Business decision making - reflection - Essay Example

For example, we also kept in mind the availability of housing for hospital staff. Even if site A would seem less costly to develop; still, we cannot decide simply based on costs. Quality must always be part of the decision process because a hospital is not just about medical equipment, it is more on providing services to the patients as well as to the employees. We have to choose from the best possible alternative that can reward us with the greatest pay-off coupled with minimal issues. For this reason, we arrived at Site B because even the insects would receive some benefits that we have planned.

The first stage that we went through is identifying the problems and problem definition. Using the rational model, we need to properly determine what are the potential causes of problems for each site that we have to consider. In a rational decision model, we have to look into all possible alternatives so every bit of information that we can get hold would prove useful. When we were identifying the problems, we decided to set out the criteria which were required. Each site would have to meet these criteria in order to be chosen as the optimum site.

The basic criteria were: • Good access points to and from the hospital. • Produce a 15 – 20% return on shareholders’ investments. • Easy to obtain staff, particularly of the high-skilled variety. • Aesthetically pleasing. • Gaining political support. • Replacing the older hospitals in the region For example, we really needed to verify if Site A was a hazardous dump because there were hear says about the site. The only way to confirm such beliefs was to objectively make an investigation of the facts, so there is no room for mistakes.

Although the group members were keen about the information gathering process, we observed that each member became very analytical. Everyone wanted to provide the best possible solution to the point that we became obsessive-compulsive. In fact, we also became directive in approaching one another especially when expressing our viewpoints verbally, at times, quite harshly. Our personal commitments were subdued in the interest of choosing the best decision. This rather slowed-down the decision making process because we often argued at the claims we are presenting during group meetings.

The good thing is that we have some members who act as facilitators and reminded us about the value of team-work. When we have to sit down and look at the widest range of alternatives, we need to start considering not only the technical or financial elements involved but other important factors as well. We have to consider the political element, since we don’t want any protests that would involve bad publicity. However, aside from looking at possible moral issues, each of us has to change our attitude and look within ourselves.

The team leader involved everyone in participative decision-making and allowed us to present solutions that are creative – like relocating the animals to another place like what Saintburys Supermarket accomplished. We knew that if all of us helped one another in choosing the best alternative, the whole group would benefit from such a decision. We wanted a win-win outcome that would have the least possible disadvantage to all stakeholders. For one, we considered the political factor by knowing if our decision would have any effect on the campaign of MP Thompson.

Furthermore, we liked the idea that it would not