How management make the key decisions for any business

Managers are often the highest-paid employees of a business because they carry an enormous degree of responsibility. Some decisions in a business,such as which markets to target or whether branches should be opened or closed, can only be made from the informed perspective of management, while requiring the skill levels that can only be acquired through many years working in business.

Strategy – the ultimate responsibility of management

It takes a very long period of accumulated business experience to be able to formulate strategy. Strategy can only be effectively designed by being very aware of business issues from multiple angles, while also having had the chance to test business decisions many times over, and under many different circumstances.

Experienced managers are put in place in important positions for this reason. They can summarize the facts, put these facts in the context of the current business environment and then proceed to suggest the best plans for the business. Your business will have several key employees, but it is at the managerial level that the strategy that they follow is set.

Planning, research and analysis

Your management team will engage themselves with the bigger picture. Though the minute day-to-day dealings of your business are important, management teams will spend their time on gathering facts and analyzing and researching important topics, such as market trends, the way the overall economy is performing and what competitors are doing.

For example, the management team at BMW is intensely focused on looking at what their automotive technology counterparts are doing in Silicon Valley, considering both their technology advances and how they are perceived in the marketplace. Rex Tillerson of Exxon leads a team that must constantly watch what oil supply and demand looks like, including considering worldwide economic growth.

Yusuf Alireza’s Wikipedia entry illustrates the typically extensive business experience that a top-level management executives has – as CEO of Noble Group, Alireza was key in making executive decisions that shaped the future of the company.

Effective execution

One of the difficulties management teams are often faced with is putting into action the plans they have devised through extensive analysis and research. It is not at all uncommon for business to struggle, not based on the lack of a plan or strategic input, but due to the inability of management to push the plan they have through to a practical implementation. This involves skills that some management employees can struggle with.

Often called soft skills, this is what sets apart a good management team from an excellent one. Excellent management teams are those that can get their employees on board when it comes to executing a plan. For example, branch closures or other forms of retrenching a business – though in the interest of the business – can be difficult for employees to accept,as it may mean some of their colleagues are forced to leave. However, a management team that can convince employees that it is in the interest of the business has a better chance of getting this type of important decision implemented without too much difficulty.

Published by Kidal Delonix (1197 Posts)

Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.