The Principles of Scientific Management - Essay Example

Decisions making to enable the organization to achieve set goals and objectives. Understanding team dynamics, to ensure the cooperation of all personnel in the organization. Selecting the right personnel who have the right qualifications. Managing conflicts amongst the different stakeholders in most organizations, and communicating within and outside the organization. (Graham, Shiba, Walden, 2001, p.43)

When I was working as a scripter for three years, all these skills were evident in all levels of management. In the company, there were different groups doing specific tasks and with different leaders and communication systems. The groups are motivated in different ways with respect to their output. In my self-assessment test, I was exceedingly interested in working in groups. I like being the group leader since I can manage the group dynamics. In my future career plans, I would like to own a company and manage it myself. The competencies are incredibly essential in the entire running of the company. They are interrelated in that they all aim to achieve organizational goals and objectives. The effectiveness of a manager is determined by the outcome of the organization in regard to the set objectives and goals. If the skills and competencies are effective, the organization will manage to achieve its goals and objectives. In most organizations, the managers lack some skills and competencies leading to poor management. This is the main reason they do not achieve as it is expected of them. In most organizations, the workers are required to work together and make decisions that will enhance the achievement of organizational objectives. In my uncle's company, we were grouped in teams, and this was especially challenging on my part since it was difficult to make a quick decision due to consultations amongst the group members. In the organization, different personnel did more work than others. The organization had a policy of rewarding people and groups based on the output they delivered. This was extraordinarily critical, and it encouraged people to work extremely hard to get more rewards. (Scott, Spriegel, Clothier, 1961, p.22)

Nominate one management skill to investigate in the next semester.

Decision making

The main reason why I nominated decision-making is due to its daily application in all levels of management. When I was working, decision-making was my chief problem.

This is the process through which managers use to solve existing problems in an organization. It is the key aspects that single out the performance of a manager. In most organizations, the success of any organization depends on the decision made by the management. When I was working as a scripter, my key weakness was making the right decisions on time. The manager of the company was always complaining about it, and this triggered me to find means to hasten my decision-making skills. The main reason why I did not make a decision on time was due to the uncertainty of the outcome. (Drucker, Maciariello, 2008, p.56)

Guidelines that influence decision making

1 Define the problem.

This involves identifying the decision that will help in the attainment of the organizational objectives. The problem may be short-term or long-term.

2 Identification of limiting factors.

The decision-maker should analyze the ideal resources that are required to implement the decision that is to be made. The manager must have adequate information, personnel, time, supplies, and equipment. The manager should also take into account the internal and external factors that will influence the decision.

3 Develop alternative courses of action.

The management should brainstorm the various courses of action that can be used to solve the prevailing problem. Each course of action should be evaluated with the resources available, and the results to be derived.

4 Analyze the alternatives.

The manager should analyze the various alternatives to ascertain their merits and demerits after implementation. The alternatives should also be evaluated in terms of feasibility, effectiveness, and consequences.

 5 select the best alternative.

The management should choose the course of action that most suitably helps the organization in the attainment of its objectives. The alternative should be easy to implement and should yield the desired results.

6 implement the decision.

This is putting into action the chosen course of action. The decision should be implemented at the right time.

7 control and evaluation.

This involves comparing the planned results and the actual results. If there are any deviations from the planned results, the manager should make adjustments so as to cover for the deviation.

8 feedbacks.

The manager should communicate the effects of the decision to all the interest groups. . (Taylor, 1997, p.69)

Issues and challenges in decision making

Decision-making in an organization is the most fundamental aspect of management. The performance of an organization depends on the nature of decisions made by all personnel. Although there are clear guidelines that help in decision-making, there are many issues and challenges that affect decision-making. When I was working as a scripter, I witnessed many challenges that hampered me from quick decision-making. First, there is inadequate information or information is extremely robust for decision making. There were limited sources of information and this significantly affected my decision-making ability. Secondly, some alternative courses of action require a lot of resources which is not available. This has always forced managers to make decisions that accommodate the available resources. In the company where I was working, they only use methods that are success prone. The management hardly allows the personnel to make a decision due to fear of the diverging result. (Taylor, 1997, p.46)