Text 6. Decision-making techniques

1. A manager's ability to make decisions is an important part of what makes him or her valuable to an organisation. Decisions range in scope and difficulty from whether to spend 1000 for a new file cabinet to whether to merge¹ with another corporation in multibillion-dollar transaction. For any kind of decision, managers can increase the likelihood² of success by systematically using the resources available to them.

2. Making good decisions is like most management skills: it is both an art and a science. Good managers have an intuition about what the effects of actions will be even when all the facts are not available. They may accurately judge, for example, that a new advertising campaign³ will not work, even without being exactly sure why. a) _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Watching the effects of many varied decisions and efforts over the years can improve judgement, even when the process is not traditionally analysed.

3. Managers strengthen⁴ their personal judgements by using various techniques to analyse numerical and factual data so that future activities can be planned. b) _ _ _ _ _ _ _. The basis of nearly all of these techniques is the use of past experience and data to try to predict the future.

4. Most people can make better decisions in complex situations if they approach problems systematically. Although different paths may be used to reach the same goals, a good approach to decision making involves six important steps first suggested by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle:

– Identify and define the problem. Answer the questions: c) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ What is the exact problem to be solved or issue to be settled?

– Establish objectives. Decide what outcome⁵ is desired once the decision is made. d) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Business objectives may be defined monetarily, by improved personnel morale, by better company reputation, and in countless other ways.

– Gather, classify, and study information. Become well informed about every possible aspect of the problem. e) _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

– Develop possible alternate courses of action. Creatively work out a number of possible courses of action that might help you reach the desired objectives.

– Evaluate each alternative. f) _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Decide whether returns⁶ will exceed⁷ costs, whether each action is suitable to expected business situations, and how successful each will be in meeting objectives.

– Make a choice. Use the results of the evaluations to pick the best alternative.

Notes: 1) сливаться; 2) вероятность; 3) рекламная кампания; 4) усиливать; 5) результат; 6) вырученные средства; 7) превосходить.

Comprehension check Ex. 1. Read the text. Decide which sentence goes in each of the gaps in the text:

1. Why is a decision needed?

2. Try to understand the relationships among different forces and factors.

3. Experience truly is a good teacher.

4. These methods range from the simplest analysis of figures to discover sales or cost trends to computer simulations using hundreds of variables.

5. How will the success of the chosen course of action be determined?

6. Determine the advantages and disadvantages of each possible action.