Decision Making Process Analysis

Decision making is crucial to a positive outcome in business strategy. Sometimes, the basis for success or failure depends on the decisions that have been made along the way. While we don't always pay attention to the specific textbook decision making process, these steps ultimately should be followed to aid in the goal of making the right decisions.
The first step in the decision making process is to identify and define the problem. This is probably the most difficult of the steps because you must be able to reveal the actual problem. Sometimes this may be hard to identify the true problem and not a symptom of the problem. In the recruiting and professional development group in which I work, we are currently re-organizing the way in
which we handle the recruitment for the company. The problem was the fact that we did not have an up-to-date method of recruiting – i.e. an online application process, and electronic method of tracking those applicants. This problem was defined by upper HR management in conjunction with the manager of our group as well as others directly involved with the recruiting for the company. It was decided that we needed an upgrade in our systems.
The second step in the decision making process is to generate and evaluate alternative solutions.
There are many different software programs and web-based programs that could have been chosen to alleviate our archaic process of recruiting and managing candidates. This is the step in the process in which I and others in the lower positions were not fully included. We were not consulted in the alternate solutions. I cannot say 100% that there were in fact alternatives discussed. If I were in the upper management positions, I believe that the lower level employees who will be using the new program should be consulted in this decision. We are after all, the employees who will be using this system on a daily
basis. Make a decision. This is the third step in the decision making process and a big step as well. To make a firm decision on something is also putting a once idea into motion. The decision was made to use a web-based system to now manage and track our applicants. While I believe that this decision to implement a new recruiting process was a good one, we again were not involved in this step of the decision making process. The implementation of the decision is the fourth step in the decision making process. We were and still are given extensive training on the new program and constant ‘tweaks' in the system are addressed in a timely manner. The training is extremely important for employees that are new to the system, and the firm has done a great job at making sure the implementing has been a smooth transition for all involved. There are monthly beginner and advanced training sessions and my specific group meets weekly to discuss what if any changes need to be made. We have good open communication and each know what specific duties we are responsible for. The new system has been a difficult transition for some who were used to old systems, while for others a welcome change.
The final step in the decision making process is to evaluate the results.
Specific to our new system implementation, we are actively evaluating our results. We are 9 months into using the new system and have positive results for the most part. We are able to share candidates across all sister companies and find it much easier to manage a paperless process. Being that this program is web-based and traffic can be quite high on the site, there is a tendency for it to run slowly at times. This issue has been addressed and once again is being taken care of in a timely and professional manner. All in all, we are pleased with the overall decision to adopt this new
program.
The importance of the decision making process is vital to the success of an organization. While I believe that the implementation of a candidate management system was a good decision, there were steps that I believe could have been improved upon. Namely, in generating alternative solutions, lower level employees were not consulted. If I were part of the upper management team, I would definitely want to hear feedback all the way through the decision making process. This is especially true in defining alternatives as well as in the evaluation process. In a decision such as this one, it is extremely important to have all of your employees on board with the ultimate decision. With their acceptance, the process of implementing will run much more smoothly and efficiently.