facilitators
      • Learning organizations
      • Blame culture and gain culture
      • Managing mistakes
      • Groupthink
      • Politics and personalities
   2. National cultures
      • The Japanese model of decision-making
      • Living with cultural diversity
      • Culture clashes
      • Brake's culture prism
8. Intuition and other 'soft skills'
   • Intuition
   • Perception and judgement
   • Left and right brain decisions
   • Nurturing the inner sense
   • Tacit knowledge
   • Picking up signals others miss
   • The heroic leadership myth
   • Counter-cyclical thinking
   • Decision-making personalities
   • The Holy Trinity of decision-making
   • Hearts and minds
9. Tough decisions
   • Business ethics
   • The range of ethical decisions
   • Grey areas
   • Creating an ethical framework for decisions
   • Ethical codes
   • Monitoring ethical performance
   • Ethical training
   • Knowing right from wrong
   • Corporate values
   • Stakeholders
   • Handling redundancies
   • Blowing the whistle
10. Real decisions in practice
    • Putting it all together and implementing it
    • Staffing decisions
    • The issues involved in outsourcing
    • Outsourcing IT needs
    • The decision-maker's route map
    • Career decisions
    • Lifestyle decisions: 'Downshifting'
    • Health decisions
    • Afterword