Decision Making Articles, Tips and Tools

This page is the portal to our collection of decision making articles, tips and tools. It's designed to give you some thoughtful and practical insights into, what some might argue, is the most difficult aspect of management.

Effective management is a complex activity. In our article: What Makes a Good Manager we discuss Peter Drucker's summary. Drucker lists the three functions of management as:

1. managing a business;

2. managing managers;

3. managing workers and work.

In performing these functions, good managers need a combination of sound knowledge, good attitude and practical abilities. Effective management also requires the co-ordination of analytical, administrative and organizational skills.

Inevitably then, in performing these functions and tasks, all managers will be faced with the need to make decisions. It's the scale and scope of decision making, its constant presence, and the potential impacts that arguably make it the most difficult aspect of management.

Hopefully you'll find some help on this page. It contains our growing collection of decision making articles, tips and tools. Be sure to bookmark it or let us know if you want anything added!

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Decision Making Articles

Definition of Decision Making
We think having a clear definition of decision making can help you make better decisions. Our definition incorporates 4 elements which can help with all types of decision making...

Decision Making Lesson
Perhaps decision making lesson 1 should be to ask yourself, do you need to make a decision at all? Here we discuss insights from two famous philosophers....

Types of Decision Making
Are different types of decision making needed for different types of decisions? We think so. Improve your decision making by considering important variables such as level, style and process.

Rational Decision Making Model
A rational decision making model provides a structured and sequenced approach to decision making. Using such an approach can help to ensure discipline and consistency is built into your decision making process.

Intuition and Decision Making
Use your intuition and decision making becomes a lot easier. Well, many people believe that but is there any truth in this, and does it help you to make good decisions?

Decision Making Styles
It's important to be aware of the various decision making styles if we are to become effective decision makers. Understand how to vary your decision making styles, dependent on specfic situations and a range of factors relating to that situation.

Decision Making Technique
One useful, initial, decision making technique is to assess a decision based on its level. This technique may sound simplistic but it can be very helpful in determining which type of decision making process is the most suitable for any specific situation.

Group Decision Making Methods
What group decision making methods do you use? If you're unsure how to answer that question, then this article will help you think through some relevant approaches.

Getting Things Done: how to achieve stress-free productivity.
In his “whole life” approach to getting organised, Allen explains his proven approach to "getting things done" (or GTD as its sometimes called). In fact, the David Allen approach suggests that it's not really more time management we need. What we actually need is thought management. Allen argues that one of the problems we all suffer from is a feeling of too much to do but not enough time to do it.

Problem Solving Technique: 5 Steps to Improve Your Processes
Using questions to analyse, challenge and improve business and management processes is a very useful skill.

The Power of Positive Thinking: 5 Questions to Transform Problem Solving
Go from problem-solving to opportunity-creating using the power of positive thinking. This tool uses 5 questions to help you radically change the way you solve problems.

Seven Step Problem Solving Process
Here's a seven step problem solving technique, full of tips to help you arrive at the best solutions to your problems. In this article you'll find several of our other problem solving tools and management tips, brought together to provide a complete problem solving process.

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Tips and Tools

7 Steps in Decision Making
These 7 steps in decision making will give you the essential elements of a structured process model. Improve your decision making ... in a minute!

Problem Solving Skill: Finding the Right Problems to Solve.

An understated problem solving skill is to see every problem as an opportunity, start by finding the right problems to solve. This tool will help.

Problem Solving Activity Tool: a Question Checklist for Problem Solving

This question checklist is a simple but effective problem solving activity. It's straighforward to use and easy to adapt to any specific circumstance. Using a set of structured questions encourages both broad and deep analysis of your situation or problem.

Problem Solving Technique Tool: 4 Steps to Improve Your Processes

This tool contains a useful problem solving technique to help you improve your business processes. Critical examination is a structured questioning process which uses Kipling’s six honest serving men: what, why, when, how, where and who.

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Resources and Links

Don't forget to visit the Happy Manager bookshop for our recommended books on decision making.

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