Decisions...Decisions...

“There’s enough” or “I don’t know what do you want to do?” are probably the two phrases that I quite often hear that makes me want to curl up in the fetal position. They are phrases that you wish you never heard because they tend to lead to more questioning and ultimately no productivity. The two phrases are examples of people with a major inclination that they do not know how to make a decision. Decisions and controlling people is found everywhere whether it is the food industry or Apple trying to sell you an item. Everywhere you turn someone is trying to make a decision or trying to control someone…that is just how our world turns.

Decisions and controlling are part of our daily lives. We wake up each morning and decide whether or not we are up early enough to get breakfast or are we going to be late for class. As I read through the chapter I always thought that it would be better to be either a logical thinker or intuitive, but over the course of reading the chapter and writing this blog I have to say that having traits of both are perfectly fine. I believe that there are times where logic is easier to use in cases such as firing someone who is always late. You do not have to rely on a gut feeling, you can look at the productivity of that person and compare it to how much you would have been paying them and pretty easily decide that they need to go. Then there are the times where logic is thrown out the window. The intuitive decision always seem to take longer because unless you have made many intuitive decisions people often tend to not trust their gut instinct. It is also important that either path you take, whether logic or intuitive, that you possess decisiveness. It is portraying to the receiver(s) that you are confident and firm in your decision that way people believe you and listen.

Controlling is also important in the workplace. In layman terms it is assessing the situation and making changes to a correct course of action. It is throughout controlling that a manager’s leadership qualities will stand out. If the manager enjoys partaking in a brainstorming sessions with the whole group you know that person runs a democratic style because they value the input of the other workers. Controlling is not just about brainstorming and telling people what to do. It is a scientific method of questions and assessing scenarios that need to be done to make a ‘decision’. One has to ask themselves does this decision produce a greater risk, how will this benefit the economy, is it feasible, does it seem to be an accepted idea or is it going to fail? All of these questions must be asked by the person assessing the situation in order to make a correct decision. Lastly people tend to believe that when a decision is made that one person is going to profit more from the decision than the other. This is not always true. Within the chapter a term ‘win-win problem solving’ is used. This term simply means that the manager and the employer, or whoever it may be, have made a mutually accepted collaboration in which both leave the scenario with equal parts. It is the decision making and the controlling that are so important and cannot go without one another. If you separated controlling and decision, it would be like separating peanut butter and jelly…you just don’t do that!