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POM Class 11 - Problem Solving 2 and Decision Making

In today's class we delved deeper into Problem Solving and Decision matrix. But we started from a different perspective. We were asked what elements management constitutes of? The graph below will summarize this concept.

Management Styles

This gives us a matrix of the four different styles of management. They are:

1) Individual Decision Making and Individual Implementation - happens only in single person business.

2) Individual Decision Making and Team Implementation - very common in hierarchical organizations. 

3) Team Decision Making and Individual Implementation - rarely ever happens.

4) Team Decision Making and Team Implementation - very common in flat organizations.

This matrix helps us to understand WHERE the problems start from because problem are usually fundamentally linked to the management style.

There are four steps in the Problem Solving - Decision Making process:

Step 1: Situation Analysis. We need to do some valuing and we need to set priorities of what is urgent and what is important.

Step 2: Problem Analysis. This first needs information gathering from various sources both internal and external. Then we need to properly DEFINE the problem at hand.

Step 3: Solution Analysis.  First we need to GET IDEAS. This can be from brain storming sessions. Then we need to MAKE A DECISION. By nature, both these are contradictory. IDEA GETTING is an expanding or selection process while the DECISION MAKING process is a contracting or eliminating process. Usually we use the Dialectical Method to reach a decision.

Step 4: Implementation. This is extremely important. Without this then all the decision making is an utter waste of time. We need to get others involved as they are also stakeholders and we need to make a proper plan for implementation. 

More in my next post!!!

POM Class 10 - Problem Solving 1

Many different concepts were discussed in this class. Hence, rather than writing about the class in a chronological order I have decided to give a summary of the important learnings from the various topics discussed in class.

1) Problem Solving (An Introduction):

          The first and most important step in problem solving is IDENTIFYING  the problem because unless we know a problem exists we cannot convert it into an OPPORTUNITY. Basically problem solving involves using generic methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems. 

            The next part of the problem solving loop is to explore ideas and select an idea. This leads us to another important aspect of management called Decision Making.

2) Decision Making:

             Decision making can be regarded as the process resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice.

The output can be an action or an opinion of choice. But Decisions can be made in two ways : (a) Individually and (b) In a Group.

           Individual Decision making is extremely fast and simple. It does depend on the structure of the organization. However the fundamental problem with Individual Decision Making is that is tends to be parochial. There can be severe bias in the process.

         Group Decision making is a more systematic process to solve problems because a problem is EVERYONE'S not just of the one person making the decision. However it is not without its flaws. For starters it  extremely Time- Consuming. There is also a very good chance of polarization in the group which can lead to too much time being wasted in taking the necessary decisions.

3) Job Design:

            
             Job Design is the process of deciding the contents of a job. It fixes the duties and responsibilities of the job, the methods of doing the job and the relationships between the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.   

        We must understand that Job Design is different from Organizational Design. Job Design is a MICRO level process while Organizational Design is a MACRO level process. How jobs are designed is very important and crucial to an organization. Jobs SHOULD lead to happiness and self-satisfaction which in turn MUST lead to high Productivity and better levels of Excellence. We can improve significance by giving incentives. Incentives need not be money alone. It could be recognition from higher management (like a photo with the CEO for the best employee.

Job design basically takes place by looking into 5 Aspects:

1) Skill Variant - If it is Low , Medium or High?

2) Task Identity - If it has Low , No or High identity?

3) Task Significance - Is the job least significant, most significant or of no significance at all?

4) Autonomy - does the worker have autonomy?

5) Feedback - how quickly will feedback be given?

4) Group Cohesiveness: 

                When discussing social groups, a group is said to be in a state of cohesion when its members possess bonds linking them to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-factored process, it can be broken down into four main components: social relations, task relations, perceived unity, and emotions. 

               Members of strongly cohesive groups are more inclined to participate readily and to stay with the group. The mental distances between the group shortens. Of course, some teams are more cohesive that others.

POM Class 9

There are many ways to learn about team work and managing a team but none quite as quirky as using a unique cartoon strip. The cartoon strip we used in class is shown below.

Sky-walk 

As a manager our task is to make this team of three "Idiots" to perform the sky-walk.

Let me first explain the three basic premises in this exercise:

             1) Three people need to cross a deep "valley".

             2) The distance between edges is more than one step but less than two steps.

             3) Jumping from one side to the other and walking on a pole placed on the two edges is
                 DANGEROUS.
             4) The only item they have with them is a small thick pole/stick.

In the above exercise, each person faces 3 states of riskiness:

          (a) Safe

          (b) Half Safe/ Half Risky

          (c) Risky

Using these states of Risk we can define the various ROLES in this exercise:

Category of tasks	Role Definition
Safe	No Effort.
Half safe	Slight Effort.
Hanging & Unsafe	No Effort; Depends on other members.
Fulcrum & Half safe	Effort is needed to maintain fulcrum ; Depends on others.
Pull down	Most Effort; Others depend on you.

The steps involved in crossing the "Valley" can be summarized by the table given below:
                     

Step	State of 1st Person	State of 2nd person	State of 3rd person
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half-Risky	Safe	Safe
3	Full-Risky	Safe	Safe
4	Half-Risky	Half-Risky	Safe
5	Safe	Full-Risky	Safe
6	Safe	Half-Risky	Half-Risky
7	Safe	Safe	Full-Risky
8	Safe	Safe	Half-Risky
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

                   We should understand that in the course of the entire exercise the work done by each person is EXACTLY EQUAL. No one person does more work than the other. This is an important lesson in how we must DIVIDE LABOUR. Let us make a table and quantify the work done by each worker whilst in each of the three given states of risk.

	Safe	Half Safe/ Half Risky	Risky	Total:
Worker A	6	2	1	9
Worker B	6	2	1	9
Worker C	6	2	1	9
Total:	18	6	3	27

                    We now can clearly see that the work done by each worker is exactly the same. We can also see that  66.6% of the time the worker is fully safe. In fact we could argue that the worker is actually safe 88.89% of the time given that Half Safe is also safe. Hence Division of Labour also share the risk and mitigates it. The work of a manger is to minimize the risk on each individual worker.

Now, what good is an example if you don't do it practically?!! That is exactly what we did. Prof. Mandi had actually arranged for a thick long pipe and we were going to try out the cartoon.

More from the next class!!!