DECISION MAKING AS A BUSINESS OWNER

David Konkel

A little about my business

■ As a 24 year old, there are a lot of thoughts that run through my head. One of the bigger thoughts is what I would want to do with my life. Early on I figured out that I would be somewhat unhappy working for someone else, and then decided that I wanted to be my own boss

■ Early on in life I did a lot of landscaping for my dad. Although he considered it chores, I looked at it as an art. Getting compliments on how the yard looks made me happy whenever someone came over. From then on I knew I had always wanted my own landscaping business.

■ From weed whipping, to pouring mulch, I am using the example of having a landscaping business for the rest of this presentation.

Overall concept

■ "In any moment of decision, the best you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing." - President Teddy Roosevelt

■ Decision making is an important process in life in general, whether it comes to school, work, bills, relationships, health, etc.

■ As a future business owner, I want to make the best decisions possible for my employees, myself and my clients.

■ That is why decision making plays a major role in a successful business

What goes into the decision?

■ There a lot of things that go into a decision, factors may include money, employees, or how the effect of the change will affect others around you. But there are 5 things that are used in order to help with that decision.

■ 1) Formulation or identifying the problem– It all starts with figuring out the issue at hand. For my business, I

would like to do landscapingWhat could possibly be the problem in a landscaping business?

What goes into the decision (Cont.)■ Every business has decisions to make, but for this example, the issue I

am going to use, is taking care of an obscure yard, something that isn’t at all easy to maneuver around.

■ So I talk to this client who wants their yard done for their kids graduation party. I arrive and see that this isn’t a normal square yard. It’s a few acres, a lot of round turns, and things that need to be trimmed before I actually cut their lawn. At this point, I have formulated my problem.

■ 2)/3) Concept development or analyze the possible solution/ detailing– Printing out a layout of the yard, and then sitting down with my

employees to decide what would be the best possible way to take care of this yard

What goes into the decision (Cont.)■ What possible solutions are there?

– We could just cut the grass, and then trim everything and pick it up

– Cut and weed whip and leave the things that needed to be trimmed because it isn’t essential

– Just get the job done fast so we make the money– Or trim first, weed whip, cut the grass, and then remove what is

left. 4) EvaluationAt this point we look at the plans we come up with and look at everything that comes into play.

What goes into the decision (Cont.)■ If we go with option 1, it takes more time, but the job gets done, it

looks well and the client is happy. ■ Option 2 - we get the job done, get paid, but it doesn’t look as good

as it could and it’s a potential lost of that client■ Option 3 – getting the job done quick, even if it isn’t up to par, just to

get paid and leave■ Option 4- trim first, cut, weed whip and then pick up■ When it comes to evaluating, we want to do the best for everyone.

Sometimes that isn’t an option, but in this case, it is.

What goes into the decision (Cont.)■ We go ahead and look at the yard, and we decide that the best way to

do this, would be to trim everything that needed to be trimmed first, that way it falls to the ground and we don’t have to worry about picking it up after we cut the grass. Then we weed whip around the circle edges, and the cut the grass from there. Coming up with a plan shows that we had analyzed the issue.

■ This is an example of implementation or making the decision. We found what works best for the client and for us, and this makes both parties happy in the end.

Making the decision

■ You can go ahead and review and review and review the decisions possible, but one of the harder things its going ahead with that decision. In my example, it was easy to make the decision because there was a good outcome for both parties, but it isn’t always going to be that way.

Relation

■ This relates to something else in the chapter as well, the major decision paths.

■ There are three paths that each business use when it comes to their decision making. The first one is:

■ 1)Unitary sequence path – Which is when the group gets together which is brought together

by tradition, problem analysis, solution and reinforcement.

Relation (Cont.)

■ 2) The complex cycle path, which is when group interaction consisted of multiple problem solution cycle.

■ 3) Solution oriented path, which is group interaction involved no activity related to problem definition or analysis.

■ Why is this important?

The importance of relation between the cycle paths and decision making■ As a future business leader, it is important to remember that the

culture is not only important, but keeping your employees happy as well.

■ Using these paths is like a way to make the decision – you use them because you has a work force have a common goal and that is to get the job done.

■ “When faced with choices or options, you need to choose the one that will most quickly achieve it. Know your strengths and weaknesses to stay out of trouble."

Making those choice

■ When you do make those choices, or go ahead to lean towards a certain choice, there are a few things to keep in mind before making that choice. – Your employees and their happiness– The outcome of your choice– The client it could be affecting– Yourself and how it effects your sales– Job satisfaction

Making those choices (Cont.)

■ There are other things that you need to keep in mind when making those decisions – Job involvement, how that will effect the job of your employees– Their understanding of decisions – in the end you have to make

the decision that’s best for the company, so your employees need to understand why you made that choice

– Productivity – if for some reason your employees don’t agree with your decision, the productivity in the company may be down

– Decision effectiveness – will the decision hurt you in the long run?

Reviewing the decision

■ Any decision is better than no decision, because making no decision means you are not taking on the problem ahead, and leaving it to become worse.

■ At this point you have to ask, did this hurt my business or move it forward?– If it moves forward and you lose an employee in the process that

is okay, sometimes in life you can’t please everyone– If it hurts your business, you then have to get your crew together

and come up with yet another solution to fix the issue

Conclusion

■ After reading, and doing research, I learned a lot and will go ahead and apply these things to my future business.

■ I always want to talk to my employees before I make a major decision, it isn’t just my life, it is theirs also, they should have an input

■ I always want to remember the consequences of my decision as well. If I feel like it is going to hurt more than it fixes, than I have to choose another route

Conclusion (Cont.)

■ I also want to take into consideration the client, because they are just important

■ Going to my earlier example of my landscaping scenario, I went about it in a way all parties benefit. Although not all scenarios will be end up like that, usually someone else suffers, whether its small or large

■ Some companies may have bigger decisions as well, for example I also wanted to start a restaurant, and a big part of that is a liquor license, so I would have to think about what could happen if I go about that

Conclusion (Cont.)

■ With a liquor license, it is very expensive so you are more than likely going to have to take out a loan, but what happens if the restaurant isn’t successful? I am then down hundreds of thousands of dollars.

■ Just like anything else, it all depends on the scenario, the company and the people involved, because it won’t always go as smooth as my example

Works Cited

■ Martin, Marci. "How to Make Effective Businessd Decisions." Business News Daily Contributer. N.p., 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.

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