Managing Under Uncertainty Personal Reflection

Question: Discuss about theManaging Under Uncertaintyfor Personal Reflection. Answer: Introduction The group work is one of the most important organizational dynamics in which we can benefit from the cooperative learning. However, it should be implemented properly, without which there would be negative consequences. I was quite afraid at the beginning since there are different individuals with different attitudes in the group. I may not understand the psychological characteristics of the members of the group. There are three members in the group who belong to different countries as well as display different personality attributes. One of them was an extrovert and two of them are introverts. I am an introvert who is unable to interact with others easily. I was apprehensive about the fact that how would the introverts works with a through extrovert. However, when I read the decision-making theories, I was confident that it is possible to arrive at a common decision. There can be a variety of decisions that are taken on a day to day basis. There can be variety of decisions such as decisions regarding uncertainty, complexity, high risk consequences and there can be interpersonal issues (Jaeger et al., 2013). There are programmed decisions as well as non-programmed decisions. The organizations can also engage in routine as well as strategic decisions in every day functioning. There are several tactical decisions as well as operational decisions that need to be taken by the managers (Jaeger et al., 2013). We performed a combination of these types of decisions and had a good experience on the decision-making attributes. The Personality Theory takes into account the inherent characteristics of the individuals that are consistent with their behaviors within a period of time. The Big 5 model states that there are five personality factors responsible for determining the type of individuals. In our group I observed that the introvert members showed signs of conscientiousness as they were organized as well as dependable in their decision making process. They also displayed characteristics of Openness to experience as they appreciated the unusual ideas as well as variety of experiences. The Myers Brigs Type Indicator displays the psychological preference of the people and the way they perceive the whole world. The introverts were systematizer and strategizer. They were quiet, serious, orderly and practical in their decision making approach. They were sensible as well as patient. They were reserved, curious and were action oriented. One of the introverts was judge who used to judge the situations and arrive at a decision. The extrovert in our group displayed the characteristics of performer, socializer and innovator. The performer was easygoing, friendly and possessed practical ability. He was popular, talkative and was attentive to detail. The extrovert was outspoken, quick and often neglected the routine tasks. He was enthusiastic as well as inspiring when presented with difficult situations. The bounded rationality model states that it is possible for efficient decision making by utilizing certain stages (Jaeger et al., 2013). The decision maker finds the instances which needs adequate decision. The next step involves the formulation of possible courses of action. The group members engaged in brainstorming and decide the required courses of action (Jaeger et al., 2013). The extrovert person gave most of the ideas and leaded the group. He engaged the other members to share their own ideas. I was afraid at the beginning and thought that my ideas may face criticism. However, the other members of the group encouraged me to communicate the ideas freely. The group members, after discussion, engaged in selecting the best possible course of action. I was hesitant at first; however, I also gave my interpretation to the group. During the initial period of working in a team, I faced several issues. There was an absence of team identity and we lacked focus while working together. It was difficult for us to get started. We exchanged names with each other and developed an agenda. In spite of these measures, we were unable to start off with our work. One of my group members (an introvert) was not contributing fully to the decision-making activity. He was quiet and was unable to communicate with the other members of the team. There was a conflict that arises in the group regarding the decision to be taken. The conflict was not solved for a long time, which decreased our work performance. There was a cold war which was happening in the team in which the members were unable to communicate freely with each other. This made us unable to focus on our work as we were getting distracted by the conflicts that were taking place in the team. At times, we faced the issue of ineffective leadership and that deviated us from fulfilling our goal. There was poor communication between the team members as the introverts were unable to interact with the other team members. I have learnt that it is important to perform collaborative decision making when acting in a group. The collaborative decision making is a kind of decision making that takes into account the individual opinions while arriving at a decision in a group (Harstad Selten, 2013). At first, I thought that the extrovert person would be dominating when arriving at a decision. However, all the members equally contributed to the decision-making activities. When there was a need for making a decision, we gave individual view points and each one of us gave alternatives. I assumed that the extrovert would not listen to us, however, I was wrong. He gave us the chance to speak and hence there was efficient decision making. I learnt that decision making is relevant when done with several other people. I have learnt that there are many advantages of working in a team. The team work fosters the creativity of the members and it emphasizes on creating innovative products (Schultz Gtz, 2016). It is possible to blend the relative strengths of the employees when working in a group. The working in a group fosters trust among the group members. There is an improvement in the interpersonal relationship between the team members. The team work builds the skills required for effective conflict resolution (Schultz Gtz, 2016). A wide sense of ownership is being created and there is an increase in the workplace effectiveness. I often wondered that individual decision making is a good option and doubted if group decision making is really effective or not. The individual decision making comprises of the thought process of self and its contribution to the decision making process (Sin-Echaluce et al., 2015). I have a tendency to think and I like to question before I perform a particular task. They have certain pros and cons of individual decision making. It saves a considerable amount of time as the individuals engage in fast decision making. My individual decisions are rational as well as focused towards the goals. The individuals are accountable for their own acts which prevent the person from taking wrong decisions. There are several disadvantages of the individual decision making as well. This kind of decision making does not take into account multiple perspectives as there is only one entity involved in decision making. I would use my own views and intuition and hence there is a possibility of inadequate decision making. It does not take into account all the interest of the members and hence the decision may not be appropriate. There are several advantages as well as disadvantages of group decision making activities. We realized the advantages after we successfully completed the team building exercise. There is diversity of opinions in a group which leads to effective decision making. The exchange of ideas as well as opinions enriches the quality of decision making (Kaner, 2014). There is more participation as well as interest of the individuals. The members of the group display positive attributes as it improves the quality of the decision (Kaner, 2014). The collective contribution of the team members makes it possible to remove the factors of unreliability. Our group displayed active participation from all the team members as there was a healthy relationship between the team members. There was democratic decision making in the group which improved the decision-making quality. Our decision was more acceptable as well as perceivable and was well coordinated to meet our objectives. The group discussion helps to develop a large number of innovative ideas which is not possible if there is individual decision making (Kaner, 2014). There are different opinions in a group which expanded the scope of the decisions. Another issue faced by us was that the introvert members were silent at times and they didnt participate in the decision-making process. They were unsure about their opinions and perceive that the opposite person may contradict his ideas. There is also the instance of bias in the decision-making activity. It is possible that the members belong to the same entity which would prevent them from making impartial decisions. There are several techniques that helped us to make decisions in a group. The first method used is brainstorming, which comprises of finding solutions for specific problems by the collection of a list of ideas (Litchfield, 2013). Each one of us gave several ideas aimed for solving the issue in question. We also used a more structured approach such as nominal group technique. The nominal group technique involves the solution generation, identification of problem and the decision making (Harvey Holmes, 2012). We generated the ideas independently and wrote them down in a piece of paper. We didnt interact among ourselves and hence we could avoid the dominance of the extrovert personality. The ideas were collected by our group coordinator and then shared to everyone one by one. We also welcomed any necessary suggestions from the team members. We also adopted a third method of decision making known as didactic interaction, in certain situations. This approach works best when there is a re quirement of only yes-no solution (Liddicoat Tudini, 2013). I found this method of decision making is quite effective in the controlled situation. We engaged in exhaustive investigation as we understood that the selected alternative can have strong consequences. We had also developed a contingency plan that would effectively address the issues that may come up with the decision-making process. I was afraid regarding the way the decision-making activity would turn up. However, I enjoyed during the group work activity as it gave me the opportunity to communicate with few people. I was able to deliver the appropriate decisions that were suitable for the situation. I followed all the essential steps of decision making and implemented them accordingly. We learnt from the mistakes done by us in the initial phase of the decision-making process. This personal reflection would broaden the understanding of the process of decision making. References Harstad, R. M., Selten, R. (2013). Bounded-rationality models: tasks to become intellectually competitive.Journal of Economic Literature,51(2), 496-511. Harvey, N., Holmes, C. A. (2012). 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