Theoretical Base
Discuss about the Critical Thinking and Managerial Decision Making Process.
The main objective of the article, ‘Stop making plans; Start making decisions’ is to make the young executives that making ad hoc planning would not help them or the organization they are working to reach any proper goal. The executives should make plan after setting a proper date and time when the plan that they are making would be fulfilled. In other words, they need to make decisions rather than just planning. Planning something without any proper date and time of fulfilment is equal to making a plan that has no future (Buchanan and O Connell 2006). The objective of writing the articles is to make the young generation understand that time is important in the corporate world and the individuals should make use of the time to make correct decisions rather than wasting the time in just planning.
The theoretical base for the article can be explained by the game theory of strategic decision-making. The game theory mainly deals with the fact that whenever there will be a decision-making there will be a situation of conflict and cooperation among the team members (Kahneman, Lovallo and Sibony 2011). In addition to this, the theory supports the fact that the members will be interdependent on each other. In the present article, the authors have tried to present the fact it is not about passing the decision on the junior management but the entire organization should move forward to take the decisions for the organization. There should be debate among the decision-making members but they should decide a proper date and the planning should be concrete so that organization should be benefitted by the decision-making.
The main concept that underpins the article is the idea that other than reviewing and approving the plan, the team should debate and decide on a plan. Even though the term ‘debate’ can be used in a negative manner, yet while making a strategy, debate should be done so that the team, that is making the strategy should know all the pros and cons of the decision that is being made in the organization (Schoemaker and Tetlock 2012).
Arguments
Though the calendar effects is good for any organization as it makes the employees underhand that there is a deadline to finish the task according to the plan, yet there certain drawbacks of this effect. Once a plan is based on time, the decision-making takes place once a year. As a result, the employees get hardly any time address their issues to the senior management. In addition to this, the planning that is done for businesses that are done in international locations cannot be done within a proper period. One of the famous examples is the case of Boeing. It took Boeing almost two years to outsource the manufacture of the wings. Thus, the argument against the use of period is mainly based on the fact time-based decisions should be reviewed in regular basis and for international location, time based planning may not be suitable.
Conceptual Underpinnings
However, arguments were given on the concept that strategic decision should be debate and decided. Many organizations pass the final decision after the senior management gives a green signal that is being decided by the junior team (Ben-Zvi 2012). Hence, every idea comes down to the fact that the decision that is done by a team of decision-makers should be ‘approved’ by the senior management, rather than being decided by the team.
Methods
The authors mainly took the help of secondary research to state the fact and gave the example that happened in real organization (Eisenhardt 1989). The authors have not taken any interview to know about the feedback of the people who have either worked in an organization or have faced any similar situation where the planning did not lead to any concrete decision.
The authors have used a number of evidences to support the facts that have been stated by them. However, the authors should have mentioned the sources from where they have started the fact or have taken the evidences to incorporate in the article. However, neither the bibliography nor the reference list has been provided in the article. In addition to this, no in-texting is done that will show the credibility of the authors from whom the ideas have been incorporated in the article (Huber and Power 1985). If articles are not in-texted properly, the chances are high that the articles can be called a plagiarised work. The readers should get an idea about the sources from where the authors of the article have derived the idea that would be highly useful for the corporate world (Cornum, Matthews and Seligman 2011).
The article, ‘Stop making plans; Start making decisions’ can definitely find a place in the literature as the authors incorporated all types of concepts that will help the readers understand the points that were made by the authors (Lewis, Andriopoulos and Smith 2014). In addition to this, the authors have made it a point to incorporate real life examples so that the readers can relate to the point with the real life examples that will help them to understand the point in a better manner. However, the authors have not used any in-text, nor they have made use of any bibliography or reference list. The absence of in-text citation or the reference list is a major drawback of the article, and hence, it makes the position of the article in any literature weak (Campbell, Whitehead and Finkelstein 2009).
Arguments
Soundness of its conclusion(s)
The conclusion of the articles summarizes the point in an apt manner. The authors have summarized that the managers of an organization should do a decision-focussed planning, which will finally help them to achieve the goal of the organization. In addition to this, the authors have mentioned that there is a need of proper communication between the senior and the junior management so that there is no space for misunderstanding (Bonardi, Hillman and Keim 2005). The only setback of the conclusion of the article is that the authors include a new quote in the conclusion. Generally, a conclusion of an article should be a summary of the points that have been discussed in the article so that the readers could understand in a gist that have been discussed. The authors incorporated a new quote, which should not be a part of the conclusion.
The authors mainly stressed on the practical implications of the strategic planning and the decision-making in an organization. However, neither the authors have induced any theory in the article nor the article can be used for any theoretical purposes. However, the article can be used as a secondary data for the future authors who are either doing any research or writing another article on the similar topic. However, the authors have clearly discussed the effects that might make things go wrong and have presented the differentiations as well. Hence, if the article is required to be used for future reference, the readers will be benefitted due to the clarity that the authors have shown for this article.
Ability to be applied by managers
The managers of any organization will be able to apply the article in real-life situations and the article can help as guidance for the managers who are managing a team. The authors in the article have tried to make the managers understand that a strategic planning or decision-making process is not a one-time affair and should be followed up on a regular basis (Buchanan and O Connell 2006). The managers should understand that once a decision is made, it should be discussed again with the executives. The managers should listen to the grievances of the executives and the issues that the executives will bring forward to the management. Once the issues will be resolved in the organization on a regular basis, then the organization will be saved from any big problem for the organization.
Conclusion
After critically evaluating the article, it can be said that the article is the perfect solution for the managers who are having a tough time to manage the organization. The article will be a lesson for the young executives who are working in an organization. The key arguments for the article is that on one hand, the authors have told that the strategic decision making should involve debate and decision but the modern organizations the senior managers pass the final decision after the reviewing the decisions. In addition to this, the authors have talked about setting a deadline to carry out and make a decision based in that. However, setting a time does not mean one-time affair but a continuous follow up of the plan.
The article implies that there should be concrete decision that should be made for the organization. The planning that does not help the organization to reach the goal should not be done for wastage of time.
The article is effective enough that could be referred by the managers but the articles do not give proper reference that will show the originality of the references whenever there is any reference to a real life example. Hence, the readers should keep in mind the setback before using the article.
References
Ben-Zvi, T., 2012. Measuring the perceived effectiveness of decision support systems and their impact on performance. Decision Support Systems, 54(1), pp.248-256.
Bonardi, J.P., Hillman, A.J. and Keim, G.D., 2005. The attractiveness of political markets: Implications for firm strategy. Academy of Management Review, 30(2), pp.397-413.
Buchanan, L. and O Connell, A., 2006. A brief history of decision making.Harvard business review, 84(1), p.32.
Campbell, A., Whitehead, J. and Finkelstein, S., 2009. Why good leaders make bad decisions. Harvard business review, 87(2), pp.60-66.
Cornum, R., Matthews, M.D. and Seligman, M.E., 2011. Comprehensive soldier fitness: building resilience in a challenging institutional context.American Psychologist, 66(1), p.4.
Eisenhardt, K.M., 1989. Building theories from case study research.Academy of management review, 14(4), pp.532-550.
Huber, G.P. and Power, D.J., 1985. Retrospective reports of strategicâ€Âlevel managers: Guidelines for increasing their accuracy. Strategic management journal, 6(2), pp.171-180.
Kahneman, D., Lovallo, D. and Sibony, O., 2011. Before you make that big decision. Harvard business review, 89(6), pp.50-60.
Lewis, M.W., Andriopoulos, C. and Smith, W. 2014. Paradoxical leadership to enable strategic agility. California Management Review, 56(3): 58-77
Schoemaker, P.J. and Tetlock, P.E., 2012. Taboo Scenarios. California management review, 54(2), pp.5-24.
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