Stakeholders Involved in Decision Making

• Mitchelle Malijan

In every policy making process, the elements involved, and the most engaged people are those who are on the higher ranks of the organisational chart, such as the board of directors, managers, and supervisors. The reason for this is because another key factor in the approval of any policies is the monetary fund or budget needed to execute such plan of action. In line with this, the budget is usually handled and managed by those who are in the higher division of any organisation, thus giving them the power and influence over the whole system. However, it is always ideal to involve all the participating individuals, such as the staffs and consumers as well in the making of any policy. This is because the employees are the ones who are in direct connection to the problems that are identified which will be the foundation of the policy making procedure. Overall, the staffs doing most of the jobs are the ones greatly affected by any problems recognised that is why it is really important for these group of people to be part of the decision making process in creating any policies.

Workplace

Any work place may be run by a variety of leaders with different and diverse management styles. It depends on the type of company that they handle. However, the important thing in making decisions in the work place is the welfare of the staffs and employees. It is because these people are the ones who are in direct involvement to any work related issues in the company, even though the decisions are done by those who are in the higher rank in the office, like the directors, CEO’s and the like.

Due to this scenario, an applicable decision making model for this particular area may be the Contingency Theory. Contingency theory states that a leader must have a good relationship with his members. It also expresses that no particular or specific style will be perfect and always suitable for every organisation. These factors; Leader-member relationship, his power and authority over the people, will make up for the favourability of any situation.[1] At the end of the day, the decision to be done by the manager or leader will still depend whether his subordinates or staff will agree on it.

Government

The government is a group of leaders who are having influence or power over a particular assembly of people or community. This entails the idea that a leader must possess a quality of a good commander who is firm, strong, and determined; but still must be able to communicate and listen well to his people who are under his authority. That is why a decision making model which may be applicable for this area is the Political Bargaining Model.

The Political Bargaining Model states that every decision making process that is influenced by certain factors, like what the people or participants bargain, want and need in a particular scenario or environment. This model can be used in the government setting as the government, even though run by leaders, is still created by the people since they are the ones being managed and they are the ones who voted for those leaders to be in their position. So in the end, what matters most is the people’s consensus and decision. To make this simple, the leaders must serve these people who put them to the place where they are now. This is relevant though in a democratic government. Since the leaders in the government have the job and responsibility to maintain and safeguard the welfare of their subordinates, they must be able to do what is best for them, and be flexible as much as possible to attend to their necessities and wants. In this system, collaboration and give and take actions between the members and the leaders are evident.

Professional Organisations

A professional organisation is defined as any group of individuals who are working in the same line of business or occupation.[2] This organisation, commonly not profit generating, aims to promote, enhance, and develop the existing performance or scope of practice of the profession that it is involved with. It also targets to protect and safe guard the welfare, safety, and interest of its members and stakeholders.[3] Examples of these groups are organisations like the Nursing Council of New Zealand, Chartered Professional Engineers Council, and the like.

In making decisions for the professional organisational setting, the organisational process model may be applicable. This is because the policy created by these bodies lies on the existing rules that each profession possesses. In addition to this idea, it is mentioned that a professional organisation, as the definition states, aims to improve and develop the scope of practice of the occupation it covers. Hence, the organisational process model of decision making is a suitable pattern and framework for this area of politics and policy that a health care professional may be immersed with.

An example for this can be the case of creating a policy to manage the working hours and shifts of nurses in hospitals and health care facilities. This proposal will rely on the existing fact of the working hours and schedules that a nurse have; say for instance 40 hours per week and shifting from night to day duties. To reduce the risk for health hazards, stress, and fatigue for employees, some changes or adjustments will be recommended for this. Like giving allowance of around 9 hours for those nurses who will be shifting duties from night to day, or vice versa. In this recommendation, nurses will still be working on different shifts, as per required in their profession, and also still get the same working hours required.

Community

A community is a small or large unit in the society that is composed of group of people who are sharing the same interests, pursuits, and goals in life. Any decisions that are to be done with regard to this circle must be beneficial for the majority and their interest. Decisions must also be done in line with the current trends, situations, and circumstances. So, for this area, a suitable decision making pattern may be the Garbage Can Model.

The Garbage Can Model is defined as the opposite of the rational decision making model, thus, leading it to the thought that it may be disorganised and confusing as opposed to the other one. But, if looking deep into its meaning and context, the Garbage can model can be a sensible tool to solve issues in the community because it uses the four elements: people or members, issues, the solutions, and the choices. By studying those four factors, decisions are being formulated in a practical way and less time consuming because the only needed things are taken into consideration. This scenario can be compared in an emergency situation in an emergency department in the hospital. The decisions to be done by the health care professionals such as the doctors and nurses will be solely based on the client’s condition and diagnosis (represents people and issues), the possible interventions that can be done to alleviate the pain or cure the ailment (solutions), and the choices (equipment and medications available). This way, resources are maximised and only the essential factors are considered. This is the reason why this model is suitable for the community setting since in this area, various issues may arise because of the number of people involved in this association, so a decision maker must be able to focus on one problem at a time, and lay down only the needed solution choices for such to avoid confusion and time wastage.

References:

Shpak, S. (2014). The Contingency Theory of Decision Making. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/contingency-theory-decision-making-44645.html

Reference for Business. (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Per-Pro/Professional-and-Trade-Organizations.html

Wikipedia: Professional Organisation. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_association

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