Decision Making

Question

Informed decision-making is an important aspect for working in the government.  According to Milakovich and Gordon, provide some examples of how information technology can be used to assist bureaucrats in decision-making?

Sample paper

Decision Making

To effectively and efficiently run a business, the management of an organization or individual investor needs to have good decision-making skills to ensure that they make informed decisions that lead to the achievement of the objective outcome.  Decision making can be depicted as the subjective procedure prompting a determination of a conviction or a game-plan among the few options before an individual.  Despite the many alternatives that an individual might have, decision-making process must result in the final choice that is best for an individual or an organization. The quality and depth of the skills and knowledge possessed by decision makers largely influence the effectiveness of the policies, rules, and regulations made a company and an organization (Kaner, 2014).  This assignment will attempt to establish how technology influences bureaucrats in decision-making.

According to Milakovich and Gordon, competitive political forces constantly push leaders and other elected representatives to emphasize on the immediate political issue rather than finding a long lasting professional and administrative value to solve the issue.  Decision-making processes such as professional and administrative decisions involve forms which are impacted by innovation (Milakovich and Gordon, 2013). Data innovation furnishes administrators with the decision supportive network and man-made brain-power frameworks. These technological processes assist individuals in gathering and storing information and data through the online analytical procedures to assist decision making responsibilities that may demand substantial effort and evaluation.  According to the authors, former united states president, George Bush significantly used technology to gather information and data from past failures of the past administration to enhance his win as the public trust in the government was low (Milakovich & Gordon, 2013). The utilization of performance data regarding the use and allocation of resources and increased productivity to make budgetary and programming decisions became the secret weapon that Bush used to lure people to vote him for president.

Another major role of technology in decision-making processes is giving an opportunity for individuals to make quick decisions by providing a platform to slice and dice their way through large amounts of data and information. The information technology is known to give people, particularly decision makers with the data processing capabilities that are far much beyond human capabilities (Nooraie, 2008).  Data warehousing offers an opportunity for Democrats and other decision makers to computerize decision-making processes, making it for them to arrive at a final decision with ease and fast.  According to Milakovich and Gordon, through technology, President Bush with the help of his advisors was able to create presidents Management Agenda (PMA) to instill public confidence in people once more.  The PMA is the Bush administration’s effort to enhance the management of federal agencies as these agencies were required to show how public programs and projects can attain objectives and goals more efficiently and effectively than other methods (Milakovich & Gordon, 2013). Furthermore, decision-makers can use information technology group decision-making to facilitate the formulation of and solution to problems by a team. Support group decision-making integrates groupware, DSS capabilities, and telecommunications create a solution to a problem. Notably, through support group decision-making, the Bush administration was able to develop technology, innovation, and government reform working group to create a more open and effective government, leverage technology to grow the economy and create jobs (Nooraie, 2008).

From the above-detailed discussion, it is easy to point out the importance of technology in the decision-making process.  Notably, the technology brings speed and capabilities that are way beyond human capabilities. Additionally, bureaucrats can use technology to effectively and efficiently allocate resources and improve their performance.

References

Kaner, S. (2014). Facilitator’s guide to participatory decision-making. San Francisco (Cal.: John Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass.

Milakovich, M. E., & Gordon, G. J. (2013). Public administration in America.

Nooraie, M. (2008). Decision magnitude of impact and strategic decision‐making process output. Management Decision, 46(4), 640-655. doi:10.1108/00251740810865102

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