decision making article
TRANSCRIPT
8/3/2019 Decision Making Article
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ALLOCATING RESOURCESWhen allocating training budgets managersmay find themselves in the situation of havingto choose between maximising individual
development or creating a programme todevelop the team. Prioritising decisions likethis is never easy.We asked Chartered Manager Lt Col Jonathan
Martin, head of strategic plans at the DMSD
(Defence Medical Services Department), for his
views on making decisions about resource allocation:
As an Army officer training has always been a
fundamental part of my career – both individual
and what we call team/collective training. While I
recognise the dilemma set, the key for me is that
although there may well be time and financial
constraints that force a compromise or a choice
between individual or team training, the important
point is that you have to balance both.
Clearly, you need to have individuals with the
correct skill set for the task but a group of individuals
with the correct level of skill does not make an
effective team. Fortunately, in the military this scenario
is not one that we face often due to the importance
placed upon training at all levels. We have a well-
defined structure and programme to meet the
collective training requirement, with established
targets and performance standards that must be
met in order to be declared operationally effective.In the Army the effectiveness of the team (Section),
Platoon, Company and Regiment is crucial. On
operations, soldiers need the support, both physically
and mentally, of their colleagues in order to be
successful on the battlefield and to cope with the
stressful situations with which they face.
They must have complete trust in their colleagues
and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,
utilising the strengths and mitigating the weaknesses.
It is essential that individual skills are of a high
standard but, secondly, it is only through collective
training that these individual skills are brought
REPO RT
PROFESSIO NA L MANAGER NOVEMBER 2005
When the buck
stops...stops...Decision-making is fundamental to a manager’s
role – both taking them and carrying them out –
and it’s the theme of the Chartered Management
Institute’s current marketing campaign. PM took
two ‘dilemmas’ highlighted in the campaign and
asked two Chartered Managers to give their
response. Report by Sue Mann
‘Chartered Manager
Lt Col Jonathan Martin
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21
together to produce effective military capability.
However, for the individual to progress through
the ranks he/she must attend a series of individual
development courses throughout their career, which
are often linked to promotion. The important point
here, which I believe applies equally to the civilian
workplace, is that individual training makes the
employee feel valued much more than collective
training - a key component of retention.He/she will feel that their individual needs are being
identified and subsequently met, and people like to
know that their interests and personal development
is of importance to the organisation – in short, that
they matter to the organisation. The benefits to the
organisation of an individual who feels valued and
well led are well understood.
I believe the main consideration when prioritis-
ing development plans is to understand exactly the
aspirations of the individual. As a manager you
should know what needs to be delivered in terms of
performance and outputs of the team but timemust be invested with the individuals to accurately
define their strengths and weaknesses and more
importantly their career aspirations. How career
minded are they? How fast can you develop them?
What return are you likely to get from your invest-
ment? What are their aspirations versus what you
need them to achieve?
One must always be careful to give all team/staff
similar opportunities to be developed. I have
experienced the situation that can arise when one
member of the team is frequently away on individual
training courses, the rest of the staff become resentful
that they are left to hold the fort and do the work –
which breaks team cohesion.
Individual training plans are a must and training
needs should be identified at the start of the year when
an individual’s objectives are set. It is essential that
if a training need is identified then it is met as soon
as practicable. If at the end of the year the training
plan has not been actioned this will give the impression
that individual development is not important.
During my career I have gained a much greater
understanding of individual needs and through my
military training I understand the importance of
collective training and getting the team to work together to maximise efficiency and thus effectiveness.
The military pride themselves on their leadership
training. I was an instructor at the Royal Military
Academy Sandhurst some years ago and learnt a
great deal about how to bring out the best in both
individuals and the team. Sound leadership is key
since I believe businesses are managed but people
should be led.
My advice to managers would be that both
individual and collective training are key to efficiency.
You need to balance both (the leadership challenge),
and it must not be a choice between the two.
Arguably, individual training can improve individual
morale more than collective training but you need to
understand how an individual will react to different
training and development and tailor the training
solution accordingly.
It goes without saying that highly skilled individuals
are much more efficient if they are working together
as a team but there are many ways of improving the
outputs of a team - training is but one component.
CHANGE MANAGEMENTWhen organisational changes are takingplace it is usually the manager’s job tocarry them out, whether they are 100 percent behind the changes or not.
In such a situation, would you reluctantlyendorse the internal changes or perhapsvoice your doubts about them with your team,to let the team know you’re ‘on their side’?
This is the decision-making dilemma we put to
David Parody, the Chartered Management
Institute’s first Chartered Manager in Gibraltar.
Parody is head of banking supervision and chief
operations officer for the jurisdiction’s regulator, the
Financial Services Commission:
‘This situation arises frequently in my organisa-
tion as active discussion and participation is
PROFESSIONAL MANAGER NOVEMBER 2005
’
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Chartered Manager
David Parody
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sought and encouraged at all levels and on a variety
of subjects.
The issue is what role are you playing as a manager?
For some, being a manager entails representing
the views and opinions of the team or themselves,
at all costs, irrespective of whether the “idea” is a
good one or not. For others, being a manager is
about leadership and providing the team with the
direction and leadership to get the change effected,even if personally he/she disagrees with it.
A position that I have taken intentionally at
meetings where change is being discussed is to
represent an extremist and confrontational but con-
structive view, irrespective of my own view.
New ideas seldom come from conformist
mediocre stances, it is essential that by presenting
an opposing position at one end of a spectrum it is
possible to identify a position which is “outside of
the box” somewhere between both positions.
Management is also about influencing change.
But there is a line to be drawn in the sand betweeninfluencing change and managing change. There
comes a point in every change management programme
where the planning finishes and the work commences.
Any manager who does not commit to the cause
because of differences of opinion with the strategy or
implementation of the change is doing a disservice
to the organisation, his/her team and more importantly
themselves.
When it is time to roll up the sleeves the manager’s
only objective should be to provide the team with
the motivation and resources to give the plan effect.
Perhaps the biggest influencer on change manage-
ment issues is not the culture of the organisation
but the time constraints under which decisions need
to be taken. Are they life or death, or can they be
put aside and discussed?
My own experience is of a flat management culture
where a lot of emphasis is placed upon peer reviews
and recommendations made collectively to the chief
executive.
Such an approach is conducive to differences of
opinion being raised as you may have five divisional
heads presenting their own view on how a matter should
be taken forward. Irrespective of the decision taken,
it is likely that at least one or maybe four divisionheads may end up with a decision of how to take an
issue forward that contradicted their own view.
If division heads were not able to put these differ-
ences behind them and provide the leadership, little
would be done except in the division whose manag-
er’s ideas had won the day.
In a more hierarchical structure, the same concept
should apply. A decision is made which for better or
worse needs to be given effect. Having a manager
question the decision or not agreeing to carry it out
will cause the organisation to become ineffective.
In the majority of cases the quandary that a manager
faces in this situation is solved by whether or not
the manager is able to influence the change process
at its design stage.
Where influence is possible then the manager
should take every opportunity to voice his/her concerns
in a constructive manner. When the decision has
already been made, the manager needs to change his
position to take the issue forward.
There will always be circumstances where it is notpossible to adopt such a clear-cut approach and these
will be occasions where a manager’s true leadership
skills will come into play.
Youthful exuberance is a wonderful driver for
change but can also be one’s greatest downfall. Not
understanding the workings, culture and politics of
an organisation leads to many a mistaken judge-
ment call having been made as to how far an issue
can be taken. Too little and you are ineffective, too
far and you alienate those who could have been
won over.
I may not have grey hairs, as I have no hair, butthe so-called “character lines” are evidence of experi-
ences painfully gained in battles lost. Sun-Tzu is
quoted as saying: “To fight and conquer in all your
battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excel-
lence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance
without fighting.” That is where my experience in
those lost battles has been focused, in not having
battles at all, but to influence change before it
becomes an issue.
The key in successful change management is not
in the opposition of the change but in how it is
managed and delivered so that the expectations of
the organisation and your own teams are managed
and met. This can only be done through the provision
of well researched and presented options that fit
into the organisation’s culture and not one that is
diametrically opposed to it.
Ten years ago I would have described myself as a
bull in a china shop. Lashing out to get things done
and getting more and more frustrated when they didn’t.
Nowadays I give myself time to think and consider
factors that will have an influence on any given
decision. Having studied for the Chartered
Management Institute qualifications (I am now also
sitting an Executive Masters in EnterpriseManagement) provides the knowledge of the internal
and external factors that bear upon an organisation
and its people and how these can be managed. This
knowledge is a prerequisite if potential conflict
situations are to be managed as successful projects
rather than those that end up in tears.
My advice to managers grappling with change
management decisions would be to decide on what
side of the fence they want to be. The side where there
is a lot of shouting and gesticulation but very little
is achieved or the quiet one where little victories
are won without having to fight a single battle.’
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22 PROFESSIONAL MANAGER NOVEMBER 2005
decision-
making … and how you make choices
n your job as a manager. The
Chart ered Management
nstitute’s checklist Making
Rati onal Decisions (No. 15)
provides a useful framework.
t i s available free to Instit ute
members, for individual use
only. Download a copy from
www.managers.org.uk/sub-
ectsearch. Alternatively, call
01536 207400 or [email protected].
uk to request a copy.
• In the next issue Chartered Managers tackle the difficult questions of conflict management and selecting staff for
promotion
thinking about…
PM
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