110321P - DECISION MAKING and PROBLEM-SOLVING

Presentation at the Nurses Leadership Program KFMC on 22^nd March 2011 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr.

1.0 PRINCIPLES OF DECISION MAKING 1

·         Leaders and managers make strategic, tactical, or operational decisions.

·  Programmed decisions are routine procedures and un-programmed decisions are creative, innovative, and risky.

·         Major decisions are best taken incrementally.

·         Certainty is better than uncertainty.

·         Easier alternatives are preferred.

2.0 PRINCIPLES OF DECISION MAKING 2

·         Discussions improve decision making.

·         Best decisions address needs and not want and require time.

·         Scientific decisions are better than hasty or prevaricative decisions.

·         Decision making can be rational systematic, intuitive, mathematical or statistical. Consensus is better than majority decisions.

·         A competent individual decision is better than that of a majority of average individuals. The worst decision is that by an average individual.

3.0 PROCESS OF DECISION-MAKING 1

·        All possibilities are considered and the larger picture is visualized while putting the decision in proper context.

·         Review of previous related decisions helps.

·         An assessment is made whether a decision is necessary.

·         A bad decision is stopped before making a better one.

·         The degree of risk and uncertainty must be known.

·         The present decision must be related to others.

·         Biases are acknowledged.

·         Implementability must be considered.

4.0 PROCESS OF DECISION-MAKING 2

·         The issues must be classified as to importance and urgency.

·         Assumptions and forecasts are made.

·         Available resources are considered.

·         Decision alternatives are generated and the best alternative is selected.

·         The future impact of the decision is analyzed.

·         Then istikhara is carried out before decision implementation.

·         A bad decision should be changed sooner than later.

5.0 PRINCIPLES OF PROBLEM-SOLVING 1

·         A problem exists if reality is different from the expected.

·         Problems should be identified early in the lag time between cause and consequence

·         Problems are challenges and opportunities that should be approached with an open mind and viewed as holistic.

·         Problems are solved and not shifted around.

·         It is better to leave a problem unsolved if the consequences of the 'best' solution are worse than the original problem.

·         An optimal solution will produce maximum effect from minimum effort.

6.0 PRINCIPLES OF PROBLEM-SOLVING 2

·         Cumulative experience cannot solve all problems.

·         Fixed tested procedures solve routine and emergency problems but not creative new problems.

·         Decision audit is educative.

·         'Best' is not synonymous with the simplest solution.

·         Quality solutions can be arrived at by generating a lot of alternatives and selecting the best proving the rule that quality is from quantity.

7.0 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS ABOUT PROBLEM SOLVING

·         realistic appraisal

·         seeing problems as challenges and opportunities

·         open mindedness

·         toleration for alternatives

·         the realization that 'different' is not 'wrong'

·         encouraging 'strange' ideas

·         combining and extending ideas

·         creativity

·         persistence

8.0 STAGES OF RATIONAL SYSTEMATIC PROBLEM SOLVING 1

·         analysis of the environment

·         recognition of the problem

·         identification of the problem

·         determination of the ownership of the problem

·         definition of the problem

·         classification of the problem

·         prioritizing the problem

9.0 STAGES OF RATIONAL SYSTEMATIC PROBLEM SOLVING 1

·         collection of information

·         making assumptions and forecasts

·         generating decision alternatives

·         pause during incubation period that leads to illumination

·         selection of the best alternative

·         analysis of the impact of the chosen alternative

·         implementation, control of the implementation

·         evaluation of the results.

10.0 BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

·         wrong concepts

·         wrong attitudes

·         wrong behaviors

·         wrong questions

·         wrong methods

11.0 OVERWHELMING PROBLEMS

·         When you have an overwhelming problem, talk to someone who can listen.

·         De-emotionalize the problem.

·         Look at problem from wider perspective.

·         Identify positives in the problem.

·         Solve the problem systematically.

·         Do not escape/avoid, do nothing, scream, self-anesthesia, or lament.

12.0 UNDERSTANDING A CRISIS

·         A crisis is a situation of a major change with potential risk.

·         A crisis, preventable and non preventable, is always waiting to happen.

·         Crises are opportunities for creative problem solving.

·         A crisis is a fluid, dynamic, and fast condition associated with fear and interferes with normal life.

13.0 STAGES OF A CRISIS

·         prodroma

·         acute crisis

·         chronic crisis

·         crisis resolution with ripple effects.

14.0 CRISES AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

·         Crisis management reveals organizational weaknesses and strengths.

·         Strong organizations have mechanisms to forecast crises, contingency plans, and worked-out worst-case scenarios.

·         Strong organizations can detect prodromal signs before a crisis.

15.0 CRISIS MANAGEMENT

·         Crisis management involves reversing prodromal signs and intervention to deal with after-effects.

·         The crisis intervention strategy includes identification of the crisis, isolation of the crisis and management of the crisis.

·         Decision making in a crisis is stressful.