Getting Started on the Road to Right Decision Making

Based on the UOI –Decision making the Grade V students conducted a talk show with the Senior management members of the school.Each Sr.Mgt member spoke about one important factor involved in decision making according to them.
During the process of inquiry the students had come up with many questions such as-

•   How do people in key position take decisions?
•   How do they manage differences in opinion?
•   Who are the people involved in taking important decisions which affect lives of many people?
•   What factors are considered while taking an important decision?
•   How do decisions impact people?

All these questions were answered by the Senior Management Team.

Managing Director Mr.Rajasekhar Babu gave relevant examples to students on decision making while answering their questions. His simple way of explaining things caught the attention of students. He advised students not to compromise on values while taking decisions and that values are a central part of who you are – and who you want to be.

He told them some of life's decisions are really about determining what you value most. When many options seem reasonable, it's helpful and comforting to rely on your values – and use them as a strong guiding force to point you in the right direction. Advice from a good friend or counsellor can be helpful in some circumstances. Although we may wish that someone else would step in to make tough decisions for us, the final decision remains ours to make.

He also added that family and friends are most important and our decisions should not hurt them.

Joint Managing Director Mr.Prasanna answering the questions posed by the students mentioned that he is very passionate about education and so he decided to join Oakridge. When asked as to what were the different factors that were considered while taking up a decision he explained -We all are decision makers and we make decisions every day every minute. Some decisions are simple and easy. But in business organizations, we face difficulties in decision making due to some complexity, insecurity, risk involved, outcome etc

According to him - Perception is key in the decision making process, because you must fully understand the decision you make along with all of the facts and information involved in the situation to be resolved.

Sr.VP.(Operations) Mr.Mallikarjuna explained to the students that while taking decisions he considers the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the consequences of the decision. He introduced the decision making tool SWOT to the students.He told them if you are facing a problem, you can create a personal SWOT analysis - relate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats before you decide whether it would be in your best interests to take  the decision.He mentioned that by understanding your weaknesses, you can manage and eliminate threats that might otherwise hurt your ability to move forward.

Sr.VP.(Education) Mr.Ramesh Krishnan  gave very thoughtful answers to the questions posed to him during the talk show.  He said that he prioritizes his tasks based on the importance and urgency of the tasks. He told the students  that decision making is very important not only in professional life but also in our day to day life. When he has to take a decision of implementing a new idea he looks at the positives and negatives and if the positives are more then he takes a decision to implement the new idea. He explained to the students that though decision making is a scientific process and there are certain steps that are followed while decision making, certain situations in life demand that we take a decision immediately. He told the students that they should be ready for such situations.

The Principal -Capt.Rohit Sen Bajaj stressed on character building. According to him - Virtues are strengths of character that enable people to flourish as a complete moral individual.To possess a virtue is to have a definite sort of character.Character concerns an appropriate inner state of an individual,which gives rise to an appropriate response in terms of behaviour, action and decision to any given situation.

According to the Vice Principal -Making good decisions can be a tough skill to hone. When you have several options, especially those options where all seem like good ones, the act of making a choice can be overwhelming and fill you with self-doubt. Mulling over decision making for hours or days, however, can come with its own set of problems. To assess your options with focus and consider your priorities, gather as much information as you can. Think about what could go wrong with each decision you could make. Could you live with the consequences? Opinions of your friends and family members can help add another perspective to your decision making process. Consider their feedback, but remember that you are the one who has to ultimately make the decision for yourself. Pros and Cons list can help you see how the choices measure up against each other. Once you’ve made a decision, own your process and own your results. If it doesn’t come out the way you hoped, learn from it and live with it. Ducking responsibility does nobody any good.

According to the headmistress - Individual decision making is the act of making up one’s mind. As a headmistress she gives more importance to the students and their safety. These are the things that are her priority while taking decisions at school. She mentioned that for being a good leader it’s very important to identify the talents of the team you lead. Team decision making is the process through which a team chooses an alternative. Team performance depends largely on the choices made by the team. These choices, in turn, depend on the processes through which teams decide.She also emphasized that there truly are no wrong choices, only different paths.