The Manager as a
Planner and Strategist
Managerial Objectives and
Planning
If you don’t know where you are going,
any road will take you there
3 types of managers
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Those who MAKE things happen.
Those who WATCH things happen.
Those who WONDER what happened.
What is Decision Making
-
-
Process by which managers make a choice
between two or more alternatives to solve a
problem.
4 elements to decision making:
- An Objective
- The Alternatives
- The Choice
- The Consequences
Types of Decision Making
► Programmed
– routine, almost automatic
process
 Follows established rules
► Non-Programmed
– unusual situations
that have not often been addressed
 Responds to unusual opportunities and threats.
Conditions Affecting
managerial Decisions
► Certainty
– very rare, manager knows
exactly what will happen.
► Risk – use of probabilities, outcome can be
estimated.
► Uncertainty – nothing is known,
alternatives are not known, can’t assign
probabilities
Decision Making Steps –
Classical Model
1. Recognize need for decision: sparked by an event either
internally or externally.
► 2. Developing objective and criteria: what will be the most
important when evaluating alternatives.
► 3. Generate alternatives: managers must develop feasible
alternative courses of action
► 4. Evaluate alternatives: what are the advantages and
disadvantages of each alternative?
► 5. Choose among alternatives: identify all relevant
information for decision
► 6. Implement chosen alternative: managers must now
carry out the alternative
► 7. Learn from Feedback: managers should consider what
went right and what went wrong with the decision and
learn for the future.
►
Assessing Alternatives
►
►
►
►
Is
Is
Is
Is
it
it
it
it
practical?
economically feasible?
ethical?
legal?
Decision Making Challenges
► Ease
of recall: make judgment based on recent
event
► Insensitivity
to base rates: disregard information
that suggests likelihood of a particular outcome in
the presence of other information
► Anchoring: use an initial value from prior
experience and give it a strong weight in the final
decision.
► Escalation of commitment: increase in time,
increase in commitment.
Improved Group Decision
Making
►
►
►
Devil’s Advocacy: one member of the group acts as the
devil’s advocate (defends unpopular alternative)
Dialectical inquiry: 2 different groups are assigned to
problem and each groups evaluates the other’s alternatives
Promoting diversity: by increasing diversity in a group,
wider set of alternatives may be considered.
Building Group Creativity
►
►
Brainstorming: managers meet face-to-face to generate
and debate many alternatives.
All alternatives are listed:
 Be creative and radical in stating alternatives
 When all are listed, then the pros and cons of each are discussed
and a short list created.
Building Group Creativity
►
Nominal Group Technique: Provides a more structured
way to generate alternatives in writing.
 Similar to brainstorming except that each member is given time to first write down
all alternatives
 Alternatives then read aloud without discussion
 Then discussion occurs and alternatives are ranked (ranked individually)
 Final decision rests with the number of votes each alternative receives.
►
Delphi Technique: provides for a written format without having all
managers meet face-to-face
 Problem is distributed in written form to managers who then generate written
alternatives
 Responses are received and summarized by top managers
 Results are sent back to participants for feedback, and ranking; the process
continues until consensus is reached.
Goals
► Depending
on where you “sit,” your goals
can be quite different
Organization --- Maximize Profits
Employees --- Higher Wages
Customers --- Quality Products
Owners --- Higher Dividends
Management --- Promotions
Goals and Strategies
► Objectives
for performance
► The starting point of successfully managing
a business
► The planned method of reaching a goal is
the “strategy”
Goals vs. Objectives
► Goals:
long-term desired results
► Objectives:
short-term “rungs of the ladder”
one must achieve in order to reach longterm goal
Planning
► Decision
making process that focuses on the
future of an org., and how to achieve goals
► Identifying the objectives to be attained
and the ways to realize them
► Results in company strategy
Why Plan?
Planning Process Stages
1.) Organizational vision, mission, and goals
2.) Formulating strategy
3.) Implementing strategy
Types of Plans
1.) Strategic (2-10 years)
broad plans
prepared by top level mgrs.
how to achieve long term goals
2.) Tactical (1 year)
short term plans
born from a strategy
3.) Operational (month, week, day)
very detailed
short range plans
prepared by first level mgrs.