Essay on Organizational Decision-Making: Essential for Success & Growth

Introduction

The organizational decision-making process is a critical component to the success and development of an entity. Management should always adopt the right measures to ensure that the right programs are followed in realizing growth, expansion, and success in the long run. The effects of making the wrong resolutions are dire, and this is why management must rely on all the resources available to ensure that the entity is managing to get the right tools that will support the right frame for a company. Cases of rudderless organization, stalled projects, and wasted resources emanate from the lack of an effective platform to run entity operations (Demirkan, 2018). Some of the measures that organizations should take when they are passing resolution include making long-term goals and align them with the core values.

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It is essential to assess the spending process and know the impact that the decisions made will have on the business operations. Working with the employees and providing them with a chance to participate in the decision-making process is essential, for they are the ones that will be involved in the implementation of the decisions made. The Walmart Company is one of the largest supermarkets operating in the United States and other parts of the world. The management of this entity is required to follow due process when they are making decisions for the running of the company to be effective (Ghasemaghaei, 2019). The significant case that will be analyzed will be on the employees that are working for this multinational.

Working in the services industry is hectic, and workers’ health is likely to be affected adversely by the tiring working process and, in some cases, the different issues that they face each day. Handling and meeting the needs of every customer visiting this supermarket is not an easy task, and this means that the employees must be given adequate time to relax. Additionally, the changing business environment means that the employees have to be taught new ways of handling the clients or implementing innovations to the business to ensure that it remains relevant in the market.

Failure to adopt the latest technology and ways of doing things is likely to cause Walmart to lose a significant number of its clients to rival businesses. The employees are the first line of command that is required to implement the new ideas that the supermarket may want to initiate. Therefore, the management of Walmart Company has to decide on the procedures the firm will use to training their workers on new ideas. One of the organizational decision-making models that the entity can utilize is the Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) (Aydiner et al., 2019). The model will help to highlight the way new ideas will be implemented in the company to ensure that it remains in front of the queue on matters regarding high-quality services.

Salient Features of the Case

The characteristics of the case that will be analyzed will cover the programs that the supermarket is supposed to implement with the desire to ensure that the desired goals are realized. It is essential for the organization to set long term objectives and ensure that it is operating with the core values that define its operations. The beliefs and values of a business set the expectations that the various stakeholders interested in the affairs of the supermarket are expected to meet. Another salient issue that is of great essence in running the affairs of this entity is on the spending process, for it is useful to ensure that the limited resources available are used in the right way to realize growth and continued running of business operations.

Long-Term Goal

The organizational decision-making process should be based on long-term objectives that the supermarket can lay its foundation with ease. The goals are not easily affected by unexpected occurrences since they are spread over a long period. Short-term priorities tend to trigger the redistribution of essential resources that had been set on a given activity. Therefore, failure to plan in the right way and set goals can lead an entity into a moment of confusion and inability to have any meaningful progress.

The management of this company sets down objectives that it wants to realize in the long-term, and no occurrence can make the business to divert the available resources to unplanned activities. When the senior officials are working in introducing new measures, it is critical to ensure that the programs align with the set goals (Cristofaro, 2017). Even the short term goals should be aligned towards helping in the achievement of the long-term goals, and this will help in pushing the organization forward.

Core Values

In the process of undertaking the organizational decision-making process, it is essential for Walmart Company to ensure that the objectives set forward are aligning with the core values. The mission and vision set by a business always provide a path for the company to follow and to avoid diverting away from the primary duty and plans. The goals may evolve and need some adjustments with time due to the business environment, but the values should remain intact. Therefore, the organizational decision-making process should align within an organizational identity, for this will make it easier to pass resolutions (Eden & Ackermann, 2013). The values that an entity is supposed to observe measures that ensure everyone is working towards the realization of common goals meaning that even when the management is making decisions, they are guided by what the company is supposed to offer.

Spending

Another salient aspect that should be considered when making decisions is the spending process. Priority evaluation requires vital consideration of the spending habits for the prioritization of goals that require the availability of the funds required to undertake a project. The organizational spending should be in line with the priorities to avoid making the wrong decisions that are not in line with the funds available for an activity.

Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA)

Teaching a new skill to the workers is not an easy task due to the resources involved and the time that may be needed to reach all the employees in such a large company. A lot of thinking and analysis is needed on the part of the management to ensure that a significant model of training is adopted that will lead to the realization of quality outcomes. Managing to get the desired goals will require a lot of think and an effective decision-making process. The model is mainly involved when resolving a complex issue in a firm (Ackermann & Eden, 2020). There exist various steps that should be followed when using the SODA procedure that include first planning of meetings.

When the management wants to offer training of a new idea that will improve the way that employees approach the customers, an entity must first decide who will be participating in the meeting. There is a need to describe the procedures that will be used in managing the various business operations. It is also essential to determine the output, for this will help in managing the expectations for the set goals should be achievable, realistic, and measurable. Meetings will be initiated between the management and the employees with the goal of training them on the procedures that they can use to raise the effectiveness of their operational procedures (Janssen et al., 2017).

Interviews should be done in a relaxed format to ensure that the management gets to understand the ideas that the employees hold towards the issue at hand. Walmart Supermarket understands that offering quality services will ensure that clients will be satisfied, and this will lead to more sales and growth in the future. The employees are the ones that will be required to initiate any decision passed by the company regarding the handling of the clients (Santos et al., 2019). Therefore, it is essential to have their views raised and analyzed. Their output will be of great help for they are the ones that understand the clients’ frustrations when they are shopping.

The customers may not be happy with the setting of the goods in the stores, and they may be happy if some changes can be made. Additionally, there is a chance that the clients are not satisfied with the spacing and payment procedures used by the supermarkets. All these issues can only be raised by the employees when they meet with the management. The workers will manage to direct their seniors on any changes that they may need to improve their output (Elgendy & Elragal, 2016). When the management gets this information, it will manage to understand whether the training they want to offer their staff members can be adjusted to reflect the prevailing situation in the stores or the capability of their workers.

According to the SODA model, another step that should be involved in facilitating the organization decision-making process is the development of casual maps. It is a tool that is used in the process of depicting the perception held by the employees on the issue of the training that the management seeks to implement. It is essential to undertake the check-back interview process that will seek to determine whether casual maps have interpreted their views in the right manner. There is a high probability that the employees will be ready to undertake any training that will help to raise their skills to make their company competitive in the market (Sacio-Szymanska & Nosarzewski, 2019). The various employees that will be involved in the interview process will have their individual maps, and it is essential to ensure that they are all merged to form one map that will offer guidance on the decision-making process.

The employees will be presented with the combined and their individual maps. A merged map will be discussed, and this is until everyone is happy with the details included in the single map that the management seeks to follow in their decision-making process. The leaders of Walmart Supermarket have to ensure that the resolutions they make are supported by all the workers or a significant number of them for this is one of the major issues that will ensure that the decisions manage to realize success. The firm will manage to win for the resources used will not be a wastage.

According to the SODA model that is utilized in facilitating the organizational decision-making model, the merged map should be interpreted as tactics, goals, and strategies. The other step to implement is the action selection and implementation process. Therefore, by relying on the SODA model, Walmart Company management will manage to make the right decisions that will be implemented by the employees (Willems, 2016). There is a high chance of the measures adopted being a success if all the stakeholders involved in the implementation process were part of the team that played a key role in setting the goals and making adjustments to the parts that require changes.

Recommendations

After taking this analysis, it is essential for the organizational decision-making process adopted by a given company to follow the right procedures to ensure that the desired outcomes are realized. Companies should work on initiating measures that will ensure that their business is growing and the operations are being effectively undertaken in a firm. The decision making-process should incorporate all the stakeholders interested in the affairs of an organization to ensure that their inputs are incorporated in the passage of resolutions.