Reflective Case Study for Influence Decision Making- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theReflective Case Study for Influence Decision Making. Answer: Introduction One of the most basic processes of any Company is decision making. Decision making is highly crucial since undesirable conditions may arise due to wrong decisions are taken by a Company. Positive results can be expected if decisions are carefully taken and vice versa. Hence a Company should take decision after considering the consequences of the relation. A good number of factors need to be considered while taking a particular decision. In this reflective case study, the process and outcome of decision making of an organization have been analyzed and described from personal experience. This report consists of 4 major parts, namely, case description, method of taking the decision, evolution of the decision taken and finally, the conclusion. Description of the Case The case is associated with Model School. Two years ago, with 12 students, the mentioned school started the BTEC course. The students who enrolled for the mentioned code were below average. In spite of the fact that they used to attend the school daily, they were unable to perform well and follow the instructions given by the teacher due to lack of obedience. The students stated that they found the assignments too tough to complete and hence they lost interest to complete the given assignments. Along with the BTEC module which, by itself is equivalent to three subjects, the BTEC students had English, Dhivehi, Mathematics and Islam as their four compulsory subjects. The teachers of BTEC course complained that even after frequent meetings with the parents of the students the reluctant nature of the students did not change. The reluctant behavior of the students along with their inappropriate behavior and disobedience was affecting the environment of the school since they were often found to be wandering around the school premises during the session time. This had become a subject of huge concern for the teachers and principal of the school since it was imposing a highly negative impact on the school as well as on the teachers. According to the policy of the mentioned school, if any student is not found to achieve satisfactory grade bellow tenth grade, he or she should get enrolled in Dhasvaaru. The rule of Dhasvaaru is that students, who have been enrolled in it, have to leave all stream subjects and have to study the four compulsory subjects only. In addition to that, they have to attain the vocational site chosen by the school where training is provided on the basis of their curiosity, interest and talent. The students have to attend the vocational site thrice a week and the remaining two days are for attending the school. Considering the fact that the above mentioned students were unable to achieve satisfactory grade before tenth, the school decided to enroll them for Dhasvaaru. The decision was taken by a team that includes the school Principle, PTA Vice president, leading teachers and BTEC teachers of the school. However, when it came to the knowledge of the students and their parents, they strongly o pposed the decision of the school and became outrageous. According to them, the school had not informed about the policy of Dhasvaaru to the parents of the students earlier. The parents stated that, if they were warned priory by the school, they would have taken the matter more seriously. Finally, they warned the principle by stating that they would approach the Educational Ministry if the school executes their decision of enrolling the students to Dhasvaaru. However, surprisingly, the attitude of the students changed drastically after the meeting. The students started performing better and achieved better marks in all the compulsory subjects compared to their previous grades. Along with that, there was surprising improvement in the behavior of the students. Teachers who priory faced difficulties while managing the class reported that they were able to take the class comfortably over the last two months after the last parent-teacher meeting was conducted. Thus the decision taken by the management of the school was highly appreciated by the teachers since it seemed that it has solved the issue. Discussion After analyzing the case study, I found that there were several reasons behind the decision taken by the management of the above mentioned school. Firstly, the students were not following the instructions provided by the teachers and were showing disobedience. Besides that,, the behavior of the students towards the teacher was not disruptive. Even during the session, they were found to be roaming in the school premises. In spite of several efforts of improving the situation, the student had shown no significant changes. In the fifth week of the same academic year, before the decision of enrolling the students to Dhasveera was taken, the principle organized a meeting with the meeting with the management and teachers to find out why the students were not able to complete the tasks maintain the discipline of the school and perform well in the school. A prolonged discussion was conducted and it was found that the students did not possess the ability to perform the given assignment and as a result, they avoid the given tasks and preferred to sit idle instead. Thus the chief issue was identified by the management and then the teachers elaborated how the students disobey and misbehave with them during the session. According to the administrative and classical models, before taking any decision, the first step should be identification of the issue. The decision making management of the school followed the above mentioned model and firstly identified and diagnosed the issue. According to researchers, decisio n making helps an individual to find out the ways of solving the problem and make necessary improvements. In order to understand the effective process of tackling the issue, proper diagnosis and analysis of the issue should be performed. After finding out the reason behind the issue, the goals of the education ministry was shared by the principal to the students who were performing OLevel that year. The circulation from the Educational Ministry states that, in order to pass the OLevel, students should at least pass three subjects. According to the circular, at least 80 percent students of all the schools of Maldives should pass in five and more subjects. According to Hoy and Miskel, (2011), Goals are the desired ends that organizational behavior. According to them, goals are important since they play a major role in decision making, task specification, influencing the formal structure , designing the decision an guiding the allocation o the resources. Apart from that, the principle stated the expectation of the school from the above mentioned students. This, in turn, enabled the teachers to come out with the choices which the student should be provided with. Considering the fact that the students have to meet the goa l within a very limited amount of time, two chief ideas stated below were considered effective. The students would be given extra help by a group of teachers so that they could complete all the given assignments in a limited period of time. Considering the fact that the students have not received satisfactory marks, they should be sent to the Dhasvaaru program. One of the most crucial parts of decision making is that it evolves choices. The process of decision making involves an effective choice of an option from a series of options, keeping in mind the situation, strategies and criteria. According to Kinick and Williams, (2008), decision making is a process of effectively identifying a course of option from a series of available options. Among the two options, the principle selected the second one. The chief reason behind selecting the second option was lack of time. The students did not have enough time to complete all the assignments since they had to sit for the exam that year. Hence the management thought that it will be beneficial for the students if they were enrolled in the Dhasvaaru program. According to Vroom and Yetton, (1973), this type of decision making is an example of informed-autocratic decision making style. In the autocratic decision making style, the decision is taken by the leader unilaterally, after necessary information is obtained from the subordinates. Following this model, the decision taken in this scenario was by the principal who can be considered as the leader and discussion was held prior to the decision making and alternatives are also there to choose from. Although the principal was aware of the fact that the parents would create issues when they would come to know about his decision, the principal finalized the decision kipping in mind the long term benefit and the performance of the students in the past. According to Hoy and Miskel, (2008), decision making should be always based on facts and discipline instead of emotional factors. From the decision taken, we can clearly understand that the above mentioned school is based on the social system. The social system is considered to be goal oriented. Although control and learning are considered to be the two major goals during the student life, the chief goal of a school is to prepare each and every student for adult life. The students will be able to learn real life task in the Dhasvaara program. This, in turn, will enable the students to get prepared for the upcoming life and thus the chief goal of the school as well as the Ministry will be served. Since the decision was not taken only by the principle but by the management which includes the BTEC and leading teachers and the vice president of the school, the quality of the decision got enhanced (Hoy and Miskel, 2008). According to Kimpkoech and Chesire, (2011), teachers participation in decision making is necessary to enhance the quality and achieve goals of an academic institution. Decision making through democratic setup is highly beneficial because of the five advantages namely, different perspective, a greater pool of knowledge, better reasoning and understanding of the decision and finally enhanced commitment to the decision (Kinick and Williams, 2008, p. 240). From the decision taken by the principle, we can understand that the principal had used his cognitive skills that is, his expertise and knowledge while taking the decision. Cognition can be defined as a persons ability to use his mental skills in order to understand the job in terms of knowledge, perception and behavior. Cognitive skill of the principle is the result of his expertise and experience. Since the principal is running the school for a prolonged time of 12 years, the principle can be considered as highly experienced. It has been found that the students of Model School, who had been sent to Dhasvaaru have done really well in OLevel. For instance, out of 11 students who have been sent to Dashvarru by the principle in 2016, 9 students have passed in all the 4 subjects along with the Dhasvaaru Modules. Hence it can be said that the decision in principle can be trusted. The researcher has found that several numbers of cognitive bias influence the decision making. Sometimes, decision maker tends to rely more on their past experiences and expected outcomes rather than current observations and information (Dietrich, 2010). Being one of the best schools in Addu City, it was really crucial for the principle of Model School, to retain the reputation of the school. If the students were allowed to give the BTEC exam in spite of their terrible educational condition, a higher probability is there that they would fail in the exam. This will impose a highly negative impact on the reputation of the school. On the other hand, sending the student to Dhasvaaru would not only ensure a better result but would also enhance the probability of betterment of their performance in the real life. Thus, this situation can be defined as an example of social system where the society impose a great impact on the decision making (Majid et al., 2010). Considering the fact that the above mentioned school a well as the Ministry are trying to enhance the number of students who will pass in the entire five subjects by 80 percent, the decision of the principal to enroll the students to Dhasvaaru can be considered as a big step towards the goal of the school and the Ministry. Evaluation The principal of a school is considered as the administrator who has the sole responsibility for the operations of the school. According to Majid et al. (2010), one of the most crucial duties of the principle includes supervision of the education of the students. Other responsibilities of the principle include answering the higher officers and state education directors from the Ministry of education and maintaining good relationships with the parents of the students as well as the teachers. From the decision taken by the principal, we can understand that the principle of model school had followed all the duties during the decision making process. The fact that the principle efficiently looks after the educational performance of the students can be clearly understood since the decision was taken due to the low performance of the students. The decision was taken also shows that the principal has tried to maintain the reputation of Model school as well as attain the goal of the Ministry of education. Along with that, we can see that the principle alone had not taken the decision. He had taken the suggestion of the leading and BTEC teachers along with the PTA Vice president before finalizing the decision. This shows the effort of the principal to maintain a good relationship with the teachers. There are two types of decision making processes, namely classical and administrative decision making process (Kinicki and Williams, 2008). Classical decision making process includes problem identification, the establishment of objectives, generation of possible alternatives, consideration of the consequences of the alternatives, evaluation of the alternatives on the basis of objectives, selecting the best option and finally implementing the decision. It can be understood that the decision was taken following the classical decision making process. However, during the selection of the best option among the alternatives, administrative decision making process was used. Majid et al., (2010) stated that often in an organization, a group of people tries to use the power to attain personal benefits or goal. In this case, the principal, being the chief administration had the power to take the decision all by him. In spite of that, he incorporated all the necessary member who will be influenced by the decision, directly or indirectly. Thus the transparency of the decision making method the principal can be understood. The goal set by the principal is to enhance the number of students who will pass in all the 5 compulsory subjects in the O level by 80 percent in the current year. Besides that, the above mentioned students were sent to the Dashvaaru in order to enhance their education skill that would gradually bring success in the future. Thus we can understand that the school follows the social system in order to achieve goals that include effective enhancement of the knowledge of the student so that they can deal with the future challenges (Hoy and Miskel, 2008). . The principle used his cognitive skills to take an effective decision. He understood that the students would be unable to pass the BTEC examination and it would be better for them to gather knowledge from Dhasvaaru. This will help them to gain competitive advantages n future. Along with classical model of decision making, the principal had taken the help of shared and participatory decision making process. According to Tibebu, (2011), the act of participatory decision making include sharing decisions with other individuals to achieve the goal. The principal took the decision to achieve the goal of the school as well as of the Ministry of education. The administrative model of decision making could also be used in order to deal with the issue. Hoy and Miskel, (2008), stated that since the capacity of the human mind is limited, it is practically impossible to implement an optimizing strategy, that is, classical model in order to solve complex organizational issues. An administrative model is satisfactory in such cases since it provides a more accurate way of decision making. The steps of administrative model are as follows: Recognition of the issue Analysis of the difficulties Establishment of criteria for satisfactory results Development of strategies to execute Developing an effective plan of action after evaluation of the outcomes (Hoy and Miskel,2008) From the above discussion it can be stated that the although initially, the parents of the mentioned student were not accepting the decision of the principal, the positive result within two months of the decision making process proved that the decision taken by the principle was efficient and has long term benefits. All the leading and BTEC teachers are now looking forward to evidence a commendable success of the students and the school as well as the Ministry is expected to approach its goal designed for the OLevel the current year. Conclusion It can be concluded from the above discussion that the principal has chiefly incorporated the classical model of decision making in the given case study. After analyzing the options available to solve the issue faced by the school, the principal and his management team had chosen the most optimized option and developed strategies on the basis of the option chosen. The option was chosen to keep in mind the ultimate goal of the school as well as the Ministry of education. Finally, from the positive outcome of the decision, it was proved that the decision taken was highly effective. While the classical model was used to take the decision, the administrative model of decision making could also be used by the school in order to obtain a satisfactory result. It can be clearly understood that models of decision making should be chosen to keep accordance with the complexity of the issues. Finally, it can be said that being a crucial aspect of academic institutions, decision making should be considered carefully. Reference List: Dietrich, C. (2010). 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