The efficiency of management depends on the variety of aspects, and one of them is the decision-making. The ability to make successful decisions is the crucial skill of every manager because the right decisions are beneficial. On the contrary, the wrong decision can provoke lamentable consequences and significantly harm business processes. The negative impacts of the poorly executed decision-making policies depict that managerial decision-making plays an important role in the company’s success.
It is commonly accepted that the decision-making process includes the definition of the problem, the consideration of the decision criteria and their evaluation, and the selection of the most appropriate decision from the variety of alternatives. Managers from the different countries approach to these steps of making decisions differently. The businesses in the different countries have a lot of distinct features in the way of conduction and the orientations. Thus, it is fair to say that decision-making policies depend on the cultural environment.
The processes of decision-making can be assessed by their rationality. The rational and multilateral approach is essential in this issue. Ultimately, the decisions must support the problem’s solution and come to the results that could be profitable and beneficial for the company. For reaching the desirable and positive outcomes, the manager, first of all, needs to discover the problems that currently exist. It is important to detect the very core of the problem to find the best solution for it.
Once the problem is detected, a manager can set himself or herself to the measuring of the problem and evaluation of the best ways to resolve it. Managers usually assess all the potential solutions according to their organizational preferences that include the cultural aspect as well. It is important to take into account all the possible alternatives, the decision shouldn’t be one-sided – the multitude of aspects should be involved in the decision-making procedures.
Assessments and evaluations are the crucial steps of the decision-making strategies. Evaluations must be rational and judicial. Nevertheless, the rationalization is often limited due to the human and cultural factors. Very often people base their actions and thoughts on the preconceptions and prejudices. They can be either of the personal or the general and cultural character. These preconceptions usually shift the motivations, and it certainly can affect the efficiency of the decision-making in business.
It is well known that different nations have different values. The differences in values are bound to become reflected in the business strategies and orientations as well. Thus, the decisions made by the managers in the Western countries will be distinct from those made by the Asian decision-makers. For example, it can be observed that the western managers prefer to implement a more logical and analytical approach while in the East they often act intuitively.
Nevertheless, the decision-making issue is very complex in nature. There is no generalized recipe for the success. It is very subjective and dependent both on the national and the internal corporate cultures. But it is a proved fact that the decision’s success is hinged to vigilance. It means that no aspect of the problem and no potential solution should be avoided or ignored.
Within the international companies, the managers face the issues of the employees’ cultural diversity. The cultural diversity implies the numerous differences in opinions, views, and expectations. All the cultural differences should be taken into account by managers while making decisions, especially in the rewards distribution and the selection of the workers.
Although these issues are often solved by the corporative norms and regulations, the ignorance of the internationality of the workforce can become the strategic mistake and can invoke the employees’ job dissatisfaction. Thus, it is highly recommended for the managers of the international companies to consider the corporate culture as well as the differences in the national cultures of their employees.
The employees’ cultural diversity also raises the questions of the ethical character. Ethical and moral principles must be involved in the organizational culture and must affect the company’s policies, business strategies, and decisions. When the corporate culture supports gender and race equality, it helps to build healthy and solid relations within the team.
Nevertheless, the morality is also culturally dependent. For example, in the individualistic countries, such as the USA, managers keep up to the aspect of the human equality, and thus they are more ethical in their corporative policies.
At the same time, in the Eastern countries with the political regimes that are based on the strong ideologies, the ethical decisions are made less. However, founded on the mutual respect, the ethical decision-making provokes the progress of the company and has a positive impact on the society in whole.
References
Thomas, D., & Peterson, M. (2015). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Los Angeles, LA: SAGE Publications.