Search results

The purpose of the research is to develop a universal mechanism of highly effective decision-making in modern business systems in any business environment.

The methods of logical analysis, modeling of managerial processes, and formalization are used.

A universal mechanism of highly effective decision-making in modern business systems is developed – it could be applied in any business environment and any business system. The mechanism is based on the interactive algorithm of decision-making in modern business systems that allows adapting the process of decision-making to the current situation in the business system and the business environment in view of the changing complexity of problems and criteria of optimality of managerial decisions. The tools of implementing the mechanism are outsource, mediation, and intellectual support for managerial decisions. These tools are used as an addition to traditional tools – organizational structure, organizational culture, and leadership. The result of implementing the developed mechanism is high probability of making of optimal managerial decisions and supporting sustainability and stability of the business system.

The developed mechanism of highly effective decision-making in modern business systems allows selecting the best model of decision-making depending on current needs and possibilities of the business system instead of following one selected model in all situations. That is, the key advantage of this mechanism is its interactive character, which ensures high flexibility of the process of making of managerial decisions together with sustainability of the business system.

Purpose: The purpose of the work is to study the characteristics of leadership and to determine its value in the process of decision making in modern business systems, as well as to determine the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of this process through changing the characteristics of leadership.

Methodology: Target study of the influence of leadership on the process of decision making in modern business systems on the basis of the methodology of the systemic approach is performed, and two additional characteristics of leadership are determined, apart from management style, in the aspect of making of managerial decisions: contradiction of leaders in business system and authority of a formal leader (business manager) in business system and his competence as to involvement of employees into the process of making of managerial decisions, which includes capabilities. Depending on combination of these characteristics, classification of leadership in modern business systems as to criterion of decision making is offered.

Conclusions: It is substantiated that the most preferable type of leadership in a modern business system as to criterion of decision making is highly effective involvement of employees in the process of making of managerial decisions. Capabilities of increasing the effectiveness of the process of making of managerial decisions in a modern system through changing the characteristics of leadership are connected to transition to this type of leadership through overcoming the contradiction of leaders in a business system and increase of competence of the formal leader (business manager) in a business system as to involvement of employees in the process of making of managerial decisions through his training.

Originality/value: It is substantiated that leadership in business system determines only certain characteristics of the process of making of managerial decisions, and no type of leadership can guarantee optimal decisions. With highly effective involvement of employees in the process of making of managerial decisions, the probability of optimal decisions is the highest, so this type of leadership is the most perspective for modern business systems.

The purpose of the chapter is to develop a framework strategy of highly efficient decision-making in modern business systems, which defines subjects, conditions, limitations, and resources that are necessary for successful practical implementation of the mechanism of highly efficient decision-making in modern business systems.

The set goal is achieved with the help of the methods of strategic modeling of dynamic economic systems and the method formalization.

A framework strategy of highly efficient decision-making in modern business systems is developed. The presented strategy has the following advantages as compared to the existing strategies, based on regional models of this process: flexibility of subjects of making of managerial decisions, presence of limitations, consideration of the time factor during organization of the process of making of managerial decisions, and mandatory connection to current conditions in which the business system functions.

The developed strategy showed importance and necessity for increasing the flexibility of management of modern business systems for supporting their competitiveness, sustainability, and high effectiveness in the changing business environment. In view of the fact that the presented strategy is oriented at high volatility of the conditions of the business system, it should be applied in practice at the downward phase of the economic cycle – that is, in the period of economic crisis and post-crisis restoration of economy.

The paper aims to explore the life and contributions of one of the most influential management scholars (Herbert A. Simon), who is known as the founder and contributor to many scientific fields. Simon's interdisciplinary approach in conducting his research in management has made him a significant figure in many disciplines.

The paper is of a qualitative nature, and information is collected from the books and articles that are written by Simon as well as those who have been familiar with his work. This paper concentrates on Simon's contribution to the decision‐making theory and, more specifically, his insights into the process of decision making in real world situations. It explores the tenets of the classical and neoclassical approach to decision making and argues that because of Simon's work, attention was diverted from concentration on studying the organizational structure to the behavior of the decision makers during the process of making decisions. This new orientation brought more attention to the behavioral approach in studying decision making in organizations. Special attention is given to Simon's “bounded rationality” model and its relation to the process of decision making. This paper also deals with Simon's view on the role of intuition in decision making and explores the practicality of using his model in the real world.

Simon opened up a new world of scientific inquiry that its main focus is on the development of the most effective and realistic model for the decision makers to predict future outcomes.

The paper only concentrates on the core contribution of Herbert Simon's work on the decision‐making process. It does not indulge itself in Simon's related work in other disciplines such as computer science and artificial intelligence. In addition, this paper does not deal with the new developments in the theories of decision making. Future research could concentrate on the new discoveries concerning the ability of humans to construct thinking machines in order to improve productivity in organizations.

The paper examines the productive life of Herbert Simon and develops a realistic portrait of his core contributions to humanity (decision making). It involves the reader with the intricacies of the decision making process as it is examined and studied by Simon.

The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of organizational culture, adaptation, political environment and leadership for expatriate managers working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Expatriate leaders on overseas assignment often attempt to transfer their home organization culture to their new location. The subsequent cultural clash can have a destructive impact on both the leader and the organization.

Expatriate leaders’ experiences in the UAE were collected through interviews, with a specific focus on cultural adaptation and most effective leadership styles for implementing strategic organizational change.

Our research revealed that a consultative style was found to be most effective by expatriate leaders in the UAE. Communication with local staff, team building, motivating staff and involving staff in decision-making were highly effective approaches in assisting expatriate leaders to succeed within their organizational cultures. Several strategies have been identified based on the experiences of the expatriate leaders interviewed in our study.

The findings offer practical advice for organizational leaders anticipating an assignment in the UAE and human resource management practitioners preparing expatriate leaders for their duties there. The authors also provide suggestions for expatriate leaders to enhance their adjustment to the organizational and political culture.

Numerous studies have been done on organizational cultural adaptation; however, comparatively little research has been offered on practical organizational adaptation and leadership specific to the UAE.

Explains the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches that are now being used in today’s society for group decision making. Groups are everywhere in our society, and learning more about them and how to work better in them can enhance the quality of each person’s life. Explains in detail five of the most widely used techniques: brainstorming, brainwriting, buzz sessions, quality circles, and nominal group technique. Points out the advantages and disadvantages of each approach with a view to reducing failures in implementing techniques as a result of lack of knowledge. The article will be useful for anyone involved in groups, e.g. managers or people wishing to improve their skills.

In order to assess the current usage of succession management programs in Australian‐based organizations, and gain information on the characteristics and perceived effectiveness of such programs, a national research study was undertaken. A total of 711 human resource management professionals from a range of organizations across the country answered the questionnaire, a response rate of 59 percent. Succession management programs were present in less than half of the respondent's organizations. Furthermore, these programs were generally less than five years old. The prime imperatives for introducing succession management programs were reported as the desire to improve business results, and the need for new skill requirements in the business. A relationship between organization size, industry and type and the likelihood to use succession management was found. Common perceptions concerning the characteristics of effective succession management programs were also identified and are described in the paper. In brief, these are: high level involvement by the chief executive officer; senior management support; line management involvement in identifying candidates; developmental assignments as part of the process; and succession management linked to business strategies.

This chapter elaborates on the usefulness of embracing complexity theory, modeling outcomes rather than directionality, and modeling complex rather than simple outcomes in strategic management. Complexity theory includes the tenet that most antecedent conditions are neither sufficient nor necessary for the occurrence of a specific outcome. Identifying a firm by individual antecedents (i.e., noninnovative vs. highly innovative, small vs. large size in sales or number of employees, or serving local vs. international markets) provides shallow information in modeling specific outcomes (e.g., high sales growth or high profitability) – even if directional analyses (e.g., regression analysis, including structural equation modeling) indicate that the independent (main) effects of the individual antecedents relate to outcomes directionally – because firm (case) anomalies almost always occur to main effects. Examples: a number of highly innovative firms have low sales while others have high sales and a number of noninnovative firms have low sales while others have high sales. Breaking-away from the current dominant logic of directionality testing – null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) – to embrace somewhat precise outcome testing (SPOT) is necessary for extracting highly useful information about the causes of anomalies – associations opposite to expected and “statistically significant” main effects. The study of anomalies extends to identifying the occurrences of four-corner strategy outcomes: firms doing well in favorable circumstances, firms doing badly in favorable circumstances, firms doing well in unfavorable circumstances, and firms doing badly in unfavorable circumstances. Models of four-corner strategy outcomes advance strategic management beyond the current dominant logic of directional modeling of single outcomes.