Engineering 2332 1 Supervision Decision Making SUMMARY OF FOUNDATIONS FOR SUPERVISORS:

 JOB OF SUPERVISOR  COMMUNICATION

 PLANNING  ORGANIZING/DELEGATING  MANAGING YOUR TIME

 STAFFING  APPRAISING PERFORMANCE

 LEADING  MOTIVATING

 CONTROL AND QUALITY  SAFETY

 DECISION MAKING Engineering 2332 2 Supervision Decision Making Making Sound and Creative Decisions:

Your Decisions have an impact:  Make a big difference to success/failure of your organization  Some decisions are good, others… not so good.

One of the primary factors distinguishing supervisors from operative employees is this:

A supervisor must be concerned with how a decision will affect his/her employees and the organization.

A worker is primarily concerned with how a decision affects him/her individually. Engineering 2332 3 Supervision Decision Making Two Types of Decisions

 Expected Decisions: - Recommendation of job applicant. - Salary and promotion recommendations. - Approval of vacation request. - Assignment of new equipment.

 Unexpected Decisions: - Request for afternoon off. - Transfer request. - Key employees call in sick. - Major equipment is malfunctioning but still operating. Do you shut it down until it is repaired? Engineering 2332 4 Supervision Decision Making Importance of Recognition Recognizing that there is a need for a decision is a natural pre-requisite to making a sound solution.

Timeliness of a Decision Decisions must be made in an appropriate amount of time so the variables can be assessed.

Poor Timing Examples - Quick decisions run the risk of not being well thought out. - Listen to the problem and then not respond. - Responding too late to be effective. - Some supervisors feel that there is never enough info for a decision. - Some supervisors fret and worry about everything. - Some supervisors send all decisions up the line. Engineering 2332 5 Supervision Decision Making Procrastination: is common.

Generally applied, it relates to an unpleasant task or the fear of unpleasant consequences.

Webster's dictionary: to put off intentionally or habitually

Two General Types of Decisions:

1) As an individual, responsible person. 2) As a group or committee.

How Do Successful Supervisors Make Decisions?

 Be systematic and logical. Engineering 2332 6 Supervision Decision Making  Be sensitive to warning signs. Engineering 2332 7 Supervision Decision Making Scientific Steps to Decision Making:

 Be Alert to Indications and Symptoms of Problems.

 Tentatively Define the Problem.

 Collect Facts; Redefine the Problem (if needed). - Systematic and objective. - Don’t jump to conclusions. - Separate the symptoms from the problem.

 Identify Possible Alternatives - gather and organize data on alternatives. - list all alternatives, no matter how unlikely as a solution. - Brainstorm: typically: a) do nothing, b) Alt A, c) Alt B, etc. Engineering 2332 8 Supervision Decision Making  Evaluate Alternatives - Based on desired outcomes. - Cost comparison. - Maximum benefits. - Minimum negative impacts. - Implementation time.

 Choose or Recommend the Best Alternative - Sometimes decisions are made just to get it over with. - Sometimes intuition is used. - Try to keep out personal prejudices and biases. - The decision may need to be explained to the people that have to implement the solution.

 Follow up - Evaluate the outcome. - Learn from the past and apply the experience. Engineering 2332 9 Supervision Decision Making Tentatively Define the Problem.

Collect Facts; Redefine the Problem (if needed). Engineering 2332 10 Supervision Decision Making Identify Alternatives (Brainstorming)

Evaluate Alternatives

Choose or Recommend the Best Alternative

Follow up Engineering 2332 11 Supervision Decision Making Group Decision Making

Advantages:  Sum total of knowledge is greater. ie 1 + 1 = 3

 Usually, more and better alternatives  Benefits of Participation: a) group commitment. b) easier implementation. c) better understanding of issues.

Disadvantages:  Always requires more time.  minutes of meeting  2x where x is the number of participants.  Groupthink: Occurs when the need to achieve consensus is > than the desire for independent thinking. eg. Jury members.  One person dominates/controls group. Engineering 2332 12 Supervision Decision Making  Competition between members overrides basic issues.  Groups have tendency to accept first potentially positive alternative.

Group Decisions and the Supervisor:

Supervisors use Group Decisions to Different Degrees  Turnover decision to the group with limitations eg. Reorganize the lab but keep adequate isle access.  Supervisor reserves the right to modify or reject the group’s decision. (Can not be done too often)  Group helps formulate and evaluate alternatives but not in decision.  MUST be honest, not misleading the group as to the group's role in the process.  Asks for opinion but never uses it. Engineering 2332 13 Supervision Decision Making Decision Making Traps:

 Treat all decisions as BIG decisions. This creates frustration and turns off employees.  Creating Crisis Situations. This tends to occur when decisions must be made under extreme time constraints.  Fail to Consult Others. Supervisor sees themselves as experts. Supervisor fears looking incompetent.  Never Admit a Mistake. This is an easy way to lose respect of employees. Admit and move on.  Constantly Regretting Decisions. Move on. Most of us do not advertise ourselves as being perfect.  Failing to Utilize Precedents and Policies. Why re-invent the wheel? Engineering 2332 14 Supervision Decision Making

 Fails to Collect and Evaluate Data. Tends to believe only what he/she wants to believe. Many decisions are made with incomplete info.  Promising What Cannot be Delivered. This method will haunt you. The best approach is to promise only what can be delivered.  Delaying Decisions too Long. (I don't have enough information yet). Sometimes, this is intentional to avoid making a decision.

The key is to decide if you have enough information to NOT make a bad decision. Engineering 2332 15 Supervision Decision Making Creative Decision Making

 Supervisor sets the tone

Pygmalion theory: "Expect creativity and you'll get it."

How to Improve Your Own Creativity

 Try concentrating on one problem at a time.  List ideas: Write as many ideas as you can think of on a list.  Sleep on it : Let the subconscious mind work on the ideas. But procrastination is a danger.  Think about the problem in a different environment. Different sensory stimuli often trigger different thoughts. Engineering 2332 16 Supervision Decision Making  Brainstorming: Listing ideas from a group.  Brainwriting. Writing the ideas and then discussing them without knowing who wrote them.  Input-output Scheme. Developed by General Electric for solving problems. State the desired output. List all possible inputs that can produce the output. Prioritize and eliminate until the best one remains. (example: we want a 1500 kg vehicle to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/hr in 6 seconds)