REPORT

DECISION MAKING SKILLS FOR LEADERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 OBJECTIVES 5

3 DETAILS WITH SUBTOPICS 6

3.1 LEADERS WITH GOOD QUALITY AND
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD DECISION 6
3.2 DECISION MAKING SKILLS 7
3.3 PREVENTION FACTORS OF EFFECTIVE
DECISION MAKING 7

4 LITERATURE REVIEW 8
4.1 LEADERS WITH GOOD QUALITY 8
4.1.1 Leaders with Good Quality 8
4.1.2 Purpose of the Decision 8
4.1.3 Rationality 9
4.1.4 Transparency 10
4.1.5 Resolve 11

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 4.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD DECISION 12
4.2.1 Decisions Positively Impact Others 12
4.2.2 Executable Decisions 12
4.2.3 Emotional Intelligence Decisions 13
4.3 SKILLS 15
4.3.1 Strategic Planning 16
4.3.2 Intuition 17
4.3.3 Reasoning 18
4.4 WHAT CAN PREVENT EFFECTIVE DECISION-
MAKING 20
4.4.1 Not Enough Information 20
4.4.2 Too Much Information 20
4.4.3 Too Many People 21
4.4.4 Vested Interests 21
4.4.5 Emotional Attachment 22
4.4.6 No Emotional Attachment 22

5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 23

REFERENCES 25

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Define the reality is the first responsibility of a leader. The last is to say thank you. In
between of both responsibilities, the leader must become a debtor and a servant. That sums up
the progress of an artful leader. The ideas about leadership, concepts of leadership and
leadership practices are the subject of writing, teaching, learning, organizing, discussion and
much of thought. Sough after and cultivated are the personality of true leaders. As we know,
leadership is not an easy topic to explain.

Produce great, or charismatic, or well-known leaders are not the goals of thinking hard
about leadership. The quality of the head is not the measure of leadership, but the tone of
body. The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Do they
achieve the required results? Are the followers reaching their potential? Do they change with
grace? Manage conflict?

We need to try to think about the concept of leader, in the words of the gospel written
by Luke, as one who serves. Max De Pree in 1990 states that leadership is a concept of
owing certain things to the institution and it is a way of thinking about institutional heirs, a
way of thinking about stewardship as contrasted with ownership. The criteria of leadership
require us to think about the leader-as-steward in terms of relationships: of legacy and assets,
of effectiveness and momentum, of values and civility.

Furthermore, Ulrich and Smallwood in 2012 states that individual leaders shape
strategy, execute decision, manage talent, develop future talent, and act with personal

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proficiency. They might think that being a successful leader requires knowing what is
expected and doing it. But, organizational leadership matters more. Leadership occurs when
the organizations builds a future and create patterns of success.

One of the main responsibilities of a leader is to make a strategic planning and right
decision for his/ her organization. In the management system, make a strategic planning has
conquered the public sector by storm (Bryson et al., 2010). Strategic planning is a theoretical
framework of management that focused on a rational approach to strategy formulation through
strategic implementation and performance management (Andrews et al., 2009). Strategic
planning practices can receive information into decision-making processes by focusing on
strategic goals, insights into the organizational environment, and insights into performance
information (Boyne et al., 2004; Poister, 2005).

People always say that they are hard to make decisions. Moreover, some people put off
making the decisions by getting other people to offer their recommendations. Unfortunately,
we all have to make decisions all the time for life-changing. In management, decision-making
is an integral part for organizations and it is essentially taken as primary function of
management. The determination of organizational and managerial activities is play important
roles in decision-making. Decision-making is continuous and a key component of organizing
the business or organizations activities. It involves arriving a solution for a given problem in
order to select a course of action from the possible alternatives (Robert Harris, 2012).

The main questions remain about how strategic planning and make a right decision
contribute to performance of organization and also another important outcome. Studies
suggested that strategic planning plays an important role in strategy development, including
how organizations formulate major problems, set objectives, analyze alternatives, and choose
strategy (Armstrong, 1977). Although these theoretical arguments prompt the assumption that

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strategic planning can be viewed as significant predictors of making decision quality in public
organization (Bryson et al., 2011;).

Furthermore, Anderson et al, in 2004 identified the strategic planning as a key

mechanism for coordination and integration and as a basis for both centralizing and
decentralizing organizational decision making. The fact that so many firms or company have
not been successful in making the strategic and benefits of planning, however, and that
research has been inconsistent in connecting planning to organizational performance, and to
consider the new directions for future research.

Few studies have explicitly focused on strategic-decision quality as a measure of

rational plannings effectiveness, despite the fact that strategic-decision quality is an often-
cited argument as to why rational planning would work in organizations (Boyne et al., 2001;
Walker et al., 2010). These studies have provided evidence-based insights on rational planning
and good decision making and also their value cannot be underestimated. George and Desmidt
in 2016 address this research gap and the evidence is offered for the relation between strategic
decision quality and planning practices in public organizations as shown in Figure 1.1 below.

Rational planning
practices
Strategic decision
quality
Procedural justice of
the decision-making

Figure 1.1 Predictors of strategic-decision making in public organizations (George and

Desmidt, 2016).

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 George and Desmidt are included the measures of organizational information
processes (i.e., rational planning practices) as well as behavior by decision makers during
decision making (i.e., procedural justice of the decision making process) as predictors of
strategic decision quality in their model. From the Figure 1.1 above, Rogers et al, in 1999
argue that through rational planning practices information is collected and injected into the
strategic decision-making process. Meanwhile, Kim and Mauborgne in 1995 were argued on
procedural justice of decision making process that the quality of strategy content is a function
of the information processing capability inherent in the procedural justice model of strategic
decision making.

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 CHAPTER 2

OBJECTIVES

In order to complete the task given, there are several objectives which have been made
as guidance in completing the task. It is hoped that by completing the task, all the objectives
are achieved. The objectives include:

1. To study the definition of decision-making.

2. To identify the good qualities of decision maker and characteristics of good
decision making.
3. To state the skills in making decision.
4. To identify the factors preventing effective decision making.
5. To study the importance of decision making for leaders.

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 CHAPTER 3

DETAILS WITH SUBTOPICS

3.1 LEADERS WITH GOOD QUALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD

DECISION

One of the roles of a leader is doing decision in any situation either for a long term
planning or instant solution during critical time. The decision that have made will give a huge
impact on the organization goal achievement, subordinate emotions, risk that may be face and
possibilities to develop the organization itself.

Thus, the leader must have a very good quality in term of making a decision for a long
time positive impact to the organization especially, then to the subordinate. He must possesses
the quality of finding the purpose of the decision, rationality during critical thinking,
transparency along the leading period with passion and lastly, resolve after the decision have
made by solid action.

Besides, the decision itself must comply or consist with the characteristics of good
decision. A good decision also had defined as a decision that would give totally positive
impact to the others, can be execute easily and clearly, and from a sufficient touch of
emotion.

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3.2 DECISION MAKING SKILLS

Skill is an ability to do something well, especially because you have learned and practiced
it. In this context, a good leader with high quality should have an ability to make a good
decision well. The general or common skills that a leader must possesses are doing strategic
planning to achieve goals, have a strong intuition or heart instinct, and lastly a good reasoning
skills based on the sufficient amount of information at that particular time.

The inability to define ones position or status in any given situation, can ultimately affect
the whole organization and the leader as well. Looked upon as an indecisive leader, it is his
failure to make a decision can cause chaos among the subordinate, interrupt the work progress
and last but not least the subordinate efficiency. The subordinate will look to the leader to
make competent decisions, which it must impact positively to the organization. Without these
decision making skills, ones leadership can be called into question.

3.3 PREVENTION FACTORS OF EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING

Despite the excellent progress and work these days, many of todays best leaders still
make poor decisions. This is really unfortunate, because sound decision making is at the heart
of every organization successful achievement. If learning professional leaders want to develop
flourishing, successful subordinate, they need to learn on how to make great decisions. But,
many of them struggle to make good ones because of inaccurate consideration or reasoning
along the decision-making process. Even if the leaders have the best education and years of
experience, it still possible actually to make poor decisions. Why? There are some common
factors that often stand in the way of the leaders in making good decisions. The factors will
covered about the amount of information gathered, the quantity of people involved in decision
making, the interest possesses, and emotional attachment on the decision.

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 CHAPTER 4

LITERATURE REVIEW

4.1 LEADERS WITH GOOD QUALITY

4.1.1 Leaders with Good Quality

Having a great vision and leadership skills are able to bring the organization achieved
higher through time. While finding a unique vision is rare enough; the ability to successfully
execute this vision or goals is what separates the dreamers from the leaders. However people
had reflected on themselves, whatever the age may be, as soon as they realize the first steps to
have this is either have a powerful leader or be one. When the situation is tight and critical,
while the instant decision from a leader is required as stress levels are high, at this point, every
member of the organization look for a good quality of their leader in decision making. Here
are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize in
decision making (Rosen, Salas, Lyons, and Fiore, 2008).

4.1.2 Purpose of the Decision

Purposes or objectives of why the decision must be made should be clear and strong
enough. Basically, the decision-making is aimed to achieve organizational goals without any
failure in any situation. When decisions are made to solve problems, the subordinate want to
know that the decision made is addressing a root cause, not merely a symptom.

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 As leaders, who must have a sense of vision for the future, an orientation toward action,
and a facility for persuasion, the leader must be able to make a decision in critical situation
without ignoring those three senses.

Vision for the future is generally is having a clear vision, which is essential to the
organizations health. Of course, the organization exists to get something done. And the leader
job is to take it somewhere. If the leader himself arent clear about the destination, in the end
it will going lost or side-tracked. What the leader want to accomplish is more important than
how he do it. He must figure out the vision, before he can determine the decision.

4.1.3 Rationality

Decision making is an intellectual or rational process. As a mental exercise, it involves

with a lot of considerable deliberation and thoughtful consideration of various factors
influencing the choice. It also is the end process preceded by reasoning and judgment. For
important decisions, with a large impact on people, the leader should know that careful
thought was used to make the decision.

Decision-making is based on rational thinking. The leader tries to foresee various possible
effects of a decision before deciding a particular one. Some decisions will not always be so
clear-cut. The leaders may be forced at times to deviate from their objectives or goals and
make an on the fly decision. This is where your rationality will prove to be vital. It is during
these critical situations that organization members or subordinate will look to their leader for
guidance and a quick decision.

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 As a leader, it is important to learn to think rationally to choose which of two bad choices
the best option. Dont immediately choose the first or easiest possibility; sometimes its best to
give these issues some thought, and even turn to subordinate for guidance. By utilizing all
possible options before making a rash decision, the leader can typically reach the end
conclusion he was aiming for. (White, D.J., 2006).

4.1.4 Transparency

Whatever ethical plane the organization hold to, when a leader is responsible for his team
of people, its important to raise the bar even higher. The organization and its subordinate are
a reflection of the leader himself. And if he make honest and ethical behavior a key value,
then the subordinate will follow suit.

Promote a healthy inter-organization lifestyle, and encourage the subordinate to live up to

these standards. By emphasizing these standards, and displaying to the subordinate, the leader
will hopefully influence the organization environment into a friendly and helpful workspace.
This kind of ethical attitude will build the subordinates trust on the leader himself as they will
give full commitment and trust to the decision that have made.

The leader must never apply the concept of wearing the mask. As a leader, the only way
on how to engender trust and buy-in from the subordinate is to be 100 percent authentically
the leader himselfopen, sometimes flawed, but always passionate about work. It has
allowed the leader the freedom to be fully present and consistent.

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4.1.5 Resolve

Resolve or degree of firmness term had defined the leaders should not have any hesitation
or uncertainty after he had made a decision. The leaders should have their own stand on the
decision that have made. Every single subordinate does not like their leaders who hesitate to
make a decision.

Hesitation or uncertainty will create discomfort and analysis paralysis to the leaders in
decision making process. The leaders try to analyze the situation from every angle to alleviate
the sense of uncertainty but these efforts are often futile and waste valuable time and energy.
It is because of they must make decisions in the face of uncertainty (A Tversky and E Shafir,
1992).
The leaders also are often paralyzed by uncertainty when they lack of resolve on their
decision. And end up they had decided things that are not even related and from weak basis.
To build a strong resolve, leaders must question the attempts to find certainty before making
decisions because they may be seeking a false sense of security. If they are able to accept the
uncertainty rather than try to resolve it, then, leaders can focus on the limited time, energy,
and money on making the best decisions in the face of an uncertain outcome.

But, this does not mean that the leaders should not bother to analyze a situation before
making a decision. Various analyses can be helpful in providing the information necessary to
make the best decisions in the situation. The key is to know when what leaders dont know is
important, and if so, how to go about gathering the necessary information to resolve the
uncertainty. If they dont know is not important subject, then the next step is to accept the
uncertainty and proceed in spite of it.

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4.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD DECISION

The decision made by a great leader can have powerful impacts. Decision-making can be
the single-greatest weight upon the leaders shoulders if they dont know how to manage
stress or if the consequences are less than ideal. So, how a good decision looks like actually?

4.2.1 Decisions Positively Impact Others

This characteristic may seem obvious, but if it were, bad decisions would not exist. After
all, anybody who is negatively affected by a decision immediately, will classifies that decision
as bad. Of course, the basic understanding among all the members of an organization
including the leader himself is to find a common definition of "positive."

4.2.2 Executable Decisions

Executable decision is the end action because it is preceded by discussions and

deliberations. Thats mean; any good decision must be executable through planning,
discussing, and finally action until it is done. The executable decision also is an integral to any
decision, which is clarity around what that decision is. If there is a blank about what to do
next, then that decision isnt clear enough. The clarity itself has minimizes uncertainty, and
although this may sound like an obvious statement, remembers that whats apparent may be
newfound insight to others.

The aim of decision making is to find out the best possible course of action. It is a rational
and purposeful activity designed to attain well-defined objectives. Decisions relate means to

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ends. In order to identify the best alternative, it is necessary to evaluate all available
alternatives. As decision making is always purposeful, there may just be a decision not to
decide (Borges el, 2002).

4.2.3 Emotional Intelligence Decisions

Emotional intelligence is an ability to understand and manage emotions and those of

others, is one of the most important qualities a leader must possess. According to the authors
of Primal Leadership, a leaders emotions are contagious. This is why resonant leadership is
so important. As the leaders mood will resonate with others and set the tone for the emotional
climate in an organization (D Goleman, R E Boyatzis and A McKee, 2004).

When a leader has developed this emotional self-control in self-management, he will

recognize his emotions, be influenced by them, but not blinded by them. And he will able to
calmly and clearly express his decisions to others, even when the leader experience intense
emotions within him and from others.

During critical situation, leaders need to make the instant decision on the spot and take
action right away. And of course, it must the best decision at that particular time. He would
likely have varied emotional reaction, including feelings such as anxiety, fear, or anger.
Unfortunately, these emotions will clouding leaders ability to make good decisions. When
the emotional part had blinded the brain, the innate reaction is to protect the leader or
organization itself. Being in this state is not totally conducive to making strategic and long-
term decisions. This is why emotional self-control is so important. Great leaders are aware of
their emotional state and are able to manage intense emotions so they can make smart
decisions (D H Barlow, 2004).

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 Great leaders understand how to balance emotion with reason and make decisions that
positively impact themselves, their employees, and their organizations. Making good
decisions in difficult situations is no small feat because these types of decisions involve
change, uncertainty, anxiety, stress, and sometimes the unfavorable reactions of others.

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4.3 SKILLS

In making decision, it is crucial to use our decision making skills to solve problems in
order to select one course of action from a numbers of possible alternatives. Besides, decision
making skills are also a component of the time management skills. Most of the time, decision
making process can be hard as almost any decision involves conflicts and dissatisfactions.
This is because we need to pick one solution while there are positive outcome that overweigh
possible losses. It seems that avoiding to make decisions is often easier yet making our own
decisions and accepting the results and consequences is the best way to stay in control of our
time, success and our life.

A crucial part in making decision is by knowing and practicing the good and effective
decision making technique. Generally, practical decision making techniques can be
summarized to a few steps. First, we identify the purpose of the decision which we question
ourselves what is exactly the problem to be solved and why it should be solved. The next step
is to gather information. Then, identify the principles to judge the alternatives which refer to
standards and judgment criteria should the solution meet. Fourth is to brainstorm and list
different possible choices which mean generate ideas for possible solutions. Next, evaluate
each choice in terms of its consequence by using the standards and judgment criteria to
determine the cons and pros of each alternative. Determining the best alternative will make it
much easier after you go through the above preparation steps. Next, put the decision into
action and transform your decision into specific plan of action steps. Lastly, evaluate the
outcome of the decision and action steps made.
There are many skills in making decisions. Some of the crucial skills are strategic
planning, intuition and reasoning which will be elaborated in this section.

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4.3.1 Strategic Planning

Before we decide any solutions to proceed, we need to make a strategic planning in order
to organize our management in a better way. The purposes we need to make a good planning
are to set priorities, ensure the strengthen operations, focus energy and resources toward
common goals. The effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is
going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful.
There are few ways on how to make a strategic planning in order to produce a right decision
making based on previous research.

The first step in the strategic planning process is to address the questions Where are
we? and What do we have to work with? These questions will examine the organization,
program, or sub-program that allows participants to assess current positions. Answering the
question of what we have to work with involves consideration of strengths and weaknesses
and determination of how to capitalize on strengths. These steps are very useful for us to plan
what we need to do instead of managing our organizations in the right way. Whittington and
Vaara in 2012 distinguish these questions as a basis and a way to understand the activity of
strategic planning.

The next step in the process is answering Where do we want to be? It is essential that
this step involve all of those who will have a stake in the achieving the vision. The vision is
then translated into a mission statement: comprehensive statement of the purpose of the
agency or program. If unable to design mission statements that can encompass multiple
divergent goals, the planners should articulate several separate mission statements reflecting
different goals. Based on the research, it is the cited importance of strategic plannings
informative role in decision making is also confirmed by several studies in public
administration (George & Desmidt, 2016).

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The next step in the planning process is the articulation of goals. Desired long-range
conditions of well-being for the state, community, agency, or program, goals indicate the
intended future direction of the state, agency, or program. An example of a state goal is that
all Malaysians should be healthy by the year 2020.

After articulating the vision and determining goals, planners must address means of
reaching their goals. This step involves articulating strategies for achieving results. Strategies
should reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the entity engaged in the planning. For
example, a very small office should recognize that its size could be both a weakness and
strength. The size would limit it to strategies that do not require large staffs commitment, but
would allow it to use strategies requiring rapid dissemination of information throughout the
organization.

4.3.2 Intuition

As humans, same as other creatures, we possess a nature elements and one of them is the
intuition. In a simple phrase, intuition refers to using the gut feeling about the possible course
of action or situation. Each one of us possesses intuition subjectively and interpersonally.
Although most of us view it as magical sense, intuition is actually a combination of past
experience and our personal values.

Intuition is not denoting something contrary to reason, but it is something outside the
province of reason (Khatri & Ng, 2000). It is important taking our intuition into account in
making decision as it reflects our learning about life. However, it is not always based on
reality but our perceptions which might come from our childhood and may be mature as a
result. Thus, it is worth for us to examine the gut feeling closely especially if we realize that

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we have strong feeling against particular course of action. It is useful to see if we can work out
why and whether the feeling is justified or not.

Intuition can be built by some form of meditative practice in our daily life. It is not a
direct form of meditation but can be a few moments of reflection, a warm bath, a walk with
pets, hiking, stare at the ocean and so on. We should not limit ourselves bombarded with
information all day such as television and cell phones that we miss out the oppurtinities to
notice ourselves thinking and feeling from the inside.

4.3.3 Reasoning

Reasoning is using the facts and figures in front of you to make decisions. Reasoning has
its roots in the here-and-now, and in facts. It can, however, ignore emotional aspects to the
decision, and in particular, issues from the past that may affect the way that the decision is
implemented. Rationalistic informal reasoning described reason-based considerations;
emotive informal reasoning described care-based considerations; and intuitive reasoning
described considerations based on immediate reactions to the context of a scenario (Sadler &
Zeidler, 2005).

The more we know about a subject, the more reliable our intuition will be and we
becomes more confident in making decision based on the intuition. Intuition can be a perfect
acceptable means of making decision, although it is generally appropriate when the decision
needs to be made quickly. However, when it comes to more complicated decisions, it tends to
require a more formal, structured approach which means involving both intuition and
reasoning. Thus, we have to know how to apply both reason and intuition simultaneously in
making decision.

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 One way to do this is by applying the two aspects in turn. Most of the time, it is useful to
make reason, and then gather the facts and figures. Once an obvious pre-decision has been
made, it is the turn to use the intuition. This is the correct order of how to make decision. If
the decisions are made based on not emotionally committed to the decision, the decision will
not be implemented well or effectively. Cushman et al. (2006), states that both the reasoning
and intuition complement each other in moral judgment. In our everyday life, most of the time
we will use these skills in order to make decision. For example, although we made decision
based on the reasoning that accepting a help from an old foreign man to bring us by his car has
no harm, we should not ignore our intuition if it says something bad will happen later. For
conclusion, most of the time we should consider reasoning before considers our intuition.

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4.4 WHAT CAN PREVENT EFFECTIVE DECISION-MAKING

4.4.1 Not Enough Information

The leaders could not make an effective and a good decision if he or she does not have
enough information about certain issues and it feels like the leaders making a decision without
any basis. The leaders should spend some of his or her time to gather required information in
order to make a decision even if the timescale is very tight. If necessary, the leaders should
prioritise information-gathering by identifying which information will be the most important
and significant. A wrong decision might be made if there is out-dated or inadequate
information. Information gathering can be strategic, for example, in a group situation, it may
be appropriate for each and every group member to do a research on different aspects to the
information required. For instance, different group could be allocated to focus their research
on availability, costs, facilities, and so on.

4.4.2 Too Much Information

When the leaders dealing with too much information it can affect the effectiveness of his
or her decisions by having so much conflicting information that it is impossible to see the
wood for the trees. This phenomenon is called analysis paralysis that is also used as a
strategy to delay organizational decision-making, with those involved demanding ever more
information before they can decide. This difficulty can always be resolved by gathering
everyone together to decide what and which is the most important information that should be
taken into account and why, by setting a clear timescale for decision-making, including
information-gathering phase. Sometimes, when more options are presented, the greater the
difficulty in making a final decision as it can lead to more regret because the decision maker
consider all of the missed possibilities and worry whether he or she could have chosen one of

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the many other routes that were available. The decision-making also will be difficult to make
and it will be easier to become disturbed by unnecessary factors if there is a lot of irrelevant
information. So, by limiting and narrowing to fewer options will bring to calmer mind of the
decision maker.

4.4.3 Too Many People

Sometimes, making decision in a large group of people is difficult. Every individual and
person has their own opinions, views, perspective, and values. It may be essential and
necessary for one person to take responsibility for making decision while determining which,
why and how some information or values could be so important and significant. Furthermore,
when making a decision in a group often can cause complicated decision-making as it can
increase the chance of conflict. Therefore, it is necessary for the decision maker to identify the
difference between win-win situations (when the two parties agree to give up some things in
order to agree on other things) and win-lose situation (such as compromises where one side
gives up their opinion to please another).

4.4.4 Vested Interests

Decision-making processes often founder under the weight of vested interests or personal
stakes. These vested interests could be a crucial blockage as it often not overtly expressed
which is hard to identify them clearly. Thus, the leaders should address them which it can
sometimes be possible by exploring them with someone in similar position but outside the
process. It can also help to investigate and search for the rational or intuitive aspects with all
stakeholders or partners, usually with an external facilitator to assist the process.

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4.4.5 Emotional Attachment

Sometimes, the decision-making process that is mostly done by a leader could be attach
or driven by some emotion while making the decision which it may lead to a good or bad
decision. Somehow, a less effective or bad decision-making could be driven by a problem that
being faced by the decision maker. For example, relationship problem, family problems, etc.
The decision maker also could be influenced by a feeling of insecurities while making
decision which it comes from of what people thought about him or her, or conflict between
them. So, a leader should be able to manage or control their emotion while making a decision.

4.4.6 No Emotional Attachment

Occasionally, it is hard to make a decision because the decision maker just does not care
one way or the other. In this case, a structured decision-making process can always help by
identifying some very real good or bad, pros and cons of specific actions that perhaps the
leaders had not thought about before. By using structured decision-making process, some of
these issues can be control or overcome by reducing more complex decisions down to simpler
steps, observe how any decisions are arrived, and planning decision-making to meet deadlines.
A lot of techniques of decision-making have been developed, ranging from simple rules of
thumb, to extremely complex procedures. The method used depends on the nature of the
decision to be made and how complex or complicated it is.

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 CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Generally, decision-making skills are very crucial in our life as it is mostly applied to
every decision that we have to make. In fact, decision-making skills are not only exists for
leaders but it also happens for non-leaders. For example, a student that has just graduated from
high school needs to decide which university that he or she wants to enter and the decision
that he or she has to make must give a positive impact to him or herself. In accordance, what
are the bases that he or she has to refer in order to make an unregretful decision? And to get
those bases, he or she must have a skill or skills in decision-making. From that example, we
can see that decision-making is applicable to our daily life which it is not only focusing in
leadership.but also in other aspect.

But in this reports aspect, we consider decision-making skills are for leaders to make
a decision. But the question is, what are those skills that a leader should have in order to make
an effective, practicable, and good decision? It can be summarized and concluded that we
need first to understand what is meant by decision-making. In simple words, decision-making
is the action or process of making decisions, especially important ones which it is indicated
that most of every decision is followed by its significance and importance or benefits. After
that, we have to identify what are the good qualities of decision maker in making a decision
and the characteristics of good decision. It is appropriate that the decision maker must possess
the quality of finding the purpose of the decision, rationality during critical thinking,
transparency along the leading period with passion and resolve after the decision have been
made by solid action. Apart from that, the decision itself must comply of good characteristics
which have positive impacts or long-term beneficial effects.

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 Then, ones should know and state what are the skills that mostly practicable in
decision-making. Skill is defined as an ability to do something well which it is commonly
developed through learning and practicing. Basically, the general skills that a leader should
possess are doing strategic planning to achieve goals, have a strong intuition or heart instinct,
and lastly good reasoning skills based on the sufficient amount of information at that
particular time. Lastly, we should take into account for some factors to make an effective
decision-making which it can appear as drawbacks if the condition of the factors not being
occupied properly. Those factors are the amount of information gathered, the quantity of
people involved in decision making, the interest possesses or personal stakes, and emotional
attachment in making a decision.

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