Decision Making

Decision making is a distinct management function. Being the essence of management, it’s a primary task of manager. Every manager is duty-bound to make decisions in relation to various business matters, questions, problems, concerns and disputes. Decision making is a crucial part of managerial activity that demands knowledge, intellect, self-awareness, clear perception with reasonable experience and exposure to the events. Considering the managerial activities, it would be appropriate to say that hardly might there be a day when decisions have not been made by a business manager.

Decision-making is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several alternative possibilities. Every decision-making process produces a final choice that may or may not prompt action.

Decision making is the process of making choices or reaching conclusions especially on business matters. According to George Terry, “Decision making is the selection of a particular course of action, based on some criteria, from two or more possible alternatives.” Decision making is thus choosing the best course of action out of the available options while aiming at the achievement of particular organizational objectives.

Management and decision making are to be considered as inseparable. It is the intellectual process and a purposeful activity which at varied times takes in hands all the managerial activities, such as, planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. It is the process wherein an executive, by taking in to consideration several alternatives, reaches at the conclusion about how it should be dealt successfully in a given situation.

The decisions that are taken by a manager on the basis of his authority being associated with his designation are regarded as organizational decisions. For instance, he can assign a subordinate for a particular task; with the authority given to him, he can promote his subordinate and...